While rehearsing with Jane Franklin in Shirlington, VA, I happened to meet an Arlington County employee who spends half his hours as the county’s liaison to the Arlington Sister City Association. The guy was needing to hire someone to do layout, and I jumped on it.
The ASCA is a member association, and in addition to their website, they wanted some printed collateral materials that would reach potential membership, and help their membership engage. A minor investment in layout expense was seen as leveraging all of the work/activities reported on in the newsletter. The contract was for a simple, professional, black and white 8.5 x 11 layout, delivered as printable pdf.
When we made the contract we specified up to 4 issues within one year at a flat rate. We didn’t specify the number of pages, how materials would be delivered, or when they would be delivered. The sample newsletter I was given (the thing I was hired to upgrade) was six printed sides. When I got the content for the first issue it was clear it would be impossible to do in less than 12 sides. For the next one it was 16 sides. For the one after 12. Understanding that each page of layout require a certain amount of time, I got pretty hosed with the contract, though I know not on purpose. If you click on the cover image to the left you can see a pdf of one of the newsletters.
I’ve gotten very positive feedback on the quality of the upgrade I delivered, and the Association has since hired me to produce additional graphics (save the dates, and invitations), so I’m pleased with that.
I know that part of the value they receive with my layout work is the time I spent with their images. I worked every printed image – tweaking levels, cropping, and fixing photographic malignancies that marred some of the images (before I got to them.) This shows nicely in the final printed copies.
As a freelancer I’ve learned that really nailing down the technical specifications for each component – including delivery dates for required materials – is helpful in ensuring peaceful completion of the scope of work.
This isn’t a policy paper below. These are my thoughts after working out at the gym. One of the geniuses of being out of power: you don’t have to take responsibility for squat. (I do think I’m right; I’m just hedging for all the reasons you’d imagine.) Here it goes:
3 Facts About Earmarks
dedicated with affection to the local arts community
1.
They infantalize the arts community. You turn us from professionals into professional beggars. Making us file grant applications for money is one thing. Making us need to establish collegial relationships with you to get what we need is dis-respectful. Everyone likes people who give them money. Well bring you flowers if you let us. But it exposes that somewhere in there, politicians think of artists/the arts community as pets. The city would benefit from being a real world class arts center. If you make the arts community a petting zoo, thats all its gonna be. You have to take yourself out of the equation. The work we’re doing isn’t meaningless. You need to respect it beyond politics. It’s like religion. It’s art. Please participate, and get out of the way.
2.
They undermine the ability of the State arts agency/ DC Commission on the Arts to effectively design integrated community support/granting programs. Using earmarks – two or three a year – is one thing. But using em constantly to grow organizations and fund special projects It would be absurd if I was walking into the DPW and after listening to a friend of someone who lives on a street spend one quarter of the DPW budget on something more or less out of the blue. Its nonsensical. Thats what you are doing when you write earmarks. Haphazard support is wasteful support. Support must constantly evolve and it requires attention. The decisions you allow yourselves to make in a few hours undermine all that attention. Put your faith in the experts youve hired to get it right and make certain they do. If you are committed to getting the maximum return on the citys investment, you need to give the commission more money (including a discretionary fund that could be used – with oversight from the commissioners – to handle emergency-type need), and make us stop grabbing for scraps at your table.
3.
They skew the success curve toward fundraisers, away from artists. Artists – and the arts organizations that serve them – are notoriously NOT politicians. Right now the organizations that are getting the extra pieces of the pie are the ones who are the best at development work. Are you trying to fund an arts program or are you handing out pie to people who court you well? Do you know enough to really know what our community wants/needs? What it already has, and is already developing? Have some patience, and faith in the process you oversee. I know youre only trying to help, and they’re all around, and very nice, and very convincing. I know that. And you do help with earmarks – a few a year. But for the reasons outlined above, its not really good for the city.
To sum up I’d like to add two things. One: I really want an earmark, and would make excellent use of the one time investment. Two: the problem with earmarks isn’t transparency, or funding unworthy things. That’s not why we have a problem with earmarks. Infantilizing, skewing programming, funding fundraisers not artists… that’s the problem.
When we made the contract we specified up to 4 issues within one year at a flat rate. We didn’t specify the number of pages, how materials would be delivered, or when they would be delivered. The sample newsletter I was given (the thing I was hired to upgrade) was six printed sides. When I got the content for the first issue it was clear it would be impossible to do in less than 12 sides. For the next one it was 16 sides. For the one after 12. Understanding that each page of layout require a certain amount of time, I got pretty hosed with the contract, though I know not on purpose. If you click on the cover image to the left you can see a pdf of one of the newsletters.
