Artists U Intensive: Building A Sustainable Life as an Artist

We need a new conversation.

Too many brilliant, mission-driven artists are exhausted, broke and overwhelmed. A constant sense of scarcity pits us against one another. And even those who find “success” struggle to build sustainable lives. How can we build balanced, productive, sustainable lives?

In Artists U, facilitated by Andrew Simonet, we will share tools and principles artists have used to thrive. We will build a conversation, a realistic, un-complainy conversation that sees the challenges but also acknowledges that our skills are more than up to the task. We will do some specific, practical work (planning, finances) and some big picture thinking. And we will look at the specific challenges facing artists: the demands of creating and producing the work, funding cycles, and a supposedly embodied life that too often ends up in front of a laptop for eight hours.

Artists will also meet monthly for five months to do the core practices of sustainability: planning, financial clarity, time management, and writing about our work. We’ll do this together, sharing tools and experiences in a community of inquiry, not competition.

community + clarity = power