These artist-types who are all anti-commercialism and anti-capitalism, who roam the world looking for someone else to foot the bill for their artful pursuits, crying out for need of funding… where do they think this money they are asking for comes from, anyway? How would a world function if we ALL lived in this way?

I’ve known artists who struggled for years, barely scraping by, working some utterly meaningless job so they could devote their free time to the pursuit of the art they love. And you rarely hear a word of complaint from them, because they are happy doing what they love, and glad to be living in a country where they have to freedom to do it. I have tremendous… no, immeasurable respect for artists who choose this road.

On the other hand, I’ve known artists who spend more time complaining about their poverty and “the man” and evil corporate American such-and-such than they spend on the art itself! Many times they are unwilling to “fund” themselves by working, and if they are forced to do so because the only alternative is homelessness, they piss and moan as if the world somehow owes them something in exchange for their art.

It’s a pretty picture to envision a world where people just throw wads of spare money at artists… or where the state, having appropriated the monies from the “evil corporations,” would turn it over to painters and songwriters and dancers and sculptors and machinimists and the like. And I’m sure that for some lucky few - those who rub the right elbows to seduce rich benefactors, and those who display the right politics to get state-sponsored support - that has happened and does occasionally happen.

The only problem there is, state-sponsored culture has not shown itself to be consistently associated with full freedom of expression; quite the contrary. In fact, the same is true when ANYONE else is paying for your work, be it the state, a corporate entity, or an individual benefactor; if they’ve got the dollars that fuel the creation, then they control the show, and the best an artist can hope for in that situation is that his benefactors are not fascist tyrants, which power tends to make of us all given enough time and gold. The relationship between donor/lender and recipient/beneficiary too often takes on the flavor of prostitution.

So what is one to do?

FUND YOUR SELF. It gives you the control you really want, you answer to no one (assuming you live in the free world… if you don’t, get there!). You can truly write your own ticket. Do you get to spend 24 hours 7 days a week on your art? No. But I’d venture a guess that you don’t do that now, either. Is it slower going than landing some “dream deal”? Perhaps. Does the hare beat the tortoise in the race?

Self-funding is the road to artistic freedom. Don’t chain your ability to create to the generosity of anyone; the “tax” ends up too costly in the long run.

And if you DO end up in a position where a benefactor is willing to finance your work, that’s a bonus that you can choose to accept or decline based on the degree of artistic freedom that benefactor is willing to guarantee. But I’ve found that when spending other people’s money versus spending your own that you earned, freedom is too often compromised.