I wanted to go back and revisit the idea of support for artists in more detail. I talked about it briefly in one of my very first blog posts “Finding Your Community”, with the goal of encouraging artists to accept help from their communities and to offer that same support in return to their fellow artists.
The Value of Artists
Artists offer an essential role in our communities. During the pandemic especially, I feel that we have learned about the value of having entertainment and beauty to help distract us from the difficult things happening in our lives. Though, art is not only useful as a distraction, it can also be used to communicate. Visual symbolism and imagery are far more effective communication tools than words alone.
In addition to entertaining and conveying ideas, artists also help to develop solutions to community problems. Many of us have chosen to take on a cause as part of our art career or have worked on projects that benefit the community as a whole. Examples of this include: environmental conservation artists, who gather plastics from our oceans and transform them into works of art; educators, who contribute to the growth and shaping of minds of all ages and activist artists, who use their work to remind us of the progress that still needs to be made.
Tangible Forms of Support
There are so many ways to support your local artists. For the purposes of this blog I have decided to organize them into two categories: financial and non financial support. Financial support is essential for an artist. Without some form of financial support we would not have the time or resources needed to create art. That being said, not everyone has money that they can contribute regularly to the artists that they know. It is important to understand that non financial support is just as essential to shaping the careers of artists.
Financial Support
The most basic form of financial support is to purchase work from the artists that you want to support. This can be anything from shopping at their online store, to ordering a commissioned item. I should add that when I call this support, I do not mean that is it charity, it is not. Purchasing work from an artist is an exchange that each party benefits from. Another form of financial support can be attending events that the artists is participating in, and purchasing tickets, and/or merchandise.
As the internet has grown, and the idea of valuing artists has spread, platforms such as Kickstarter or Patreon have given us new ways to support the work we love. Kickstarter allows an artist or creator to introduce an idea to their community, and request early stage funding to get their projects off the ground in exchange for early access to whatever the project offers. Patreon is a monthly support system that gives artists and creators a predictable monthly revenue source in exchange for benefits for the community members. There are many platforms that operate like this, and it is a great way to support your artists.
Non Financial
One of the easiest, and most compassionate ways you can support an artist is to tell them how much you like what they are doing. Encouragement goes a long way, but there are other ways that you can support an artists without spending money. Consider offering your time to help with a big project, or join them for a market event. Artists have so many plates spinning at once and help goes a long way. Another fantastic way to support an artist is to tell other people about their work. Helping artists form connections with new clients or potential opportunities is a huge part of what makes an art career work. This could mean anything from sharing their work on social media to talking about them with your friends.
If you are an artist yourself and you are looking for ways to support your fellow artists consider sharing resources and opportunities with them. Forwarding a link to a grant that might work for them, or connecting them with another member of the artistic community can make a huge difference in what they are able to accomplish. Reciprocity and collaboration are essential components to a successful artist network and together we can build opportunities for ourselves and each other.
What Does Your Support Mean for Artists
What does all this support mean for the artist who receives it? When we talk about financial support we need to acknowledge that sales revenue and platforms like Patreon allow artists to pay for cost of living expenses such as food, rent, bills, car payments etc. in addition to the cost of the materials, tools and studio space that they need to create. These are expenses that an artist would have to supplement with other work if they did not receive financial support. When you support an artist financially you are literally buying time for them to create.
Artists need and deserve the support of their communities. We do so much to enrich the lives of those around us, but unfortunately our time is not always valued enough for us to maintain a stable lifestyle. It is only through the support of our communities and the connections that we share with each other that we can create and thrive.
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