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regarding survival : nine questions from pauline oliveros
As I mentioned earlier, I have a concern about "the mass amateurization of nearly everything," which is that it (further) complicates the question of how artists can make a living. I think it's good that books can circulate as PDFs without needing to go through the homogenizing publishing industry or, in fact, needing to enter the "market" at all, but as an academic my ability to advance beyond the adjunct level hinges upon my ability to convince what Clay Shirky would call a "professionally skeptical system" to publish my writings as a book, even if those writings are in a form that isn't a natural "match" with book technology.
Raccoon reader "Jenny" suggests: "Work an easy job as little as possible to maintain life, save as much time as possible to do your 'real' work." If I were to follow this strategy, I could just decide to camp out permanently at the adjunct level—the work is hard (at times) and often tedious, but it does make me enough money to eke out a frugal living, and it does lend me enormous amounts of free time (I am writing at you from my summer vacation). But ultimately I can't quite surrender the ambition to at least attempt to advance.
In any case, I'm interested in how other artists negotiate these issues, and I was reminded of a series of nine questions that experimental composer Pauline Oliveros circulated among a group of experimental composers, on topics "regarding survival." I've revised these questions slightly to be applicable to artists more generally (mostly by replacing "composer" with "artist," and "music" with "art") and I'd be interested to hear answers from any readers of this site, particularly poets or other writers. My own answers will be posted soon.
As an artist, how have you survived?
What is your current situation?
What information or services would help you continue to survive?
Is your art functioning in your community or beyond?
What happens when grassroots art spreads to large venues?
How do we respond to the continual rip-off of our research and our art by commercial interests?
How do we get them to fund us?
How could we strengthen our position in the social fabric of our country?
Who do we need to speak to or wake up? Labels: personal |
