Datebook: More than 100 San Francisco artists will be guaranteed $1,000 a month for six months under a pilot program set to launch in May, following similar efforts by Stockton, Oakland and Marin County to support struggling residents during the pandemic.
The guaranteed income program, announced Thursday, March 25, by Mayor London Breed, is accepting applications now through April 15 via the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ website.
3 comments:
I had just read about how Broadway workers will be getting vaccinations, and this is another step for artists during covid which I think is extremely great. Though some people may complain that $1000 a month is not enough for a living in San Francisco, I'd argue that it is a good boost for an artist to not slack with their work and still make an effort to produce and create art during covid while still having a good amount of aid so that if they fall short in their work due to the pandemic, they will be okay. In addition, San Francisco is a hotspot for artists, especially installation artists. I am surprised that they are able to afford this aid for all of their artists. I hope that they are publicizing this aid for everyone pretty well rather than keeping it on the down-low so that they do not have to aid so many artists.
What an exciting new way to support the arts! I’m not sure how new the idea actually is, but it's definitely something I’ve never heard of. Obviously, it's not super large in scale considering there are likely thousands of artists who would benefit greatly from this guaranteed income. But hopefully the 130 people can be an adequate test batch to vouch for the expansion of this program. Honestly, if a city has the money to do this, I don’t understand why on earth they wouldn't. It seems like it would have literally no downsides.
After reading the comments under the article I sense some extreme frustration from straight white male artists who say they can’t apply because the income is for artists “whose artistic practice is rooted in a historically marginalized community.” This doesn't technically excuse anyone because of their race, but would it be the worst thing if it did? Straight white men are not entitled to this. Just because someone is eligible for this grant, doesn't mean everyone has to be.
Why are the cis, straight, white men in the comments so upset that people in marginalized communities are getting the help they deserve?
This is an absolutely amazing idea to support struggling artist especially in this unprecedented time as work continues to be disrupted. It is pretty interesting that San Francisco has decided to give him artist $1000 a month on to help them during the pandemic. Unfortunately though the plan only includes 100 artist the need to be excepted through an application process and I believe that every single artist should have this universal basic income which brings us to the fact that universal basic income is something that Americans will have to really consider as a governmental program because right now we are undergoing the largest stimulus in United States history and it is only providing positive economic affects for everyone. Studies done on universal basic income show that when everybody is guaranteed a certain amount of income not only does creativity and artistry flourish, but also domestic violence goes down there is less depression and less of a detriment on mental health because of humans not worrying about whether or not they are going to live another day. I’m very happy to San Francisco has decided to take on this initiative and I feel like it is an amazing shift towards the economic policies that we will need to shift towards to help all people.
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