Painter sculptor carver glassblower metal-artist potter actor set-designer lighting-designer costume-designer sound-designer playwright director choreographer jazz-dancer ballet-dancer modern-dancer opera-singer jazz-singer classical-singer musical-comedy-singer performance-artist rock-singer rock-musician classical-musician poet novelist ballroom-dancer hip-hop-dancer hip-hop-singer beat-boxer aerialist cinematographer folk-dancer native-dancer folk-singer Latin-dancer swing-dancer belly-dancer tap-dancer clog-dancer sketch-artist screenwriter clown mime country-singer storyteller improviser busker magician juggler composer lyricist ethnically-specific-singer ethnically-specific-dancer ethnically-specific-visual-artist

Apologies to those I neglected.

Art breathes life into our lives.  Art offers us the only thing on the planet that has the capacity to make us better – hope.  Even existentialism compels us to rebel… and hope nonetheless.

Unfortunately, hope is not a measurable outcome.

We must find it within our best selves to find a system to fund individual artists separate and apart from arts organizations.  Not instead of, but in addition to.  We deserve to hope for better.