But…"I Don’t Want to Monetize": Public Practice Beyond Capitalism
For The Worldbuilders Ep. 035
Hey fellow Worldbuilder,
Words can’t express how full I still feel after Tuesday’s workshop. Do you still feel it too? I shared on Instagram and inside this week’s podcast episode above that my favorite part had to be when we shared 3 or more words encompassing the themes we braid inside our interdisciplinary practices. Since words can’t express the possibility and shared vulnerability we exchanged in this week’s workshop, maybe our collective chat poem made of braids will.
Writing, florist, & root worker sound, sculpture, textiles Water, herbs and conversations <3 Experience, journey, space, time Weaving, spinning, words sculpture, somatics, writing~~~~~ journaling, poetry, reading, digital painting, collages sometimes textiles, jewelry, ritual VR, sound, textile Writing Music and Games Writing, list maker, muse, connecter, beauty Curiosity and spirituality in all forms Moving image, coffee readings, ether Presence ink, herbs, lineages, liberation plants/herbs, tattooing, cloth, poetry farming, writing, building connections mvmnt therapy, vulnerability via storytelling, big journaling Doula: holder of spirit, creative divinities, and earth !! speculative geography, space / place / identity, deep listening, observation Dance, fibers, pigments, somatics, teaching, ancestral reverence animism, ancestral veneration <3 Prayer, plants, body, shower dancing Intuitive writing, holding change, design, care Writing, imagining, teaching Writing, listening, learning sound selection, pen/page, hateration and holleration story, music, divinity, ghosts director, soon to be mother Gaming, writing, daydreaming saying 'no', naps, journaling, staring out the window Shapeshifter breath, spirit, sensual energy Love, attention, ritual writing, collage, research, systems, folklore Data mapping, weaving, ancestry making things, astrology, collage Water, play, painting, herbs, ceremony detailing, research, conscience consumption performance, writing, improvisation Archiving, Afrofuturism, whimsy Fábrics, herbs, community, social practice painter, poet, engineer Writing, music, visual art, creative consciousness, erotica, folklore, divination, abolition poetry(love), visuals, spaciousness birth work death work sex work, power privilege and oppression at the intersections creative code, community, language looking, teaching, connecting mothering, ancestral lineage healing, political education poetry, gardening, textiles, hosting, archiving, mysticism social cohesion work, storyteller, space maker, multidisciplinary visual artist
Deep, deep gratitude for the gift that was Tuesday’s pocket of shared time. Thank you.
This Week’s Podcast Episode
In the workshop we talked a lot about generating income inside our creative practices, but we didn’t address the somewhat elephant in the room head-on which is the weariness and dis-ease around the concept of monetizing our creativity. Right? The very legitimate concern that monetization will compromise its pleasure and integrity.
In this week’s podcast episode we consider the following string of reflections:
Do I believe everyone should monetize their creative practice? No.
Do I believe everyone should practice in public? Yes.
Do I believe practicing in public produces value? Yes.
Do I believe we should get some sort of resource exchange for producing value? Yes.
Part of the beauty of being an artist is realizing the more you learn the less you know. But here’s what I am clear on: It does not serve us to pretend our art doesn’t have the capacity and the power to inspire transformation, to heal, to connect us in critical ways, to change a life. We are doing paradigm shifting, status quo disrupting work and it doesn’t serve the work to pretend that we don’t need our material needs met to continue doing it.
With that said monetization is one of many methods to engage in resource exchange outside of and beyond capitalism.
This resource exchange may take the form of money.
It might also take the form of skill or work sharing.
Maybe our offer consists of us going on tour and in exchange for facilitating a workshop or a cooking class or a book talk we receive housing in that city for that month.
There is more than one way to sustain a public practice. In this week’s podcast episode I invite us to consider that imagining new methods of resource exchange is also part of the creative practice of collective liberation.
“And what’s beyond capitalism is actually what existed before capitalism. There was resource-exchange. We are uniquely embodied with gifts that we can exchange with other gifted individuals. There is an existing paradigm that precedes and proceeds capitalism that ancient spiritual civilizations have been thriving off of for thousands of years, and we want a piece. How do we do that, today, in 2021? It’s not less available, by any means.”
— Dez Davis, “Ep#40 The Rich Witch Life: Permission to Prosper with Dez Davis” from the Your Story Medicine Podcast with June Marisa Kaewsith
The Seed A World Retreat is for anyone interested in receiving some form of resource exchange for the value their public practice provides inside the communities they dream of serving.
Strategy: Get clear on your numbers! We do this exercise in Week 3 of the Seed A World Retreat. Write down all your mandatory monthly expenses. Housing, car, food, bills, subscriptions, beauty, childcare etc. To determine how much would you need to cover to replace your primary source of income. Then make a visionary monthly budget. Include line items like healthcare, therapy, weekly massages, a self-designed writing retreat every 6 months, a physical art studio, fair pay for a studio assistant to help you with larger works, a mutual aid budget, art classes, ASL, poetry workshops, disability justice education or facilitation training etc. These are investments into your public practice and we use this monthly visionary income budget to price your offer accordingly.
Tip: Take note of what’s coming up as you do this exercise. Doubt, excitement, discomfort, possibility. A swirl of all four? Pay close attention to the thoughts that arise, interogate their source.
Remember: Our creative practices remind us we are already worthy of unfettered access to our imagination, our heart, our divinity, our desire, the futures our politic promises. We are already worthy of the resource exchange that makes our work possible. We are already worthy of the visionary income that makes our values aligned, public practice possible. Just like we can imagine the dozens of public practitioners who have added un-quantifiable value to our lives — who have fundamentally changed our lives and tenderly wrapped our spirit in love — we can also imagine being on that list for someone else.
New Workshop: Collectively Imagine Your Creative Offer
Monetization is merely a method but the work is the water, may your offer be the watering hole we all gather around. Join us on Thursday, the 25th at 12PM EST to Collectively Imagine Your Creative Offer. Let’s locate this watering hole together in the last Worldbuilding Workshop before enrollment into the upcoming retreat closes.
In this workshop we will discover your offer using The Creative Offer Questionnaire to Oneself then we’ll have an opportunity to share our reflections and get feedback from our peers. If you already registered for last Tuesday’s workshop, no need to register again but if you missed it, we would love to imagine alongside you next week. While we’re collectively ideating your creative offer, perhaps we’ll braid another poem with our love languages while we’re at it.
