Artist Survivorship: Dispelling, Re-Imagining, Synchronizing
A guided discussion space on artist survivorship (in the Detroit community)
DATE | Sunday, January 10, 2021
TIME | 2:00-4:00PM EST
PLATFORM | ZOOM
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We’re going to be honest. This shit is hard.
We, artists, aren’t new to being classified as non-essential. We are often the first organizations, performances, and classes to receive cuts. We’ve learned to shift and adapt quickly, have found new ways to sustain our practices and how to reallocate funds to continue building our work. We know we’re essential. Artistic work, while to many may seem frivolous, helps people escape, feel seen, connect, gain confidence, share stories, find joy, and can regulate nervous systems. We know this. And we know we’re preaching to the choir. But something about this moment feels different.
We are experiencing loss in multiple layers. In Michigan alone, there was a reported income loss of $19,956,924, a 97% event cancellation rate and a 25% chance of temporary or permanent reductions to organizational staff in the arts and culture sector. In most cases these losses have upended the community and many are finding themselves shifting to other means of income to stay afloat.
The loss goes far beyond financial, and disrupts all aspects of our social, physical and emotional wellbeing. In this discussion space, we wonder:
How can we calculate the loss of community spaces to gather, bodies being with bodies, creating and moving together, all integral to maintaining our social, physical, and emotional/mental health?
What are we doing to stay afloat, and to take care of ourselves?
How can we share our strategies for survival, support each other, and build sustainable networks of care?
How do we sustain or gracefully release our expectations around our artistic practice?
How do we support artists as they make the hard decision to move away from their practice as a main source of income?
How do we remove the shame, stigma, and expectation to “push through it”?
Join us for a facilitated conversation where we dispel expectations, re-imagine strategies, and synchronize our bodies.
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This event is a part of our CSD 3rd BDay Fundraiser
Registration is required.