We Need To Value The Arts - But Where Does That Start?

Why we are turning on the paywall at The Everyday School of Art...

We’re thrilled to be on Substack, which feels like a supportive and informed place to explore ideas. It also feels safe, and when the ideas you are sharing come from a personal place, that sense of safety is important.

We’ve written here, here and here about what we would like The Everyday School of Art on Substack to become. Thank you so much to all our new subscribers - its a joy to see you trickling in each day, and we know from the growing AccessArt membership how every person who shows their belief in an idea by subscribing helps build the energy - and before you know it there is a whole community, ready and able to help inspire and support each other.

We know that many of you spend bucket loads of energy inspiring and enabling creativity in others - children, teenagers, adults. You understand the value the visual arts bring to their lives.

But The Everyday School of Art is all about enabling individual creativity - your creativity, whoever you are, whatever life stage, whatever background - and it seems this is sometimes harder to value! The Everyday School of Art is about asking, “What about me?” It’s about reminding you that there is a value too, to your own creativity, which so often gets pushed aside.

So what does it take for you to value your own creativity? To listen to, and act upon, that tentative urge to spend just a small amount of time developing ideas and skills? What triggers do you need, and what habits can you set in place to turn stimuli into action? What will the reward feel like, when those small creative acts are given space to land and grow? And might that make you feel richer, more fulfilled?

Each week at The Everyday School of Art we aim to give you the stimuli, ideas, support, conversation, understanding and accountability that will help you shine a light on your creativity, and nurture it into action. Written from two perspectives, that of young person just starting out at art school, and a mother returning to her own creativity, we hope our posts and interviews will not only help you see the value of your own creativity, but also hold ourselves accountable, as a community, to the journey we are on.

Of course, building The Everyday School of Art takes time, energy and ideas. We have turned on the Substack paywall because we believe creativity should always be valued, yours and ours.

So if you are not a paid subscriber, and you come across our paywall, we hope you will be understanding of why we are asking a small monthly payment to access the energy of the community. We especially appreciate your vote of confidence at this early stage, when our Substack is new - and we hope we bring our reputation with us so that you feel you can trust in our intentions.

That said, we understand that times are tight and we certainly do not want to exclude anyone on financial grounds. If for whatever reason you are unable to afford the small subscription cost, please don’t be shy - email paula@accessart.org.uk and we will give you a complimentary membership (no explanations needed).

You can also gift a subscription, and you can also earn free months by referring friends.

Thank you for your support - and we hope we pay it back in leaps and bounds. Good luck on your creative journey - we can’t wait to get started.