Cont from previous post..
I also think this is where the arts get strange. I’m not sure there are other industries (for want of a better word), where unpaid professionals work alongside paid ones (Is anyone really paid?). I don’t think it’s really a case of amateur and professional working alongside each other, as lots of artists are graduates and have been practising for a long time, they just earn their income in another sphere. Imagine if someone graduated in accounting and after university continued their part time job in a stationery shop whilst doing accounts in their spare time – never going to happen because they can and will earn money.
If artists never expect or ask to get paid (properly) for the things they do then why would the public perception of arts being free ever need to change? It won’t. If artists, on the other hand, recognise that they have many skills to offer, perhaps in other arenas than simply making their own work, other people will also value them. I’m thinking about all the multi-tasking, writing, applying creative thinking, problem solving, imaginative, thrifty things that artists do in everyday lives that could be applied in any number of situations.
As the visual arts are becoming increasingly important parts of big development projects and consultations, it is up to artists to stand up for their worth. A really great example in this field is Sans Facon, who get involved with large scale projects, but will also insist on changing the terms to fit the way they work best if they cannot work within the original brief.
On the other hand, the perception of the arts being free is quite far gone and it might take a lot of work to undo it – but on the scale of individual/organisation, it might only need a conversation. There is also the issue of there being too many artists for the amount of work available, I have no idea what happens there. I guess you just have to try and find the place you fit best and work at that, perhaps considering other avenues for work that aren’t strictly art? It seems to me the less restrictions or labels you tag onto yourself, the less likely it is that others will categorise you too.
