If you're an artist and you're independently wealthy or supported somehow and you're involved in conversations about the state of the arts, please let that fact be known about you. I know a few people who do this (very elegantly) and it's helpful.

It lets people know that they are not all experiencing the same level of precarity. I respect people for their honesty. I've known artists who speak emphatically about cuts to arts funding and I know their studio is paid for by a partner, for example.

That's not a tacky judgement on them in any way, please go ahead and rail by all means. We need that. But let others know the circumstances don't impact on you the same way. Then everyone else can decide what attention / energy to give to your input.

It's like those interviews you read with people who buy their own home under 30 then ALWAYS in the small print it's because someone gave them a deposit. Just own it! But don't also pontificate on the state of the housing market. We need a clear picture of where we are at.

I tell the younger artists I work with that I have *at least* 2.5 days a week of steady freelancing that pays for most of my very low living expenses and that makes every other mad scheme that I undertake possible. I don't live on dance pop-ups and poetry nights.

The last bit: Let's also destroy the romantic image of the struggling / starving artist. I wish we ALL had inheritances! The (white) middle classes already run the arts, let's have a proper look at the water we are swimming in.