Manifesto

We’re artists. We hustle, we grind, we sacrifice, and mostly, we feel that this precarious see-saw of an existence can’t be fair. In our bravest moments, we ask ourselves: “Is there another way?” We find no lasting answers. Round and round we toil, internalizing the myth of the “starving artist,” or perhaps seeing ourselves as a temporarily embarrassed ‘star,’ just one gig away from the breakaway success that’ll finally separate us from the pack. In the meantime, we take low-paying or unpaid gigs for what they call ‘exposure,’ despite the fact that work is work, and we do plenty of it. All the while the world abounds in art. Art industries eclipse sports and other popular forms of entertainment; art gives meaning, pleasure, and order to our social lives just as well as anything else. Yet most artists themselves lead a threadbare life, working long hours to struggle for a basic standard of living. There is a contradiction between worth and value -- between what we make and what we offer. Which leads us to another equally important question: “Why do we allow ourselves to be so constantly ripped off?” 

Anticapitalism for Artists  is an education community dedicated to raising the class consciousness of artists of all kinds in order to transform the living conditions of both arts workers and the world. We pursue this goal through an array of politically-focused education offerings accessible to a range of knowledge levels, all on a donation-based basis. Our work and community stand on the principles of overcoming racial capitalism, heteropatriarchy, settler-colonialism, and imperialism.

Anticapitalism for Artists was created to fill a vacuum and meet a need -- while many artists are already struggling against racism, sexism, ableism, etc, we believe that without a developed class politics, artists won’t be able to obtain the equality we often talk about and so desperately need. In truth, artists don’t just create within a bubble of inspiration, but work within a political economy. On some level, most artists can feel that the relationship of craft to our crushingly neoliberal society is untenable. Once empowered with a robust class politics, we believe they can fulfill their role in “making the revolution irresistible” as Toni Cade Bamara put it. Our goal is not just jockeying for a seat at the table, but the construction of a new house open to everyone. Artists are both architects and advocates of this work. 

Our community is led by the curiosities and passions of its members, facilitating an “anti-school” approach to learning, devoid of the strict hierarchies and isolating pedagogies found in typical educational environments. We pursue this through constant feedback, member-suggested offerings, and developing the teachers and facilitators of tomorrow. In meeting our community where they are at, and giving them someplace to go, we hope to build a base that is capable of sustaining itself through continued education and into political action. We see our place in a long lineage of artists who see their greatest power in collective resistance. This solidarity is also a breeding ground for new ways of relating to each other where, free from the competitive habits of capitalist logic, we can find fun and pleasure through mutual liberation. 

To accomplish this, we embrace a radical politics as Angela Davis defines radical, as “simply grasping things at the root,” while developing partnerships with activist and artistic groups who believe likewise. By centering the most oppressed, relying on each other, and asserting that there are “No gods, no masters, and no professors” we dare to transform ourselves, and change the world.