terry borderline The colors blur as he moves in and out of his neon-walled studio room. The Brockton-based hip-hop artist writes, records, and performs music that touches on themes such as Indigenous history, spiritual Afrofuturism, and Black Power. A variety of R&B, jazz, and hip-hop music echoes throughout the studio space.
borderline, 30, I am constantly writing, recording, and performing music. In addition to that, he has his own company where he teaches, coaches, plans events, and sells clothing.
Despite trying hard in many ways, Borderlines found themselves stuck in a cycle of financial uncertainty. A hard life is his normal rhythm, and the stakes are high.
“Artists get paid at the end for a lot of different things,” Borderline said. “At the end of the day, I have to feed my son. I can’t just say, ‘Son, give her four more business days.’ ”
Borderline is one of many artists across the commonwealth struggling to make a living.
Arts advocates say the solution is political, lobbying for more funding and support for the arts. With the state in the midst of a particularly tough budget year, with grim revenue projections and ballooning shelter spending bills, arts organizations are calling on artists to advocate for what artists and arts organizations should do. line to finance the limited resources of states that say they need to step into a more active advocacy role.
“When elected officials regularly hear from constituents across the commonwealth, hear stories of similar impacts, and demand very similar actions, momentum really begins to build.” said Emily Ruddock, president of arts advocacy group MassCreative. She’s encouraging artists to show up at statehouses, attend public meetings and ask lawmakers for the funding they need to survive.
Paradoxically, the reason artists are so in need of state support is the same reason they often lack political mobilization: they are pressed for time and money.
“Just advocating for our rights as artists can sometimes feel like a full-time, unpaid job in itself,” Borderline said. “If we’re not living paycheck to paycheck, doing whatever it takes to survive in this hyperinflationary economy, then certainly children are going hungry as a result. You’ll have more time to get involved in politics without feeling like you’re in it.
Artists and advocates argue that paying artists for the time they spend on advocacy could be the solution going forward. But artists will still have to decide it’s worth putting down their easels and heading to Beacon Hill.
hungry artist
Between inflation, the housing crisis, and the loss of millions of dollars in income for artists and arts organizations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, artists say they are facing an existential crisis in Massachusetts. Even before the pandemic, the average income for artists in Massachusetts was less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or less than $40,000 in most cases.
Many borderlines are gig workers who juggle various roles to make money. Artists who aren’t chasing gig after gig often have full-time jobs to make a living, which leaves them with little time to pursue their art, much less the rights. They say they have little time for advocacy.
“It’s incredibly difficult to deviate from the survivalist mindset that unfortunately we’re all forced to live in 24/7,” Borderline said. “As an artist, I don’t necessarily make the most money in the world, so I have to spend my days doing different gigs just to survive.”
Borderline, his wife and 3-year-old son are all enrolled in MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. To qualify, a family of three must have an income of less than $34,857. They live downstairs in their borderline parents’ house and don’t think they can afford a place of their own in Boston.
They have applied for affordable housing and have not heard back. They tried to buy a home through a housing assistance program run by a nonprofit called the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, but learned they would have to earn more than twice their income to qualify. Borderline said he and his wife are considering leaving the state because they know it’s the only way for their family to achieve homeownership.
Many artists face similar challenges.
“These people who are gig workers go from gig to gig, selling one piece of art or teaching one class, to make a living,” said Michael Bobbitt, executive director of MCC. said. “Many of them don’t have life benefits like insurance, retirement, housing or health care. Living like that is a huge burden.”
Artists who lack advocacy
Advocates want to make it clear that their work is paying off for artists.
Ruddock noted that the MCC line item in the state budget has more than doubled over the past decade. MassCreative counts other wins, including securing $60 million in COVID-19 cultural sector recovery funding and drafting artist-friendly legislation currently moving through Congress.
At the end of March, arts organizations and members of Congress held a meeting to discuss various arts-related bills. Advocates at the meeting highlighted research by the National Endowment for the Arts that showed the arts and culture sector accounts for more than 4 percent of the state’s GDP.
However, arts organizations have been repeatedly disappointed by the amount of funding directed to the creative sector. Lawmakers are willing to support the arts, but when essential resources are at stake, the creative sector tends to suffer losses.
“I am happy to report that there has been no opposition to arts funding,” said Sen. Paul Mark, representing Western Massachusetts and chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism and the Arts. “But as budgets get tighter, there will be even more support for other areas to be more important.”
Arts advocates say a key part of the pitch is calling the artists themselves before lawmakers. Artists not only highlight the lack of time and money to lobby on the side, but some also express frustration that money goes to arts organizations rather than directly to artists. They can also feel isolated from information, not only about political advocacy, but also about available grants and other funding opportunities.
“From my experience, [getting artists to] Anything like an inquest is difficult, and I’m as guilty as charged,” said Julia Czech, a Brazilian-American visual artist currently working as an artist-in-residence in Salem. “Sometimes you don’t have the bandwidth. It’s fatigue – mental fatigue and physical fatigue.”
Additionally, securing funding for artists at the state level can take time and leave artists feeling discouraged, Ruddock said.
“Everyone wants to see that [MCC] Budgets grow exponentially…and the reality is that securing a $2 million, $3 million increase year over year is actually an incredible sign of success,” Ruddock said. said. “But I don’t think it’s all that far-fetched when it amounts to a very small increase to individual grant programs.”
Arts advocates seek to meet artists where they are in order to support political engagement.
Ruddock and her team teach artists about how state politics works, how artists lobby elected officials, and how to advocate for arts-related policies and funding in Congressional hearings. We hold policy webinars every month to teach people about policy issues.
MassCreative also works with artists to develop legislative plans. One bill would help protect creative spaces by establishing defined property restrictions that would designate some land exclusively for artists.
Numerous advocates, arts organization staff, and arts administrators based around the state testified in favor of the bill. Although the bill was reported favorably in committee, few active artists participated in the hearing.
One bright spot was Creative Sector Advocacy Day, which drew more than 200 people at State House on January 24th, and while it’s important for artists to participate in events like this, it’s important for artists to make their case heard. That’s not the only way a claim can be made, Ruddock said. do.
“Individual artists are the greatest self-advocates I have ever met,” Ruddock said. “They’re always advocating and working for the community. They just aren’t doing it in a way that would be recognized as formal, traditional political advocacy.”
pay artists for advocacy
Borderline thought the concept of building and engaging constituent groups of artists in the political realm was appealing, but questioned how expensive advocacy felt to artists.
“For me and other artists, we rarely have the luxury of showing up anywhere without getting paid first,” Borderline said. “Where will the money come from to pay transportation fees? Money to pay parking fees? For those of us with families, will we have the money to pay childcare fees?”
A potential solution is to pay artists to participate in advocacy efforts.
Czech, who was involved in rights advocacy work while living as an artist in Brazil, said that she had seen the “Ambassador” model work. Essentially, this involves selecting artists who are willing to advocate for their communities and paying them a stipend to help compensate them for their time and pay for their appearance.
MassCreative has created a one-year organizing and advocacy fellowship program offering $5,000 scholarships for people in creative fields. Fellows will undergo leadership development to hone their advocacy skills.
The Somerville Arts Council has also implemented such a model. Artist “ambassadors” are paid $35 an hour to work with the artist community and provide input into the city’s planning process. This wasn’t exactly paid advocacy, but a way to involve artists in local government decisions that ultimately affect them.
But these programs are in their infancy, and just as funding for the arts is difficult, funding for arts advocacy is also difficult to secure.
“No one is funding advocacy,” Ruddock said.
