Exposure Doesn’t Put Bread on the Table

This is an important conversation if you’re an Artist who has ever given away your Artwork for free. Whether that was a donation of your Artwork or for someone that paid you in exposure. I am an Artist and I have a non-profit so I’ve been on both sides of this debate and I can tell you that no one wins when you give your Art away for free. I want to touch on both of these subjects because it’s important and there is a solution for both. 

The payment of Exposure. If you’re an Artist you have 100% been in a situation where someone asked you to do some Art and in return you get offered the good ol’ saying of “well it will be great exposure”. Okay, could you imagine saying that to a Plumber or a Dentist? No?! So why do people do this to us? Well society believes that what we do is a luxury but they always seem to need us all the time to do things. 

If every Artist stopped being paid in favors and exposure, then this stigma would end. If you want this to be your job, get paid. If money doesn’t matter to you, still get paid and then donate that money. If your product isn’t good enough to be paid then work on your product so it gets to that point. If you feel like you need practice and feel the urge to do stuff for free, if someone is asking you to do it that means you’re good enough to be paid. If you are paid properly for your Artwork then it will give you the space to create for the sake of creating. If you are consistently paid for your work properly it will give you the space to create for whatever reason you want. 

Moral of the story. Giving art for free does hurt you but if that doesn’t matter you always remember giving art for free hurts the entire Artist Community.