mutual aid disaster relief
plus a round-up of artist resources and reporting
Greetings in the wake of a lengthy, eventful hiatus. Here’s hoping you’re well and discover something useful in the findings below.
But first, deepest thanks to the readers who’ve reached out and offered to pay for subscriptions. For now, this letter will remain a sporadic labor of love between long bouts of focus on creative work. Substack might invite you to pledge, but just sharing or subscribing is contribution enough, and heartily appreciated.
If you’re rollin’ in it, though, please click here to support Mutual Aid Disaster Relief’s efforts in North Carolina, Florida, Gaza, and elsewhere.
arts
PAAL, a national network for parents and caregivers in the performing arts and media, offers free childcare at New York events, resources in cities across the US, free and donation-based consultations for artists, a range of grants, and more. Follow @paaltheatre.
Creatives Rebuild New York researches guaranteed income models and promotes sustainable economic policies in support of artists and creatives. Subscribe to their newsletter here and follow @creativesrebuildny.
Words of Mouth is a free, weekly newsletter listing jobs and opportunities for arts workers. Subscribe here and follow @words.ofmouth.
Utopianotes has some paywalled content but aggregates similar opportunities and open calls in free public offerings at the top of each month. Subscribe here. Big thanks multi-hyphenate writer and friend CQ for the recommendation.
labor
Alex Press on the Boeing strike
For workers faced with the soaring cost of housing, today’s average pay is a far cry from the family-sustaining wage enjoyed by prior generations.
Elaine Low on writer compensation and development cycles (paywalled; subscribe to Series Business)
Over the course of speaking with more than a dozen writers about the anniversary of the end of the Writers Guild of America strike, the topic of “how do we make this profession more sustainable?” often turned into a conversation about the many ways writers feel that year-round development has contributed to the fundamental problems the profession now faces.
media
Democracy Now interviews Ta-Nehisi Coates on his new book and visiting Palestine
I don’t think the average American has a real sense of what we’re doing over there — and I emphasize “what we're doing” because it’s not possible without American support.
Novelist Sally Rooney (again) on European support of US military spending
The US supplies about 80% of Israel’s weapons imports, as well as billions of dollars in aid. What is happening in Gaza is a US war. Israel simply could not afford to carry out this prolonged and resource-intensive assault on the Palestinian people without US money and weaponry.
Sarah Aziza’s reporting on Gaza and more (linktr.ee)
That’s how I see [the US]—a topography of closed doors, tight chambers of atomized anxiety and grief. It is under such circumstances, feeling terrified and alone, that we misread and betray one another. (The Nation)
Fadi Kafeety on American spending priorities
While the US arms and funds extermination campaigns and regional wars, its own citizens at home suffer an immense toll. The cycle of death can be put to an end by imposing an arms embargo and redistributing resources. The need to address ongoing catastrophe by investing in the preservation of life over profiteering from death is dire.
