Creative Folly: The Illusory Support of Artists by American Arts Organizations & Funders

by Lisa A. Miles

A decade ago, I published a book about a woman artist and her work, and the role of that work in  both larger American society and the art world.  Another one formally begins here, to expose the lunacy that underlies American arts organizations and funders’ support for the individual artist, and to propose alternatives far more sane, just, creative and in fact do-able.   

 

My biography of Esther Phillips, This Fantastic Struggle, was explicitly a cultural essay, as well, on the struggle that all artists face in trying to make a living, and thus deriding (appropriately) the little-respect society has for creative workers.  This current work tackles in-depth the illusory support by the American arts establishment, which is supposed to be championing the artist’s cause.  It is a required critical look at its means of supporting (or not) those that aim to make a substantive creative contribution to society, informed by my own longstanding work as a creative artist, but also many, many others working similarly.

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