Who we are . . .
People's Art Republic is an artists' cooperative of various media that support, promote and encourage each other in our individual and collective expression.
Welcome to the People's Art Republic ! ! !
The Age of the Publishing Oligarchy is OVER. It arrived with the Gutenberg printing press in 1450 and has been ushered out with the arrival of desktop publishing, eReaders and on-demand printing. Today, books can be published quickly, at low cost and without the burden of manual setup. The capital requirements of publishing have been reduced to the point where putting word to page, paper or electronic, is an activity priced as commodities that can be outsourced to the lowest priced provider. Bookstores have transformed from 'Stick and Brick' retail establishments with limited bookshelf space to virtual sales venues with unlimited space. Social media allows the artist to interact with the consumers at a level much more intimate than the orchestrated events of book signings, interviews and advertising. Marketing can be done at the 'Ad Hoc' level of the artist's day with a simple post; e.g., 'Hey, I need a break; my brain's fried. Come join me at XYZ for a cup of coffee, discuss the current project and look at the latest book. If you want to buy one, I have a few in my backpack and I'd love to sign it or just doodle a little in it for you. If not, we could just talk about the writing process, life . . . hell, anything under the sun instead.' Or the artist can schedule an online event with video, audio and the ability to interact with/answer questions from his/her readers via chat. There are no issues of accessibility, and the artist defines how he/she will use the myriad of media options that have become a widely available commodity. Finally, the publisher's last vestige of control, the Advance, has been slain by the emergence of Crowd Funding, which allows the artist to retain complete ownership of his/her labors and not struggle to survive. Crowd funding strengthens the artist/consumer relationship via direct exchange of rewards and money early in the creative process. People's Art Republic understands the convergence of all of these factors, recognizes the reality of the situation and how to avoid capture by the walking, breathing dead of the traditional publishing oligarchy. Join us and feel the freedom ! ! ! |
What we are . . .
We are members of your family, your friends, your neighbors, your acquaintances and people you have never met. We are artists, non-artists and would-be artists. We are the people standing next to you as you rush through your modern life . . . but we never have entered into a direct discourse. We are an association (a Republic, if you will) that recognizes we have common human needs, including artistic expression. This need has been with us since our beginnings. We see its expression on cave walls and rock faces globally. We hear it expressed in the different genres in our music. We read it in our literature, where before the written or printed word, we conveyed information in our storytelling. Before we lived in collectives, before we specialized and became interdependent, before we developed economic infrastructures, our need to stimulate our senses and emotions and to share the experiences emerged, but our ability to share has always been limited. We were limited by distance, transportability, production costs, languages, cultures and traditions. These hurdles unwittingly conspired to isolate the individual artist and lead to the formation of entities that controlled the distribution of our art. It lead to economic models which made art available but limited by what was defined as worthy art, or economically viable art . . . art that could not only offset its production cost but leave a profit for those who reproduced it and supported the channel to its consumption. Artists who flourished under this model were only those that the public demanded be produced, thereby transferring the power from the publishers/gallery owners/ etc. to the artist. The problem was that reproduction and distribution costs were high and therefore lead to suppression of artistic expression, as monetary resources are limited. To produce art, you must consume your time for which you may or may not ever be monetarily compensated . . . welcome to the world of the 'Starving Artist'. The People's Art Republic recognizes technology has transformed the economic landscape upon which art is produced. We intend to use technology to build a new art marketplace in which the artists do not starve and that supports the production of more art by connecting the artists directly to the world community. The biproduct? An art community where artists themselves are the framework upon which art is supported. We understand that what we intend will be viewed as revolutionary by some, as it will impact their business models, but it is for the betterment of art. 'Every Generation Needs a New Revolution.' Thomas Jefferson Are you a Revolutionary ? ? ? Please consider joining ours ! ! ! |