www.artsy.net: There are limited funding opportunities for performance artists like Pittsburgh-based Mark C. Thompson, who specializes in miming. But, fortunately for Thompson, community-supported art initiatives such as CSA PGH exist. The program paid him to stage an unusual performance with imaginary can openers in 2015 for a small audience of local art patrons.
6 comments:
This is a category of organizations that I did not know existed, and it makes me happy to know that it does exist and is successful at supporting artists, and a fairly popular to participate in. When I started reading this article I was thinking of CSA's as an outlet to support performance art or types of exhibits or installations. I was surprised to read about visual artists getting to create "prepaid" artwork. That is a pretty effective way to support visual artists too, because the artist feels more compelled to create work if they have already had it paid for. I am interested in how the CSA in North Dakota supports culinary arts. I was also interested to see how some of these CSAs are in more rural midwest states. It is cool to see that there are people in places that we do not associate with large artist's communities, supporting and campaigning for larger artist communities. I wish that there were more CSA's with lower priced shares so that young people can support art and be exposed to more art. If CSA shares are selling out so quickly, by making more shares at a cheaper price would let more people enjoy these artists's work while still supporting the artists.
When I started reading this article I initially thought that it would talk about experimental art as in experimenting with art rather than performance art. I love experimental art but this article takes a look at it for performance genres of it. I like this idea and am happy about the idea already existing and prevailing to be successful. It is exciting to see new things and have interesting emotions and results because of it. However, like Katie, I didn’t know this existed. I like the idea and would love to see some of this work at some point especially under one of the places named. It intrigues me. However, I am still disappointed that I didn’t get to learn about experimental artworks and instead learned about programs. Although not the art I was expecting, it still didn’t talk much about the idea and nature of it but more so what it is and where it is going.
I love seeing these kinds of organizations pop up in the past couple of years. Where I have seen it most change the nature of maker spaces and places were small time makers and creators have come together and created spaces for themselves to share work and space in order to stay afloat. For example small metal artist or jewelers who do it more then a "hobby" or something that they can hide in their basement but instead need a full production but don't have either the money or some other resource to expend upon growing their making. seeing this done for small local theatre and performance based art is genius in my opinion as it provides both the artists and the communities with amazing experiences and the ability to go back to the roots of theatre and artistic performance by creating pieces for and of your local audience which I find truly amazing.
I think this articles does a great job of presenting these programs as actual important organizations as opposed to something done for fun or on the side. There was a similar organization where I grew up that owned a few apartments downtown and would offer free residence and a small grant to artists that wanted to come to Phoenix to work. It was a great way to bring in new people to the art scene as well as give exposure to new artists. I have also seen galleries where new artists are rotated in every couple of months, selected via an application process, and given a small grant if their pieces are chosen in addition to their pieces being displayed in the gallery. I think this is a great combination of funding new art and at the same time exposing more people to art and the fact that it can be a career.
I also had no idea that these types of organizations existed, but I am extremely grateful that they do. It’s interesting to me how the article describes the way these organizations are able to pay their artists for their work, especially when they are in such niche fields such as miming. The system of paying the artists before they create their work is genius to me-- as the article states, this way they are able to create much more freely because the pressure to sell it to a general audience is not there. I think once these programs grow and hopefully become more widespread across the United States, there will be a positive surge in experimental and public performance art. I did wonder what the application process is like to become one of the artists the organizations support, especially since it is so selective. CSA Pittsburgh only selects six artists, and I imagine they must have to span a wide range of projects to be included in the organization.
Programs such as these are so important because they actually help expand the discipline of theater. Outside of these organizations there isn’t a lot of popular support for different types of theater so I love that these organizations ensure that young and innovative artists have support. I love the concept of an art CSA because the format gives normally totally unsupported artists a framework and a pressure to deliver that is vital for art to be made. It’s really hard to make something if you don’t know that you have a gallery or an audience to show to. I’m really happy that these programs exist because even if they are small, they are really important for promoting artistic innovation. It shows that more people care about local art then you would think. Reading about the effect that the organizations have on artists reinforces their importance and why I am so glad that they are being promoted.
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