New ‘U’: Artists U offers new podcast series
Tools and tips for #SCartists keep coming
The same value-filled workshops #SCartists have grown accustomed to getting from Artists U are now available in a new medium anytime, anywhere.
To broaden reach, Artists U founder/director/guru Andrew Simonet is now offering a podcast series of conversations with artists across media. It’s called Artlife on Blast, and it’s the result of a partnership that includes 701 Center for Contemporary Art and the South Carolina Arts Commission. Michaela Pilar Brown, executive director of 701 CCA and a notable artist in her own right, joins Simonet to talk with featured artists.
Here’s a little more from Artists U:
We talked with South Carolina artists about making art, making a life, and making a living.- How do we nourish our practice and feed ourselves?
- And how much money could you make selling your CDs out of your trunk in the 1990s? (a lot, turns out)
We spoke with artists about things artists don’t always discuss publicly.
FatRat Da Czar has been building a life in hip hop and the artist community to nourish that work for three decades. Camela Guevara turns waste streams into art and her day job into her studio. Malik Greene is building a life as a self-taught artist and the first professional artist in his family. Cedric Umoja got honest with a community and told them the mural he was painting would probably be a gentrifying force (and the conversation that developed was profound). Ed Rice carefully managed his expenses to live off his painting for fifty years. Fifty. Years.
While editing, I got to listen to the conversations many times, and I gotta say: these artists are fascinating. In each episode, we also share some Artists U prompts and tools, ways artists are building sustainable lives.
Artists U made “Art Life on Blast”available on artistsu.org on these common platforms:
The series was created and is produced by Michaela Pilar Brown and Simonet (who edits, as you read above). Production support comes from Omme-Salma Rahemtullah. Music is from Sheldon Wright and Jamil Byron. Funding support comes by way of a partnership grant from the SCAC (/mic drop).
Go have a listen!