I am a long time fan of Amanda (F) Palmer's experiments connecting with fans and making art. Here I wrote about her Kickstarter, and her important question re crowdfunding (paraphrased): how can we make crowdfunding work for artists who are not extroverts (famous example: Neal Stephenson), who don't want to interact with their fans constantly?
Since she asked it, Patreon has arisen as a partial answer to that question. Amanda was on the platform early, using it in interesting ways, involving her patrons in an ongoing discussion about how the patron-ing process is going for her and for them. This week she's asked for more feedback; the rest of this is going to be the public portion of my answer.
Here's the full list of art that Amanda has released (so far) because of Patreon.
I LOVE the political pieces. Amanda's musical + visual responses to the drowning of refugees in the Mediterranean, and Trump's call for a wall, are amazing. She released them after reflection, but soon enough to engage with current events, creating art in the face of hatred and death. Not always perfection, but always realness. As Bernice Johnson Reagon wrote,
... all of those people who hit every issue did not get it right, but if they took a stand, at least you know where their shit is.
[That's from Reagon's "Coalition Politics: Turning The Century", collected in Home Girls (1983), the best essay ever. It deserves a posting of its own. My point: Amanda is hitting every issue right now and staying sane and productive, which is a huge achievement regardless.]
So, I love the art that engages with the world. Mother was epic. How did that not become huge? This is the path: doing the deep spiritual work of empathy and loving our enemies. Normally I would have feared a scandal / backlash, but few outlets even covered it; why were they so afraid? In Harm's Way is also epic, in a different way. (And on the level of just-plain-art, both made me want to dance and choreograph again, even with my now-diminished capacities.) Please share them both, share all the Things ...
I haven't gotten fully wrapped around "The Ride" (patron-only for now) yet, but I've listened and re-listened to "A Mother's Confession" (the refrain is now a catch-phrase in my own life and omg that part about the quilt) and "Machete" (a tribute to a close friend, and more than that). My favorite animation is David Mack's for 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, an audio duet with her dad, and if I had to pick my ONE very favorite Thing (well, two actually because they're combined) it would be the stop motion video and song here.
Do I mind the covers? No, I like the mix of covers and originals and music and non-music stuff. I especially appreciated her concert livestream the night I was homeless due to a fire. Does Amanda take anyone's advice? I don't care! What I appreciate is that she's continuing to experiment and push forward and report honestly about how things go. That is really why I'm remaining a fan (and patron) even though times are tough for me right now.
(And Amanda warned us when she was about to release a flood of Things: she told us that we could cap our contribution per month. This turned out to be perfect for me; I'm participating but without the horrible suspense as to whether my PayPal withdrawals will wipe out my bank balance again, as they did when I forgot to cancel some of my professional tool subscriptions when I went W2 and that's another posting.)
So. I was a fan of both AFP and Neil Gaiman before they got together, and I'm grateful that they have not been too publicly couple-y, seemingly influencing each other a bit, but in general continuing to do the work that I originally began following them for. And I don't resonate with all of their work, but I resonate with their honesty and growing wisdom about process. Just a few examples ...
From NG I learned that all each of us can truly own is a unique point of view. That my point of view may be all I have to offer this world, and that it must be enough. I learned this from the characters chatting at Morpheus' funeral. In another vein, consider NG's blog posting that despite its official name shall be known throughout the multiverses as George R. R. Martin is not your bitch.
Meanwhile, AFP showed me (and many other 'white' people) what Twitter could be used for, with Losers of Friday Night On Their Computers, the funnest quick-forming network of all time. (People of color already knew what Twitter was for. But that's another posting.) And APF is a mega role model in terms of generosity with and amongst other artists. She has used her Patreon to funnel money to other artists (who are NOT extroverts - so it's a partial answer to her question), to let them do the things that they do best and to introduce their work to a wider audience. Thanks to her I am now a passionate fan of Jason Webley and all his multifarious projects, and my spouse is into Jherek Bischoff ... as a student and practitioner of collaboration I am always thrilled to see how hers blossom.
I could write much more, but it's bedtime so ... to be continued! Team Amanda, thank you and oxoxox!
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