I often find myself writing notes and manifestos and the like while riding on the train, attending lectures or at other times throughout the day. Most recently I attended the NYFA Business of Art Conference “Your Money, Your Art.” (I was sitting on a panel on fundraising in the afternoon and wanted to peak in on some of the other lectures).

As I was listening to a talk on how to put together a budget I started thinking about something my friend Andrew Simonet likes to talk about – its the idea that artists often undervalue their own work and once they start associating the correct value to it, then we start to receive that value. This also includes not giving away too much for free. I also have been spending a lot of time speaking with my friend Matthew Deleget about artists and the value of community – he put together a great talk which he presented at the Chicago Art Institute, I have been bugging him to get a copy of it to post online, I will try to get it up here, but the gist of it is that historically artists have really come together to do it all themselves (put together shows, organize venues and festivals, promote one another etc), instead of relying on the system.

In light of this I started to think about whether or not it would be possible to create something like an artists union (kind of like freelancer’s union). This union could advocate for artists in regards to housing, health, copyright and other issues. They could form a structure for micro-funding and access to health insurance (Fractured Atlas is doing a lot of this). They could also work with the business sector to educate and advocate on behalf of artists (using the language of business and framing it in a way that is a compelling story to the business sector). But, it also would require that artists pledge to adhere to some specific practices and promises as well. Here was the starting list:

• I promise not to undervalue my work.
• I will share knowledge and resources with other artists.
• I will be professional in all my endeavors.
• I will not propagate the image of the flaky or starving artist.
• I will only donate work/time to two opportunities/year and those should advance my career or be close to my personal interests.
• I promise to support and subsidize the arts at every opportunity (to share the wealth) without undercutting my own value.
• I will innovate and contribute to a lively arts community.

Sure needs some refinement, but any thoughts?

All images courtesy of Flickr (from top to bottom) and Creative Commons licensing:
“power to the people” by origamadon
“Day 62/366; Unemployed artist” by aperryz302