Psst!

hey, hey - psst!
I wanna let you in on a little secret...
This scarcity model that the arts world operates on?
Not only is it not sustainable and false, its just plain stupid. How many of you out there in the art world have bought into the idea that there isn't enough money, space, opportunities (whatever, you fill in the blank) to go around?
Hmmm, that's kind of an old fashioned idea.
If we, as artists, want to be successful, we really have to start thinking more strategically and working to ensure our own collective success. The more artwork that is out in the world, the more of a chance that someone will see it, be moved by it, and want more of it.
It is also important that we all stop devaluing our own work. Don't offer your services, your skills, for anything less than what they are worth. It artwork (and I am talking about visual, performing, literary - all the arts) is perceived as having a low value, how will it ever be perceived as having a higher value than it is currently assigned?
As artists (particularly in America) we underwrite the countries culture. Art can't solve all the problems, but it can provide insight and understanding, it can act as a catalyst to greater things and it enriches our collective soul in a way nothing else can. It has value.