The Art of Graditute [with free comic! 🤓]

PLUGO: artist • comics • illustration (scbwi)

Howdy,
It should come as no surprise that with November comes thoughts of bounty and gratitude. So I'm building this newsletter around that theme, a bit of news I've been holding on to since the summer. You know how busy that time was and I know I was sending out some jammed-packed emails, so this particular update continued to be pushed back. Fortunately that allowed for some ideas to germinate, and a decent chunk of research and reading to be done. I'm hoping the result is more holistic than another "I did a thing!" announcement.

It's no secret I've been on the path of full-time-art for two years now. It's been a time of great change, not just in terms of personal career, but perhaps the nature of art's place in society; it's costs and value. I've been continually adding to this subject I've been researching, looking back at my own career and community as well as taking time I'd once spent commuting to read deeply on how to live as an artist. In looking at shifts in the our population and the ways artists have worked over the past decade or so, four major trends have surfaced.

Norms which define who is an artist have diversified, expanding the population.
Large numbers of artists now work in interdisciplinary ways.
Many artists are finding opportunities to work in non-arts fields.
Artists are driving the development of new platforms for working entrepreneurially.

If you'd like specifics, I went into great detail in some recent blog posts. Statistics are sited and there's a very cool quote about who gets to be called an artist. I initially thought I'd write to you directly about this, but it all turned out so to article-y. I feared you'd never get to the good news which is the reason I brought this up. If you want to join me for that deep dive, you'll find some links to those blog posts as well, but first…

A look back at art's place in society reveals that even before the pandemic, “broader economic trends such as rising costs of living, greater income inequality, high levels of debt, and insufficient protections for ‘gig economy’ workers are putting increasing pressure on artists’ livelihoods.” According to a 2019 a National Endowment for the Arts report. Few places have felt the brunt of these changes as much as San Francisco, the birthplace of that gig economy.

In an effort to mitigate these existential threats to the arts, the city of San Francisco partnered with the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to launch a guaranteed income pilot, called the SF Guaranteed Income Pilot for Artists, in March 2021. That pilot gave 130 local low-income artists who have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic $1,000 a month, no strings attached, for 18 months.

YBCA was selected out of a pool of proposals to run the program on behalf of the city because of its experience and connections. At the time, YBCA was planning to launch its own guaranteed income project for artists, and this allowed it to combine forces and take both projects further. This took the form of the 2022 California Relief Fund for Artists and Cultural Practitioners. Nearly 4,500 artists and cultural practitioners across the state applied for this opportunity. They selected 1,900+ awardees, all of whom received financial support, and I am glad to say I am counted among them. Through this program, San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts continue their commitment of providing financial opportunities to artists and cultural practitioners. This grant was made possible thanks to the California Arts Council who assigned stewardship for this program, one that would not have taken place without their ongoing support across the state of California.

So yeah, the YBCA recognized me as curator and the cultural practitioner behind PLUGOarts.com - that was pretty cool.