Lifestyle

Happy 2014!!!  This will be an even bigger year for us than last with the impending birth of our daughter and all the lifestyle changes that accompany being parents.  While that's incredibly exciting for us, I want to talk about a different lifestyle here.

There are so many art associations and involvement type organizations for people to join all over the place both online and in person.  Local ones, such as the St. Tammany Art Association and The Arts Council of New Orleans; regional ones, like Louisiana Division of the Arts; national ones, like Freelancers Union and the National Endowment of the Arts; and selling focused types, like Etsy and Big Cartel all offer membership and benefits of varying degrees for a fee.  Freelancers Union offers health insurance benefits for any type of entrepreneur (not just artists), which is pretty cool and to my knowledge, fairly unusual.

What these organizations offer collectively is a certain lifestyle. You can be a part of one or all, and depending on how involved or active in these groups you become, they can act as your professionsl network all the way to your social life. There's a sense of belonging with your own type and profession.
 

This post was originally typed in January 2014.  It was never published until now because I never thought it was finished.  Today, I decided it was ready.