Barry's Blog @ CCI: Barry's Blog at CCI -

Hello everybody!

"And the beat goes on......................................."

This is a new blog aimed at artists which will focus on artist 's needs and issues. We hope you will join this community of artists and become a subscriber to this blog. Please scroll down and enter your email address in the subscribe box. Thank you.First issue will be consideration of health care and health insurance coverage for artists.

My name is Barry Hessenius. Welcome to Barry’s Blog at CCI. You have been included on this listserv because you are an artist or work directly with artists.

The purpose of this blog is to address issues that are important to you as an artist - professional or amateur: everything from health care and health insurance to legal issues (from tax considerations to contracts); from available training and professional services, to where and how you might better create public access to your art (be it via exhibition or performance); from discount supplies to continuing training options; from how to market yourself and your work to getting media attention – and the scores of other issues that impact you and your profession. We intend to publish four to five issues of this blog over the course of the rest of this first year.

We hope to include online discussions, interviews, links to other sites, news and information from a wide variety of sources (including you), research, survey results, published articles and all kinds of other information to seriously address the issues, concerns, and challenges facing today’s artistic community. You can help us by passing along our link and encouraging other artists to subscribe to this blog, and by sharing your ideas, insights and knowledge. We want this blog to be of real and direct value to you.

We want you to know that we respect your privacy and understand and appreciate that there is already too much invasion of each of our email boxes. You can “unsubscribe” to this blog at any time by clicking an always provided “unsubscribe” button. You will get an email announcement of each new blog - including a thumbnail description of that blog's major focus.

So, you may ask – just who the hell is Barry anyway? I have been involved in the arts for four decades. First, in the private sector as an attorney representing clients in the music and television industries, then briefly as a stand up performer doing a one man show, and for the last 12 years - in the nonprofit arts field – first as the President & CEO of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies (an umbrella service provider to California’s 250 local arts councils and commissions), then as Director of the state agency, the California Arts Council for 5 years (appointed by Gray Davis) and most recently a brief stint as the Executive Director of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. I am an author (Hardball Lobbying for Nonprofits – Macmillan & Company New York 2007) and an independent consultant and speaker. Click here for a full biography www.cciarts.org/barrysbio.htm

I already write a blog directed at arts administrators distributed by WESTAF available at: www.westaf.org/blog

FIRST UP – ISSUE #1 – health care and health insurance – What options do individual artists have in 2007 for coverage.

I. Health Care and Health Insurance:

Consider the following facts:

There are some 36+ million people in California
18+ million of them have some kind of "employer" based insurance coverage
10+ million of them qualify for some kind of public health insurance program (e.g., medicare, medical etc.)
8 million of them are uninsured. A substantial (and perhaps disproportionate) percentage of artists (because their income levels are not high enough to afford coverage, but too high to qualify for public programs) are in this category.
80% of the costs of medical care are spent on 10% of the population (largely on the oldest people)
15% of the U.S. GDP (gross domestic product) is spent on health care
Insurance premiums have risen by 73% in the past few years. Wages rose 15% during the same period.
The conservative estimate of the number of 'working artists' (individuals who identify themselves as "artists" in terms of their income source for IRS purposes) living in California is between 375,000 and 500,000 (and many experts feel the number of actual working artists in our state is closer to one million.)
The arts sector remains virtually unorganized in any political sense in terms of leveraging their aggregate numbers for lobbying purposes. In fact the arts sector - artists and arts organization staffs, boards, volunteers, supporters etc. may be the single largest and economically most powerful NON REPRESENTED POTENTIAL POLITICAL FORCE IN AMERICA.

Think about that last bullet point for just a moment. The nonprofit arts (not counting the 'for profit' arts sector) are a $4.6 billion a year industry in America - accounting for millions of dollars in local, state and federal tax revenue to governments, hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions in economic activity, constitute a huge portion of tourism related dollars, and play a significant role in everything from home values in a given area to promoting civic pride and cross cultural understanding and cooperation -- and yet, DESPITE this extraordinary level of positive contributions, as a sector, we have virtually no political power or clout - and we as often as not, get the short end of the stick. Consider that California ranks dead last of the 50 states in funding for the arts at three cents per capita (compare that to New York at $2.75 per capita, and to Europe where no nation spends less than five dollars per capita in support for the arts. Add to that the fact that the arts sector has huge potential to raise the funds to become politcally powerful by holding performance benefits and other kinds of fundraising, and the question becomes WHY don't we do it? Why do we choose to remain politically impotent when all that would seem necessary to become a real force, is our collective "will" to do so? If the field were to exercise even a small portion of its political and economic influence, it ought to easily be able to pass legislation that would address its health care insurance needs.

Frankly the arts ought to be as powerful as the teachers unions, the pharmaceutical industry and the NRA.

OK - back to health insurance. As a sub-group, artists have some unique, identifiable problems in terms of insurance coverage (and by and large because of these barriers, the 'deck' is stacked against artists having access to both health care insurance, and in many cases, adequate health care itself.)

COVERAGE OPTIONS: As most heath insurance is offered through employer based plans, artists (as self-employed people) often have no options for affordable coverage. Artists have no direct access to insurance providers except as individuals. As individuals, they lack any "group" buying power. Artists often work part-time, seasonally or episodically, and it isn't practical to apply through employers and then re-apply a short time later ad infinitum (assuming coverage was even available). Many artists work two jobs - PLUS their artistic endeavors.
HIGH COSTS: Health care costs are rising, coverage is shrinking.
AFFORDABILITY: For many artists, because of age, where they live, COBRA, and other factors, the pemiums are so high that the insurance coverage available to them simply isn't affordable.
DISQUALIFICATION: Insurance providers exclusion of "pre-existing" conditions disqualifies increasing numbers of people from affordable coverage.

The adoption in Massachusetts of a form of a universal health care insurance system has prompted other states, including California, to consider similar plans. There may now be an opportunity for the artist and the nonprofit and 'for profit' arts communities to join with other sectors of the wider population to influence and impact the consideration of these proposals and to help to get a universal health care insurance system in place that at least addresses some of the major issues facing Californians in general, and artists in our state specifcally.

Survey Please:

We need a snapshot of where California’s artists stand on health care and health insurance. A map of who is covered, who isn’t and why. And where artists stand on the issues related to health insurance coverage.

Please help us by taking a brief, and very easy to complete online Survey – mostly multiple choice questions. Click here to go to the Survey: www.artistsunitedforhealthcare.org/survey

Links: CCI has teamed up with LINC (Leveraging Investment in Creativity - www.lincnet.net), The Actors Fund www.actorsfund.org and Evolve Strategies, a social action technology firm, to create a new website - www.ArtistsUnitedforHealthCare.org with summaries of the major issues involved in the proposals for a universal health care plan in California, and easy click through action steps for you to send messages to your state assembly member and / or state senator, if you so desire. The next TEN weeks will be a crucial time if artists are to have any influence and impact on what kind of provisions are in a health care / insurance bill passed in California. Artists need to register their position with their elected representatives. You can be sure the opposition will.

Here are some links to some other websites with information and background on health care insurance issues – particularly as related to artists:

www.health-access.org - summary of proposals in the California legislature

www.ahirc.org - state by state information on health insurance plans

www.itsOURhealthcare.org - campaign for quality affordable healthcare for all Californians

www.sfhp.org/HealthySanFrancisco - details of SF's coverage / insurance plan

II. The Town Hall Meeting:

CCI convened an historic Town Hall Meeting Saturday, June 16th in Los Angeles. Over 650 people attended, making it likely the most successful arts Town Hall meeting called in California in years. Attended by the Mayor and nonprofit leaders and artists from all over southern California, the focus on the gathering was on the issue of health care and helath insurance coverage reform - particularly as any reform would benefit artists. Click here to read Mayor Villaraigosa's address: http://www.cciarts.org/pdf_files/Mayors_Address_061607.pdf

CCI is working with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research - one of the leading think tanks on health policy nationally - to analyze the artists' survey data, and that this will be reported back in the blog at the end of the summer. And we hope to then spur an ongoing dialogue and conversation by and between artists and those in the arts field about what we can collectively do to at least weigh-in on the issues involved in a fairer, more equitable, and more comprehensive health care insurance system in California.

The Future:

Next month this blog will begin to dig deeper into the issues attendant to health insurance coverage for artists. We will explore the major planks of the various proposals for universal health care insurance being considered by the California Governor and State Legislature, and how those issues might impact individual artists and begin a discussion on which parts of which proposals would best serve the artist community, and how we can work with others to support inclusion in the final proposal of those parts. We will look at costs, coverage, loopholes and hidden problems and what options artists might have to influence the final decision making. There is a real 'chance' that some sort of health care / insurance proposal will pass this year. We want it to address the needs of artists.

Attendees at the Los Angeles Town Hall meeting submitted questions that they (as practicing artists living in California in 2007) wanted to have addressed -- far more questions than time allowed to consider at that gathering. We've gone over those questions and intend to feature as many of the ones shared by a segment of the community as we can get to over the next few months - including these:

The number one problem in LA is housing for artists. If they can’t live here, we will have no art.
How does an individual artist go about finding a fiscal sponsor given that many more grants are accessible to 501(c)(3) companies rather than individual artists
Is there a database for artists to find grants and fellowships specifically for Californians.
A big problem is that the City doesn’t have grants for international art exhibits, taking LA artists to other countries. Why not?
How can we use audiences to create more government support
Could there be a one percent tax on profits from the motion picture industry that goes to a County arts fund?
In order to make LA nationally and internationally significant, somebody needs to advocate for LA performing arts. Who? How? Any ideas?
What should the top priorities be for small arts organizations, volunteer-based with little experience in advocacy, to get their seat at the “big table?” To avoid getting lost in the shuffle? To secure funding? To achieve accessibility?
How will nonprofit arts organizations as 501(c)(3)s compete for the coming generation of workers when corporations offer a more sustainable future with better pay, stability, health care, etc?
Is there a pay/salary standard for working artists teaching art in the schools in LA? If so, what is it?
As a teacher and artist, I have tried to apply for grants to begin an arts program after school at my school. Since I am a teacher, not a nonprofit, this has been a disqualifying factor. Do I have this right and if so, will the rules change?
Are there any studies done of the existing successful arts programs in Europe (specifically Germany) to be considered to be implemented in LA County?

These were just a few of the questions - touching on just a few of the issues - that are of concern to artists. We hope to use this blog to ratchet up the discussion of the full range of issues facing artists today, and hopefully, begin to build some sense of 'community' in the process

PLEASE share with me and the readers your thoughts, ideas, concerns and knowledge (including pointing me and the readership towards and resource or source of information – article, website, speech, proposal etc. that might be useful - by scrolling down and entering a comment to this (or any future) blog. This blog tool will work best if it enables the whole of the community to share information and promote dialogue and discussion. Our basic power comes from our numbers and our willingness to spend the time to get involved.

Thank you.

Have a great week.

Comments

OK...so many thoughts when reading your blog. first off, way too much info presented at once. i think it would flow better if you present one topic at a time and let it grow more naturally. i understand that this was a first post but still...
anyway, yes health insurance is an issue, not just for artists but for everyone. (yes, i did go and fill out the survey)
i attended the event in LB at the MOLAA recently which covered (sort of) some of these areas. i have to say i was not impressed by some of the presenters. for example, the marketing for visual artists presentation was terrible -very uninformed and under-prepared in my opinion. if you want to help artists, don't lead them astray like that. they need all the help they can get.
i also cringed when i read your sign-off, "don't quit" ??? we artists must be a very pathetic group! we sound very whiney! not a group that i want to associate myself with.
a little about me?
i have been a self supporting "artist" my whole life- never worked for anyone else- for 30 years now. i actually consider myself a "maker" having been shunned in college for making more that one of something in order to make a living from my work.

another thing i noticed at the event was the proliferation of people wanting grant $ etc..
why do artists think that the world owes us a living? i think it is another reason artists struggle to survive. i see it as a form of welfare that is hard to remove one's self from once the habit is established. personally, i would like to see a whole new attitude prevail. one coming from strength, independence and knowingness rather than from weakness and dependency. i know this is probably blasphemy to most people who will read this but perhaps if it helps one artist gain a new perspective it may be worth the hate email i may receive. there are artists out there like myself who are willing to share our experience and mentor younger artists as they work toward financial independence. i look forward to following this blog and seeing how it develops.

Posted by: shiborigirl | July 12, 2007 01:10 AM

Hi there,

I thought I would address some of the questions that came up from the Town Hall meeting and the Long Beach Tune Up. For those artists who are looking for ways to support their practice either through grants or without writing grants, there are a number of solutions.

Those of you who want to apply for grants (for things like starting an after school program usually reserved for organizations) you can find an organization with a like minded mission and ask them if they will be a fiscal receiver. This means that you can apply for funds (or get a check from your rich uncle) through the organization, and the donor gets a tax write off. You get the funds through the organization, less administration and legal fees.

There are also lots of ways to support your work and get things donated without having to write grants. If anyone is interested, I will be presenting both grants and funding without writing grants for the CA Lawyers for the Arts in Santa Monica, Wednesday, July 18th at the Ken Edwards Center. (See their web site for more info). It cost's $20 (but I am donating my time) so if you can't afford it, email me and I can send you to some great resources or send you more info.

I agree that artists need to stop "waiting" for everyone (curators, dealers, funders) to allow them to get something done. I am a firm believer of the DIY approach.

I also run an artist run company for artists located in Los Angeles, and we are moving towards Phase II of our web site and will be adding many resources and links for artists. We are launching a FREE newsletter (ARTIST'S AT WORK) the first week of August, and the first issue is on Studio Visits. You can subscribe by going to our web site and signing up for the mailing list. www.gyst-ink.com.

I am hoping everyone will contribute with suggestions and ideas of things you want to know about, so do not hesitate to email us.

OK, enough for now. If I get energetic I will answer some more of the questions posed if no one else does.

And thanks Barry and CCI.

Posted by: Karen Atkinson | July 12, 2007 04:39 PM

I have a few comments. First I agree with Shiborigirl that the blog topics need to be broken up better. All the info on grants in one post on health care in another etc...

I do not agree with Shiborigirl that artists grants are the same as welfare. Since you have to actually do the work & account for how the grants are spent on your art you cannot just not work and recieve grants to support you. Just because some artists need more help than others doesn't mean they have less to say as an artist. Some more experimental art may be wonderful but hard to market. Does that mean it should be abandoned in favor of art that can be remade over and over to sell for profit? No. I think that giving up growth & development is too steep a price to pay. This is one way that grants can help not only individual artists but the progress of art over a period of time.

As for the healthcare survey. I took it, I have health care now but the survery failed to ask a very important question. How many artists surveyed who have health care have to keep it because of they or family members have cronic health issues that would be to expensive to treat if not insured. How many artists cannot dedicate themselved to thier art fulltime for this reason?

Kim Wyatt

Posted by: Kim Wyatt | July 13, 2007 05:37 PM

Thanks for the dialog here Kim. I know my comment sounded a bit harsh but I do believe that all the focus on grant $ how to get $ out of a rich uncle so he can get the tax break can be detrimental to the development of an artist. I guess I just would rather see it balanced with other ways to become financially independent as an artist. I recently read an interview with an art collector and it made me think of this conversation here. Perhaps another perspective for an artist to consider. You can read the interview with a quilt collector at Linda MacDonald's site.

you said-
"Some more experimental art may be wonderful but hard to market."

true- and we live in a market based economy

"Does that mean it should be abandoned in favor of art that can be remade over and over to sell for profit?"

No, I have plenty of my own work I have created that's not ready (nor ever will be ) for prime time- but I still make it.

"I think that giving up growth & development is too steep a price to pay."

I don't think that making and selling production crafts / art/ work (for a *profit*) necessitates giving up growth and development. Who said those were mutually exclusive?

While some people consider me an artist, others consider me a crafts person. I consider myself a *maker*. I sell my work for a profit and I don't apologize for it at all. Perhaps I've been mistaken and my work hasn't developed or grown at all over the last 30 years in the eyes of some.
That's Ok. I know better.

Regarding healthcare- I'm sure you are right. There are many artists who work day jobs just to keep healthcare insurance. As there are musicians,
actors, etc. (many people who want to change jobs/careers don't for this very reason). The bigger issue of healthcare needs resolution. This won't be solved for artists until it is solved for the nation as a whole (if that ever happens!). In the meantime, it was good to see a healthcare/ insurance discussion table at the Arts Tune Up for those that need info on what is currently available to them.

Look forward to hearing more- hopefully others will add their thoughts to the mix- otherwise it's just a conversation between us! mata-ne!

Posted by: glennis | July 16, 2007 04:39 PM

Well, with all due respect to shiborigirl for being the first to blog, I don't know if starting this discussion with a complaint is the best way to begin, but anyway, as far as I'm concerned, having this discussion at all is something long overdue. It seems Mr. Hessenius has a lot of valuable knowledge to impart, and because no issue these days is simple, I'm sure there will be a lot to digest. I think as blogs go, the various topics will eventually fall into threads that you can choose to follow or not. In fact, it's probably a good idea to just find one or two that most interest you and build up your own knowledge base. But back to the discussion about health care, I am of two opinions on this. Personally, because I have never been able to afford health care on my income as an artist, it was my decision to do everything I can to keep myself in good health. Interestingly, when I did have coverage through my employer, I became sick! But I'll be in trouble if I'm ever involved in an accident or act of god and need serious medical treatment. That's really the only thing I worry about. That's because the whole issue of health care insurance is just another kind of dependence; it's disempowering, in my opinion. Michael Moore's new film has many examples of how dependence on insurance companies and corporate control leaves people feeling helpless and alienated. On the other hand, the argument has been made that access to affordable health care is something our government should be guaranteeing to all Americans, and I think artists can play a major role, even a leadership role, in supporting that cause. Whatever stage we decide to play on, it cannot help but bring much needed attention to the important role of the artist in our society. And that's a good thing. Grants can also foster a culture of dependence, and it did just that for many years, but the unwillingness to accept that day is gone is understandable given the lack of stability most artists live with. Grants give recognition and cache, but they really don't have much effect in the long-term. It really is a catch-22. So where and what is the tipping point? That's why CCI's new pilot grant program is so interesting. It's a new paradigm, one that can redefine everyone's notion of the artist, if you are willing to play. That's really the question isn't it? By the way, thank Mr. Hessenius and thank you Cora and everyone else you know who you are.

Posted by: Maya Gingery | July 28, 2007 12:02 AM

I would agree with Maya that individual threads or even a format such as a forum is a good way to break up the numerous topics this blog may evoke. Health care seems to be the top issue so far. In addition to taking the artists for health care survey, I would visit
healthcareforall website for more info. I was wondering what you (Maya and others) would be willing to budget for healthcare insurance. My monthly premium is $294 per month. This is BC PPO 2500 share- which means that I pay the first $2500. As an artist/ maker, I know that I am not going to be driving around new cars, buying much beyond the basics, but just the same I am enjoying life.
I also agree with Maya that we have a responsibility to be as healthy as we can but we all know that doesn't insure that we won't have a medical issue at some point. I think that it isn't in our best interests as a society to dish out health care only if you meet certain criteria (ie you have money,you don't have money you are in good health, you have an employer who provides coverage, etc.). We all have health, good and bad, and we all need health care some time in our life. It shouldn't be the case that people are financially ruined over their health care costs or that they don't seek treatment for fear of the financial burden that may result. It seems so obvious doesn't it? Even if you DO have health insurance you have to hope that you won't be fighting your own insurance company over the coverage if something does crop up. We all have to pay, but just how much should we be paying?

Posted by: glennis | August 5, 2007 02:40 AM