Every few days, another article runs through my Twitter feed highlighting the plight of poor working artists. There’s more money than ever in the world’s second largest unregulated market, but as usual, the people actually producing the art aren’t taking home much of the pay.
The reasons for this are varied, but from the artist’s perspective, I would argue that they’re largely irrelevant. The bottom line for me is that I love making art, and I love paying my bills, and sometimes I get to do both at the same time, but not always. When I did this last year’s taxes (read: filed for an extension), I noticed that about half my income came from art. I also noticed I had way less income than I thought. For me, as for many of my malnourished art-producing friends, the stereotypes prevail.
So what to do? Speaking to those in creative fields: it’s easy to understand why many of us are holding more tightly than ever to our skillset, wishing desperately that we could change the public’s perception of the value of art. We’ve all had folks just assume that we’d hook them up “for the exposure”, or maybe because we just like doing art for art’s sake. Which we sorta do. But really. Would those people ask their friend the accountant to do their taxes just “to get her name out there”? Or maybe for her love of math? Maybe so. If you’re reading this, and you’re an accountant who’ll do my taxes for the exposure, please email me.
The thing is, though, even the most jaded, diamond-encrusted conceptual artist must still have a glimmer of art-for-art’s-sake-type joy flickering down there somewhere. So, even though we all gotta get paid, allow me to submit the following list of reasons why you should give (some of) your art away for free, probably:
1. You need the practice. It doesn’t matter how great you are; I’ve learned something from literally every project I’ve ever completed. You were just going to be watching Netflix anyway. Unless you’re so busy that you actually have projects lined up for the next six months, in which case:
2. It wouldn’t kill you to give something back. We are all indebted to each other, and ultimately, to the grace of God. Giving something away, particularly something as valuable as your artistic talent, is a great way to remind yourself of that. Keeps us grateful, which directly correlates with our happiness. And, lest you fear that this might dilute your brand, allow me to point out that while selling your art at a discount absolutely will negatively affect people’s perception of its value, giving it as a gift usually has the opposite effect.
3. It will lead to more opportunities. Whether you’ve got a little downtime, and really could use the “exposure” (remember, there’s a difference between kowtowing to cheapskates, and choosing to give a gift that will elevate both you and the recipient), or you’re busy enough to have the luxury of giving back even though you’ve got plenty of work, the occasional pro bono project will always lead to new people discovering you. In my experience, this hasn’t only been true with higher-profile nonprofits, etc., but also small, out of the way projects.
And finally, 4. It will force you to produce more art. Again, some of us have no problem creating and selling our art/graphic design/poetry/music/hand-carved porcelain figurines; but most of us stagnate occasionally if we’re not careful. A great way to combat that is to give something away, clearing the way for us to create again. Nature hates a vacuum, and all that. Scary as it may seem, particularly if you haven’t done it before, you’ll be surprised at how freeing and inspiring it can be.