Re: [microsound] [OT] nn spew

[david turgeon <david.t@xxxxxxxx>]

> we were charging $100 per person (up to a maximum of 8 persons) for the
> workshop. Inter Access is a non profit org the $800 was to go towards
> paying for jeremys flights and a small teachers fee. So please get your
> facts strait befor posting stupid things like that!!! 

to be true, neil...  from the little i've witnessed so far, it seems nn
has a problem with nonprofits in general & not just this particular one.

from what i gathered, she maintains a sentiment against nonprofits
because she sees them as excuses for (artistic) exploitation.  honestly,
i don't agree fully with this (& i think there's much more aggressive
exploitation going on on the other side of the economic fence) but i
must say this topic is a recurring concern of mine when i think about no
type, for instance, as i do not pay anything to anyone, & yes, if i
decided to abuse of my position, then it would become exploitation.

i'm not saying that inter access is exploitative (i don't know them) but
i do know that artists are, indeed, routinely exploited for their work,
particularly when they are not well known.  some will say that it should
be all about the love of art & we shouldn't care how much money you make
for your work, but then you look at britney spears who makes millions
just for singing prefabricated pop songs & "for the love of art" begins
to sound like a silent acceptance of the exploitation/plantation (to use
nn's term) process.

as an example, my girlfriend works at a gallery.  she told me about the
selection process, whereby at some point the gallery decides which
artists they want to work with during the next year, but throughout the
year they may change their choices depending on the "artistic direction"
of the artist.  that is, if they don't like an artist's work anymore at
some point during the year, they will drop their project.  when i heard
that, my jaw dropped!  as an artist, i would DEFINITELY prefer a plain
"no" than a "yes, then no"...  "yes, then no" to me is sheer
psychological warfare; what does it have to do with "the love of art"? 
yet this is all considered normal practice...

....but then, isn't that the case with so many compilations nowadays? 
"please submit tracks for our compilation!"  after which the "best" are
selected & the rest is put to the trash, thank you, come again.  this is
considered fair when the compilation is put out by a true grassroots
label with no money, but the situation can easily turn into abuse when a
larger label does the same...  the question being, where do you draw the
line between "true grassroots label with no money" & "larger label"?

i'm not in nn's mind, but i think this kind of thing, the "économie de
misère" as i would term it, is probably what she has a beef with, moreso
than just inter access or even "canadian artist-run centers".  whereas i
think this sort of economy usually happens out of necessity, because
there's no other way to get things to work, to accept it & establish it
as an economical model, as many "artist centers" unfortunately do, does
bring in an ethical problem.  the problem, of course, is that canadian
culture is dramatically underfunded to begin with (because as a G8
country, we don't need culture, we have the U.S.A.) & the necessity
aspect is bound to remain for a long time still...

then again, by the way she addresses people, nn herself doesn't help her
case most of the time (& i often find myself in near-complete opposition
with her views), but she does bring in valid points...  they just don't
usually come off as pleasant.

~ david