http://contemporaryartexchange.org/blame-the-farmer-not-the-internsheep/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 12:43:47 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.3 http://contemporaryartexchange.org/blame-the-farmer-not-the-internsheep/#comment-1462 Mon, 25 Nov 2013 12:43:47 +0000 http://contemporaryartexchange.org/?p=2876#comment-1462 […] blogpost originally appear on Kate Martin’s Contemporary Art Exchange […]

]]> http://contemporaryartexchange.org/blame-the-farmer-not-the-internsheep/#comment-1457 Fri, 22 Nov 2013 12:05:26 +0000 http://contemporaryartexchange.org/?p=2876#comment-1457 I worked very hard for over 10 years in unpaid internships in NYC – a city where cost of living equates to waking hours needing to be maximized to just afford rent. Some were better than others – but all worthwhile for the time I spent. Putting in double time to pay bills by working for minimum wage as a salesclerk/teacher/personal assistant while then sacrificing every other moment to gain a foothold in the Arts via an unpaid position made me who I am today – one of the very few people I know who makes a living in the Arts alone as a creative. I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn early that making a living in the Arts involves building a value from the ground up for oneself. I not only have worked solely in the Arts now for 7 years – but I also have the increasing ability to support the creative community with funding from what I make for myself as a curator and gallerist. If I had been given the wrong impression entering the Arts that I was entitled to be paid for my talent or time – would never have learned how to work to make a life for myself in the Arts. Having a profession in the Arts has never been and never will be hinged on talent or time. What I bring to the table of value/that I am paid for as a creative is not related to my talent/knowledge, 3 college degrees or a good eye/steady hand – its what I built for myself (via proximity over years in unpaid circles) to patrons, press, an physical audience, relationships with established artists and esteemed institutions, a network of support and international presence… I gained these things specifically from the ability to learn how to maximize / navigate / leverage the position of “unpaid” into “paid” by those who had mastered this skill and had careers. Today – I have a team of my own. No one on my team is unpaid. Everyday they demonstrate they do not feel entitled to being handed anything and understand inherently they are building their role on the team into a career for themselves. I’m lucky to have them and relate to them on this level as in the Arts, one has to always build their next gig – no matter how many notches are on their CV – as no one is entitled to anything no matter what their name is.

]]>