An invitation to collaborate
After my crowdfunding campaign for Friends We Haven’t Met wrapped up I was at loose ends for a bit. Because my wife and I were still unable to live together legally, we were splitting our time between where I was living in Calgary, and where she was living in Seattle. Regular travel back and forth was fine for her job, but made it nearly impossible for me to find paid work.
At that time I began to look into Patreon as a way to get ongoing support for my podcast, writing and art. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t confident enough that it would work, so I put it off and put it off.
I’ve since had a few contract jobs, but they haven’t panned out. I find myself stuck in a cycle of knowing exactly what I want to do (produce Everything is Workable, write, and make art) but never being able to get paid for it.
Of course, the ‘getting paid’ part isn’t why I do any of it, but the way the world is set up means getting paid is essential for survival. So I take a job doing something less satisfactory so I can have the finances to do the things I find fulfilling, only to find my energy and time sapped by the job, and the things I love doing neglected. The enthusiasm and longing are still there, but at the end of the day I’m wiped out, and thus my mental health begins to deteriorate as I spiral down into the existential black hole of ‘I’m wasting my life’.
I am not unique in this, and indeed, it’s my awareness that I am not unique that has also contributed to my putting off the launch of a Patreon page. I am no more deserving of making a living doing things that are meaningful and fulfilling than anyone else.
But this attitude of unworthiness is a large part of why the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Throwing out the attitude of Unworthiness
We are a society that assigns value according to income, a model that sets up ‘ye who has the most money’ as the ‘winner’. But I don’t see it as ‘winning’ to have an excess of cash with which to make unnecessary expenditures when millions of people are suffering from a lack of access to the most basic of human needs, like clean water or enough food.
I don’t want to contribute to such excesses and money has never been a motivation for anything I have done. Money is and should be treated as a means, not an end.
Patreon is a disruptive platform. No ad execs are telling you to buy the work of the creators who use it. You determine if you value the work you see and then decide to support that work — for as much or as little as you can and for as long as you want.
I use this platform to support Amanda Palmer and Ian Danskin.
Amanda’s page is set up as a ‘per thing’ contribution. Every time she assembles a team and creates something, she triggers a payment. I know that I’m not just paying her for the songs she writes, but also the many people with whom she works. The contributions she receives certainly help her continue her work, but also help other artists get paid for their work too.
In the case of Ian Danskin, my contribution is monthly, and he is seeking to build a salary. Why do I support him? He puts out videos that present a model for critical thinking. He produces work that is transformative — guiding us in how to examine our world and the many lenses through which we can view it.
These are valuable things, and as long as I can, I choose to support them. I give them money not so they can have money, but so they can create change through music, art, and discourse.
So why support me?
Ultimately, it will be up to you if what I have to offer is something which you want to support financially. On the surface, I produce a podcast, write a lot of blogs and make art, and occasionally want to publish a book. But beneath that, the work I do is not really about me at all.
I aspire to alleviate suffering — all suffering. A lofty goal, but one which I live by as it helps me set my intentions. In everything I produce my intention is to be of benefit and not cause harm. My work focuses on an outcome of liberation and justice for all beings. I do this through cultivating skillful means — testing my speech and actions to see what works and what doesn’t. I share my insights via my blog, in my books, and via podcast. I explore through examining symbols and creating artwork inspired by the things which I am studying. I bring the conversations I’ve often had in the private realm into the public, through the production of Everything is Workable.
‘I’ rarely come into it when I am writing a blog or working on questions for a podcast interview. Everything I do, I do because of ‘we’. Because we are interconnected and because I have connected to what it feels like to genuinely care for the well-being of others as I care about my own well-being.
I don’t want to make money; I want to make change.
Unfortunately, in a hyper-individualistic focused society, it’s very difficult to ask for money. As consumers, we have been trained to look at what we’re going to get out of it, and too often we look for something material.
Of course, as a patron, you will be getting physical stuff, as gifts are a wonderful way to say ‘thank you’. But I want patrons to support my work not just because they might get an art print or a signed book, but because they see what I’m doing as valuable in a bigger, non-material way.
Patronage will help sustain the work I do by covering basic running costs like:
~ Web and podcast hosting fees
~ A Creative Cloud subscription so I can do sound editing, marketing, and book design/layout
~ Art supplies, and equipment upgrades as and when they are needed
I would also very much like, as Amanda Palmer does, to pay the people with whom I collaborate — people who are, just like me, trying to do good in the world and also pay the bills.
After covering the costs of the infrastructure around the work I do, I always long to have enough income to contribute to worthy projects. I would love, for example, to be able to request a ramp be built by StopGap for a local cafe I frequent, and then also pay for it. Or to make a monthly contribution to Kiva to support small business owners in developing countries. Or to help fund one of the many projects being carried out by Reconciliation Canada.
As a patron of my writing, podcast and art, you would not merely be a consumer but a collaborator. What I do is meant to be engaging and fun — I want this to be a community space, where people can make suggestions for guests on Everything is Workable or invite me to blog about a question they are holding. I want this to be a space for love as an action, where you can suggest a charity I could support financially or someone I should collaborate with on a project. This should be a way in which we can work at creating a world in which we see that our value as human beings is inherent in our birth.
If all this sounds good to you, and like the kind of thing you’d like to be part of, please become a patron.
Thank you for your time and attention,
Kait