The Dangerous Illusion of the Money-Free Fantasy.
Let’s address a question that circulates through creative networks and boardrooms alike: ‘What would you do every day if money was not an obstacle?’ This question, posing as an invitation for vision, builds an entire paradigm on a fundamental untruth: that money is, or should be, absent from the artist’s or founder’s reality.
This is not only reductive—it is actively cruel, particularly for those already operating under tight margins or fighting for the infrastructure to sustain a cultural project. It asks leaders and directors to create solutions outside the material structures that enable real-world impact. It suggests that fulfillment and reward should exist separately, as if desire and compensation are incompatible. This is the fantasy of scarcity, dressed as creative freedom.
Money as Structural Material, Not a Moral Problem.
Money is not divine or demonic. It is a tool—integral to the systems that shape culture, work, and life itself. To suggest artists or cultural founders build their vision outside these structures is to isolate them from the very society their work serves. It erases material realities: studios, materials, marketing, advertising, networking, travel, living—all require resources. To ask artists to imagine a world without money disconnects their labor from its value, and denies them the recognition structurally normalized in other fields. It’s not about desire for luxury. It’s about participating fully and without apology in the economic conversation of society.
The False Divisions Between Art, Labor, and Worth.
There is a pervasive belief—almost by design—that creative labor should float above the economic plane; that seeking remuneration taints the integrity of the work. This toxic split, reinforced by anecdotes comparing artists to relatives who ‘also paint,’ compels creators to justify their fees, as if artistry is self-indulgence rather than cultural infrastructure. When artists, founders, and directors do claim their worth, they risk guilt or backlash, as if to be motivated by both love and compensation is deviant. Maintaining this division not only undermines individual livelihoods; it undermines the sector’s ability to advocate for systemic change.
A Paradigm Shift for Creative Solution-Based Leaders.
What if leaders, founders, and directors reframed the central question? Not, ‘What would I do if money didn’t matter?’ but: ‘Given the material realities of a world where money is both necessary and available, which systems or ventures would I design to ensure both impact and sustainability—for myself, my team, my sector?’ This reframing brings creative labor back into society’s core, where it belongs—not on the margins, not as a quaint add-on. It aligns mindset with infrastructure, vision with viability. It expects reward commensurate with contribution.
Framework: The Structural Alignment Audit.
Block out 30 minutes. List every activity, system, and resource required for your creative or cultural work to thrive—studio space, materials, legal support, marketing, time for rest and research, etc. For each, identify its direct cost and who currently covers it. Where are you absorbing unpaid labor or invisible expenses? Which necessary costs are being romanticized as ‘optional,’ or deferred? Next to each expense, write a mindset statement: ‘I value this at [true cost] because it is integral, not incidental.’ This audit grounds your vision in reality and prepares you to negotiate, fundraise, or advocate for what your work truly demands.
Reflective question
How would your priorities and decisions as an artist, founder, or director change if you insisted that money—and fair compensation—remained central to every conversation about creative value?
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