Fathers Day and a $25.00 Challenge to Dads

Today is Fathers Day. I’ve been pretty lucky in the “Father” Category. My own dad, Gary White, is still around – a number of my friends can’t say the same thing. As far as fathers go, I think he ranks right up there. Didn’t drink, didn’t swear, didn’t use violence or intimidation to run the household. We all grew up knowing right from wrong and knew we were safe at home. Thanks Dad - you're still a source of sound advise and wisdom, and much of what I know about being a father came from you.

Me, well, I never thought I’d be a dad, although it was always something I truly wanted. Thanks to Gail, I have two fantastic little boys. Loudon (who turns 5 later this month) and Brennus (who is a raging 2 and a half). Fatherhood is both glorious and terrifying. I understand now that expression “I never knew what fear was until I had kids”. At the same time, the kids bring absolute joy (well, mostly – Brennus just got sent to time out for defiantly marking on our new chairs).

For this Fathers Day I got a new Batter Bowl (made by the wonderful Ellen Burge - if you follow the link you can see my bowl, it's the one with the spout), a new whisk, two beautiful hand-made cards – the first containing an orange hand-print that Loudon made a school, the second made by the boys and “Taunte” our nanny extraordinaire – and a touching card from Gail. I also got a great “me-sized” dad-apron and mitt for BBQing.

As I sat down thinking about my great day (sipping on some nice fresh-ground coffee from Burundi care of the Farmers Market) I starting thinking about the other Dads I know and wondering how their mornings were going. There’s John, Michael, Stephen, Peter, Bill, Matt, my brothers Kevin and Brad and many more, all of us with small or smallish kids. Just as I did, an email popped up from KIVA. It was notifying me that a payment had been made by one of the people I’ve been a microloan lender to. In this case, it was “Identity Protected” who is trying to run an electronics shop in Kirkut. You can see his profile here.

“Hmmmm” I thought. KIVA. KIVA, for those of you who don’t know it, is a microloan coordinating organization. You create a profile, and make loans into third-world business, typically at around $25.00. KIVA takes your $25, and the $25’s from other lenders, and makes the loan through a development agency on the ground. I’ve made it my policy to make my loans to dads – dads who seem, to me, to be doing there best to support their families in far worse situations than mine. And so, in honour of this Fathers Day, I picked out a dad, Siyavush Shukurov, who, according to KIVA:

“…is a 38-year-old father of three living in the Imishli region of Azerbaijan. For nearly two decades, he has earned a living by breeding cattle for beef. Meat is a staple in the Azerbaijani diet, so Siyavush has many regular clients.

He has earned a good profit, but prices for supplies have increased dramatically recently. To expand his business and support his family, Siyavush has applied for a loan of $1,000 to purchase a dairy cow and two calves. He is confident that he will be able to repay the loan.”

Then I thought, I wonder if I could get some of the other dads I know to dish out $25.00 today and make their own loan. Perhaps, too, there’s the odd mom who’s still looking for a gift for their fellow. So, Dads, please consider pulling out your wallet and going here:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses

You can sort be any number of criteria to find a person who needs your help. It’ll feel almost as good as a hug from your kid to allow another dad to keep feeling hugs from their kids.

If you're curious, here's my "Lender Page":

http://www.kiva.org/lender/darrin7313

And Siyavush, as I right this, still needs $550.00 for his loan to go through.

Free art (well... from the artist) and Co-ops

A day or two ago, I received a very interesting email message from Island Artist and Entrepreneur Shayli Vere. Here it is, included with her permission:

I have been asked many times to donate art to local charity/nonprofit fund raisers.
I've just got to pass on to you my concerns about this practice. We are asking OUR POOREST people on the Island to give and support all the charities on the Island. Many artists work sell for hundreds more than they would ever get themselves. In such a small population, we have only so many sales of art all year. IF our paintings are being sold to our 'elite' in charity auctions, I doubt they would buy another painting all year! and our artist have no sales and are just continually asked to work for nothing and give all the artwork away.

Please. We need to be heard!!

What about a yearly 'Support Local Arts and (maybe Prince County Hospital) auction where a percentage/predetermined amount goes to the artists and all monies over this amount goes to the charity?
Artists are givers, and want to support their community but we need to also be supported.

What about creating a job here where the arts administrator's job is to help artists market and sell their work???

As for the first point – I couldn’t agree more. While it seems nigh on impossible to garner proper support for the arts (a plug for more arts council funding), artists seem to be the first people that communities turn to when help is need. Someone has an illness, let’s have a fundraiser – who will play the fiddle? Some building needs renos – let’s have a fundraiser – who’s art will we expect to get for free and sell for money? I’ve not often seen a free roofing job up for auction. And when was the last time you saw a free root canal and crown on the auction block?

Exactly how do we shift perceptions and engage the “requestors” in our overall advocacy? How do we ensure artists work is valued by those who make these requests and how do we ensure that artists see SOMETHING in return? I don’t rightly know – but I’m so glad that some has started the discussion.

This just in (and right off the top of my head), Island artists could donate works for charity, when requested, through a central body (like the Council) who, in turn, makes the arrangement for, upon sale, X% to come back to the artists and Y% to the charitable event? …? I like the idea BUT would anyone go for it…. Essentially a way for artists to take one step back from the process and donate (for example) 70% of the value of their work to the charitable cause, instead of 100%.

Moving on to the idea of someone to market work for Island artists…

I think what you’ve proposed is a great idea and matches well with some other conversations I’ve been having recently with other organizations and partners. It’s certainly something to pursue over this next year, and I look forward to some support from the arts community for this measure.

There are a few different ways to implement this type of idea regionally, nationally, and worldwide. The model that seems to work best is that of a cooperative (and there are positively brilliant examples out there – I was blown away by a UK cooperative for music that was the subject of a paper last year). The reason I like the cooperative model is that it firmly rests the control in the hands of the users, not Government directors, or non-profit execs (like me). At the same time, it doesn’t preclude support from the agencies, and doesn’t preclude the hiring of someone reasonable expert in the area. Europe is already well down this path, and let’s not forget the Canadian Francophone experience. Of course, the biggest reason to use a coop model is that it can be as exclusive or inclusive as the coop participants desire – something very difficult to do if you are a Government employee, or an non-profit exec (like me). Don’t like someone’s work? Don’t include them. Love someone’s work? Invite them it. The power of the cooperative model.

If anyone is interested, there is a coop model working now in Fredericton (based around a gallery) with a paid staff to market and promote. I’d be quite happy to look at a road trip and take a few people up for a discussion.

What think you all?

Darrin

A quiet day for a budget (maybe)

Today, maybe, is budget day on PEI. I say maybe, because Opposition MLA and Critic for Agriculture, Fisheries & Aquaculture, Tourism, Environment, Forestry, and Provincial Treasury Jim Bagnall, is in the midst of delivering his response to the speech from the Throne. I suppose he has every right to do so, that’s the point of the legislature, and I do hope that his lengthy reply is not a move intended simply to hamper the smooth running of the place. (Having been the target of a filibuster myself, last year, I know it can be frustrating. The opposition says this is not a filibuster, so, let’s all tune in for ourselves and make our own judgments.)

Budget… budget, budget, budget. Will this be the budget I’ve been looking for and working towards for four years, or will this budget be the one of been dreading for an equally long time. For today, I’ve done what I can do. Like you all, I’ll sit here in my office and wait (watching streamed from the leg). About half-way through, I’ll start drafting my email to the Dept. of Community and Cultural Affairs, and Labour, and ask the Director for confirmation on this years allocation. At some point, he’ll respond, I’ll share his response with the Board of Directors, then after their feedback, draft a message to the membership, the general arts community and anyone else who will listen. I imagine we’ll have a press release or two to go with that. I’ve got great staff for that part.

All of this, even with the potential for great things, for (and I know this seems like hoping beyond hope) a budget increase that will allow the PEICA to do what it wants to do, what it needs to do, what its been tasked and asked to do, I am, today, quite tired. I’ve got pneumonia, for the second time since January – the antibiotics are starting to kick in and I am feeling a bit better thanks.

So, while I hope to god (small “g”, I know, I’m an atheist so I’m not really “hoping to” anything) we see good news, I’m preparing for a fight. If you’ve read my “I am an angry man” post, you’ll already know the basis for the argument. Today though, today I’ll rest a bit. Listen to some good music, go find a quiet spot in a coffee shop, and read my second-hand copy of the “The Outsider” by Albert Camus (also known as "the Stranger").

If you’d like to join me in some metaphysical music sharing, please take a listen to my musical pick for a quiet day. I love this guy – Justin Vernon. Sometimes you just need a guy and a guitar. For those who read this on Facebook and can’t see the embedded video here, you can travel to my blog to see this post in it’s proper format here: http://mudderings.blogspot.com.