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is an ongoing series (print, video, performative, postal) with my friend Emmett Ramstad. Our work was featured in vol. 2 of the 'zine Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet.

Making Money as an Artist is a collaborative multi-media artwork by Emmett Ramstad and Kelley Meister born out of frustrations with unemployment and rejections from grant applications. The project started when underemployed Emmett drew and photocopied 30,000 dollar bills in 3 days. He put the money in a briefcase and mailed it to the recently unemployed Kelley, along with a letter praising hir outstanding work as an artist. This was the beginning of a no-application-necessary granting agency for artists. By making it possible for anyone to “make money” and by creating our own “arts funding network” which trades on love and friendship rather than popularity, this project values artistic production on its own terms rather than as a commodity. In a time of troubled and slashed arts funding and increasing poverty amongst artists (not to mention everyone else), Making Money as an Artist, intends to grant over a million dollars to individual artists. In time we also aim to hold “money making for artists” workshops in which artists will be taught how to invent, draw and reproduce their own forms of currency. It is our hope that this piece will inspire folks to make their own money and continue the project in their own art circles, thus adding to the number of artists making money as artists. 2011 - Ongoing