The wheels turn slowly sometimes--the internet & places like tribe are a new kind of friendship & collaboration, and yet in some of the work I've been doing its amazing what can come out of it.
You might look at the Dance Music Culture Arcata project I have posted in Listings, also the Media Bay project. You plant the seed of your idea and anything is possible. Its impressive the quality of people you find at different tribes, and yet as people have to live and take care of their daily needs, it takes time to gather momentum.
I wanted to add a comment about money--capital. It seems like a dirty word to an artist and yet its difficult to achieve most types of creation without it, granted a writer or artist can produce with just a pencil and paper.
Having worked in a variety of arts, pursuing many of them requires some capital. The idea of capital in business (working capital) is necessary funds for the day to day expenses. While it seems contrary to the spirit of creation, its a necessary evil and one usually has to approach the business side of the arts, including marketing your work.
As one matures in an art you start to realize you have to understand and use all of the techniques of business. Maybe a purist can live in a retreat and produce like Van Gogh, maybe never selling a work, and that's OK too. Most esthetic people are probably turned off by PR hype and commercialism. We see it in television, in print media, in the music business, in the movie business, etc. How does one draw the line? Of course we try to stay true to our ideals.
There are specific business approaches to each art form, but to summarize I just want to mention a few I've noticed. If one is lucky enough to live in Canada (and some other countries) there are programs tfrom the govt to subsidize the arts. Canada, to compete with the American music "industry" will give grants to record music projects, in the hopes of opening the US monopoly up. They also require a percentage of radio play to be Canadian artists. From what I've seen their program is very generous and worth pursuing even for artists on the fringe of music.
In the US , particularly in areas supported by tourism or low in industrial businesses, one can find support in the form of business loans to arts oriented businesses. These are through what are called small business development, or economic development organizations, usually run by the local cities or county govt. They frequently work with the SBA, the federal agency that helps create new businesses.
By contacting these groups, they will give you all the information necessary to pursue such loans or grants. The downside is you usually need some basic business skills and the drive to treat your project as a business.
The positive side is that these govt types realize the value of the arts to the community and to their economic health, as they provide jobs, taxes, and promote tourism.
Is money/business good or bad? Of course there are more radical guerilla techniques to make artistic statements, and a non-materialistic person might find other avenues. Artists frequently find patrons that handle the funding, or maybe a business person to handle the business side.
How does one avoid the stigma of "business" and is there a way to reconcile the need to create art with the need to fund it?
You might look at the Dance Music Culture Arcata project I have posted in Listings, also the Media Bay project. You plant the seed of your idea and anything is possible. Its impressive the quality of people you find at different tribes, and yet as people have to live and take care of their daily needs, it takes time to gather momentum.
I wanted to add a comment about money--capital. It seems like a dirty word to an artist and yet its difficult to achieve most types of creation without it, granted a writer or artist can produce with just a pencil and paper.
Having worked in a variety of arts, pursuing many of them requires some capital. The idea of capital in business (working capital) is necessary funds for the day to day expenses. While it seems contrary to the spirit of creation, its a necessary evil and one usually has to approach the business side of the arts, including marketing your work.
As one matures in an art you start to realize you have to understand and use all of the techniques of business. Maybe a purist can live in a retreat and produce like Van Gogh, maybe never selling a work, and that's OK too. Most esthetic people are probably turned off by PR hype and commercialism. We see it in television, in print media, in the music business, in the movie business, etc. How does one draw the line? Of course we try to stay true to our ideals.
There are specific business approaches to each art form, but to summarize I just want to mention a few I've noticed. If one is lucky enough to live in Canada (and some other countries) there are programs tfrom the govt to subsidize the arts. Canada, to compete with the American music "industry" will give grants to record music projects, in the hopes of opening the US monopoly up. They also require a percentage of radio play to be Canadian artists. From what I've seen their program is very generous and worth pursuing even for artists on the fringe of music.
In the US , particularly in areas supported by tourism or low in industrial businesses, one can find support in the form of business loans to arts oriented businesses. These are through what are called small business development, or economic development organizations, usually run by the local cities or county govt. They frequently work with the SBA, the federal agency that helps create new businesses.
By contacting these groups, they will give you all the information necessary to pursue such loans or grants. The downside is you usually need some basic business skills and the drive to treat your project as a business.
The positive side is that these govt types realize the value of the arts to the community and to their economic health, as they provide jobs, taxes, and promote tourism.
Is money/business good or bad? Of course there are more radical guerilla techniques to make artistic statements, and a non-materialistic person might find other avenues. Artists frequently find patrons that handle the funding, or maybe a business person to handle the business side.
How does one avoid the stigma of "business" and is there a way to reconcile the need to create art with the need to fund it?
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California
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