Artists are passionate people. That passion drives them to create endlessly despite, sometimes, economic and social setbacks. That passion also gives them the voice to speak up for issues that they find important, such as human-trafficking, domestic violence, or their own rights.

Artists understand that when they want to reach people around a certain cause, then the expression of the work that they use for activism has to be of high quality. If they can’t first make an impression through word, music, or visual, they certainly won’t reach the intended audience about the issue. Artistic integrity is as important as the issue itself.

Artists also benefit through collaboration when working on a social issue. Some artistic disciplines lend themselves more easily to collaboration than others. Music and acting, for example, require group participation and are often successful because of strong group dynamics. The visual arts and writing, however, are often created in solitude. But visual artists and writers do collaborate, and create successful projects, even though the act of creating most often happens alone.

Collaboration, though it can sometimes be difficult, is the key to producing a product that has an impactful social message.

Rowena Cherry, a writer and Copyright Advocate, asked me and Patrick along with Brenna Lyons, EPIC president, and Marci Baun, Publisher Wild Child Publishing, to speak on her internet radio show called Crazy Tuesday. We spoke, each from our own perspective, about how copyright is a worthy cause to stand up for. And, we heard about how copyright infringement impacts the lives of authors and publishers.

It was a great moment for all of us, to connect on an issue that we find so important.

That’s actually one of the things I love most about my job – to hear directly from artists. To hear their stories. Since the launch of our online letter to the President, artists have been contacting me from all over the country. I have heard impassioned stories of struggle with infringement and successes with getting a show or contract. Artists have shared their perspectives on what policies need tweaking, why they think art is undervalued, and how they are grateful that artists are coming together to speak up about the issue of copyright.

For me, it’s not always about having to agree on the nuances or implementation of the issue, but it’s about opening up the dialogue, engaging in civil discourse, and agreeing that the issue in and of itself is important.

That’s exactly what artists do best: create works to open up dialogue. Whether it be human-trafficking or artists’ rights, artists will always be moved to speak up about something.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 5:32 pm by Lucinda M. Dugger and is filed under creators, culture, piracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.