Can Falling Behind, Put You Ahead?

By Patricia Frischer

The following blog was written before the election results. I have to say that more than ever we need a way to pull the community together and art has enormous power to do just that. The arts are fabulous because they are diverse and because art is a great way to show respect to all people. Being inclusive and transparent are cornerstones of San Diego Visual Arts Network. Please remember us in your year end donations.

Falling behind puts you ahead

There are so many times in our high tech lives where we feel we are not keeping up. But I have two instances which demonstrate that sometimes, falling behind puts you ahead.

The San Diego Visual Arts Network (SDVAN www.sdvisualarts.net) was constructed in 2003 and the coding that was used for the site is very old fashion as 13 years on the internet is a lifetime. Even when the site was updated about 5 years later, there was still no drop down sub-menus attached to the top menu bar. Little did we know that drop down menus are not very accessible on smart phones.  So now even though the home site is not the most user friendly on a smart phone, you can access all of our information.

AND our brand new app at www.sdvan.net/app is completely smart phone ready and easy to access. So if you are wondering how to find wonderful art at any time, just access the app, it will locate you and tell you about events near by and locate them on a map for you with directions on how to get there.  

Have you been as annoyed as we have with pop up ads on the internet? We have started to use ad blockers and that helps eliminate them. It turns out that so many people are using ad blockers that the advertisers are really worried about dropping sales and the sites that rely on their revenue may be starting to be in trouble. Although we don’t know what the future will bring, advertisers will probably find a way over this hurdle.  But on SDVAN, we never have put up ads to support the site. We raise funds through private donations, so you will never be annoyed by ads on our site. Nice to know we did something right, right from the beginning.

Help us continue this service to you and the community who knows how vital the arts are to the health of our region. We hope you will join in on Tuesday November 29, and give big to our 100% volunteer organization.

You can donate online, by phone or by check

Art to Spare

In this season of giving, let’s think a bit about exploring the possibility of giving away some art. You might be thinking about this if and when your art storage is full to overflowing or if you have to downsize to a smaller space or maybe you are just worrying about what will happen to your art if something happens to you?

Two options have come to my attention lately. One is to announce to friends and family that you have art that needs a foster home. They choose which works to adopt and sign an agreement that they will give the artist two weeks notice if the space becomes unavailable. The artist will give a month’s notice if the work is needed.

The other option is to think about donating your art to a non-profit facility that needs enlivening. Art has the ability to change lives and placing your art in a care center of some kind could be healing not only for the residents but for the staff as well.

These schemes have pros and cons. The obvious pro is that larger numbers of people will see your work than if is stuck under a bed, in a dark closet or in an expensive storage unit. You could save money and even find new clients. There could be a possibility that when you want the work back, the fosterer will be willing to pay to keep it. The main con could be that giving away your work might undermine the sales value of the work you are still marketing.

So these options might be best for those artists who are at the end of their career and wondering what will happen to their life’s work, especially if they do not have a knowledgably relative to inherit. Or maybe for artist who are socially conscious and have the funds available to support themselves without sales. 

With thanks to Anne Mudge who told me about art fostering and Jan Phillips who reported on Ruth Westriech who has an art for donation explanation on her website.