This August 15th President April Mata and Vice President Shakeyla Ingram hit the road to Winston Salem to speak at our first conference, the Artists Thr!ve Summit.
What is the Artists Thr!ve Summit you ask? It's a conference held by the Artists Thr!ve initiative which is funded by the Tremaine Foundation since 2015. Here's a snippet from their website about the initiative:
"Artists Thrive aims to raise the value of artists in every community.
Artists Thrive is a growing initiative offering activities, practices, language, visions and values of what it means to succeed and thrive as an artist – and what it means to have a thriving arts sector and, eventually, thriving communities. It is a set of interconnected and holistic resources that can guide us in improving our performance and, ultimately, the conditions in which artists can thrive.
Think of Artists Thrive Like a Navigation System
Artists Thrive helps us see where we are in our work, where we want to go, what is important to measure, and how we can improve in ways that benefit everyone involved.
Artists Thrive is meant to be customized, adapted, and applied to many situations to support your work. These tools can also be used again and again as a reference point for measuring how you, your organization, agency, department, community collaboration, partnership, or artist collective is advancing toward your goals over time."
When we first were contacted by committee member Magalie Yacinthe, who some may remember worked with us on our first forum before BAF was born, we were pumped to speak. We often sit in conferences like Artists Thr!ve and listen to amazing artists and arts advocates but we noticed that these rooms are missing something.
The average artist.
Attendees of conferences tend to be people who work for organizations or have on average of $1,000 to attend. 85% of artists make less than $25,000 a year. $1,000 is a drop in the bucket for a major arts organization, but with an average cost of living at $44,000 in North Carolina, artists are making less than half of what they need to survive. If we are really honest only the top 1% of artists are getting that $25,000, most artists are making a few hundred dollars here and there. It feels unfair to sit in a room full of connections, opportunities, and well, money, when the majority of artists will not be able to afford such a luxury.
This time, we had the mic and we took that opportunity to express exactly this to the crowd. We hold the keys to the futures of artists and many times we make those keys completely inaccessible to the average artist. Grants often have college level language, and look for college level responses. Boards frequently are full of the same demographic, missing diversity in race, age, or economic backgrounds. Artists can get into those rooms and feel intimidated immediately when they can't find a familiar face in the crowd. Boards are often hand selected in secret when they are supposed to be public forums. Board meetings are rarely posted for the community to attend and be involved. The average artist isn't invited, included, or engaged. We have to make a change.
After we spoke (and this is recorded and will be available to watch soon!) we had several arts administrators come up and speak with us echoing the need for change. More importantly cosigning that they want to make that change. While we know one speech in front of 30 people isn't going to make monumental change overnight this is the beginning of something great.
We came, we saw, we spoke, we thrived. On to the next one!
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