ICYMI: A New Deal for Artists in the 21st Century
From the Mellon Foundation: "Rachel Chanoff, founding director of Artists At Work, speaks to the Mellon Foundation about forging a new model for artist-driven community collaborations and why we need artists as problem solvers."
Chanoff speaks to the uniqueness of this model, "We put the artists on our payroll at a living wage with benefits for up to a year. They’re paid for two things: to make beautiful art and to be embedded in a social impact initiative. Not only are artists the messengers who help us make meaning of the world, they have the most extraordinary ability to bring creative thinking to a problem and help solve that problem."
The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture) serves as an example of this model with their current community-centric projects.
Current GIA board member, Carlton Turner, serves as lead artist/director. "Sipp Culture is able to provide rehearsal space, housing, planning support and can participate as a partner and consultant in the realization of bringing new southern rural stories to the field," according to the MCCP website. "Through this program Sipp Culture offers artists support which is tailor-made to fit their developmental needs."