navigating scarcity by building self-worth
A while back I told a new bookkeeper about how Netvvrk helps artists gain visibility for their work by giving them the tools they need to secure shows and residencies.
“Oh, so you’re helping artists make a living off their art,” he told me.
“Well, no,” I said, and then explained that in the art world, it’s possible to be famous as an artist and still be poor.
My bookkeeper’s perspective isn’t so unique. For a lot of people what artists do is completely incomprehensible.
You’re not doing this as a hobby so why dedicate your entire life to it if you don’t get paid, and when you do, payment reflects a fraction of the labor you put into the work?
The closest analogy I have for mid-career artists comes from the world of sports—“Pro-Ams”, a term for athletes who treat training as a professional would. Many Pro-Ams will never compete in the high-profile professional races, and usually have related jobs to support their passion. Sound familiar?
Perhaps a better known example for its exploitation of labor, though, comes from the tech industry. It’s built just like the art world. It engages people who will share their labor for no cost because their desire for connection drives their behaviors.
Artists are like users on Instagram—your desire to connect through art is strong enough that you’ll do it for free. Once that’s known, that behavior is exploited.
The result? A highly skilled labor force made up of arts workers that often do not make enough money to live on.
If you’re reading this right now, it’s likely you’re an artist who is working at a high level, because that’s the kind of artist I build my program around and attract.
It’s also true that you’ve probably dealt with self-doubt or imposter syndrome. Now, that’s normal. It happens to almost everyone and plagues all industries.
But it’s ubiquitous in the field of fine art, and part of the reason for that has to do with how little compensation artists receive for work that requires a large amount of time and skill to execute.
You’re not immune to your surroundings, so obviously this will affect your sense of self-worth.
Spelling out the problem, gives us the ability to stake out our value.
Rather than coming from a space where we believe our worth is less than others, we can understand that our worth is shaped by the context we’re in.
That’s not just an intellectual exercise. It’s also the power of art, which doesn’t communicate without context.
If we understand how art works, and we understand how our own context works, then we also understand that we’re not beholden to context.
That doesn’t mean we’re going to reshape the context we’re in, but we can reshape our relationship to that context. And that’s the most powerful tool we have.
It’s the understanding that you are responsible for maintaining your agency—knowing that you are not beholden to anything other than putting your own self care and career first.
It means getting the support you need to build your career.
It means asking for more money, even when it’s scary to do so.
It means connecting with artists you can collaborate with who know there’s a better way to live.
The mindset shift I’m talking about is really important, because it’s the difference between living in a world that feels like it’s full of scarcity and one that can be redefined through abundance.
SOURCE
VVrkshop Instagram: Why Understanding Your Self-Worth Will Give You Agency
