Welcome to the Art Pays Movement!

Hi, I am Maria Mar and I’m on a mission to create an Art Pays Movement in which authors, artists in all fields (musicians, visual artists, performers, storytellers, photographers, dancers, etc.),as well as creative geniuses, innovators and  healers, spiritual teachers or Transformation Artists can move from the starving artist or the “day job” modality to making a living from their art. This mission includes my own journey, which I am happy to share and to share what I’ve learned during it.

You belong in the Art Pays Movement if:

• You are an artist in any field or a creative spiritual transformation-provider, such as a shaman, spiritual teacher, energy healer, etc that uses creativity or any art form (writing, storytelling, movement, song) in your work.
  
  
• You are ready to stop giving yourself excuses or doubting your ability to make a living from your art.  I operate under the belief that “whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you are right” –and if you want to use your human superpowers to persist in that you can NOT make a living from your talents, then you are right… for yourself, and we don’t want to waste our superpowers trying to proof you wrong. This is NOT a debate about if it is possible or not to make a living from your art. I am not interested in going there. This is a roundtable for those who believe or at least are willing to explore the possibility to enrich their perception, get answers to their questions, find out what others have tried and give feedback on what could work.
  
  
• You are willing to be honest and transparent on where you are, where you want to be, what you’ve tried (or not) and to share what you have discovered FOR REAL, not theoretical BS or your OPINIONS. We want you to share your EXPERIENCE, feelings and doubts. Opinions that are not backed by sharing your experience will not be approved.
  
  
• You are willing to participate in the laboratory. This means that you are willing to ask the QUESTIONS, face the INTERNAL OBSTACLES and find SOLUTIONS to the EXTERNAL OBSTACLES. As I said before, this is NOT a debate. This is a movement and a laboratory. We want to explore the problems we face and find solutions. This is then about perception, exploration, tools that work and experience that proofs or disproofs that the tools work for YOU.  If you want to argue about who’s right or tell others what they should do, this is not the place.
  
  
• You are no longer satisfied with giving yourself excuses why it is NOT possible. You are no longer willing to give your work for free, play small, remain invisible or not monetize your visibility.
  
  
• You are RESPECTFUL of other people’s feelings, where they are at and their own ability to determine what works for them or not; you are not here to judge others or impose what works for you on others.
  
  
• You are RESPECTFUL of the work of other people and do not act as if you are the marshal of quality, dispensing judgement or imposing your criteria of what is good or bad art or service. We ask you that you speak with respect and stay away from absolute generalizations.

Your maxims minimize your wisdom.

If you are in agreement with these criteria, then we welcome you to join the Art Pays Movement.

As a member of the Art Pays Movement, you can:

• Get notices of any new roundtable that is posted and post comment, questions and solutions, so that you  transform the post into an Art pays Laboratory.
• Host a local roundtable and submit it for me to post it here, so that other members can comment, ask question and transform the discussion into an Art pays Laboratory.
• Suggest other topics for other roundtables. If there is interest, I”ll consider doing Google+ Hangouts for online global roundtables.
• Volunteer as a roundtable live member for any roundtable. Live members will be the ones in the live discussion that then will be posted.
• Benefit from the resources posted here and the discounts given by experts for our membership.

This first roundtable is a spontaneous conversation that took place in a literary soiree in the home of artist-poet Tanya Torres, a cherished female and Latino cultural New York Leader. It was not planned as a roundtable, yet it inspired me to open the explorations I’ve been having with myself and a few people to see if others are interested and we can forever eradicate the starving artist myth from our existence!

ROUNDTABLE NO 1: New York, Latino Artists and Writers

Topic: What needs to happen for me to make a living from my creation?

My creation in this case is my art, as all of the participants were artists, except me who I am also a spiritual teacher/shaman. The following arts were represented: visual arts, writing (fiction, poetry), stage performance.

To join the Art Pays Movement, fill out this form. Then you will be receive a Welcome Newsletter with the password and rules of engagement and the first issue of the Art Pays Movement Newsletter with access to the first roundtable post.

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