First Debt Fair Meetup this Sunday Afternoon

by Ian Marshall on August 9, 2013 Events

Still from Occupy Museums' Debt Fair video on Vimeo

If you’re an artist struggling with debt, you may want to consider participating in Debt Fair. This Sunday afternoon, you’ll have a chance to dip your toes in the water, as the organization will be hosting their first official meetup at the Abrons Art Center from 3:30-7:30. The meetup will include a variety of activities but most importantly it will include planning for their upcoming fair this September.

Organized by Occupy Museums, Debt Fair seeks to combat artist debt by trading artworks for direct donations to the artists’ lending bank. Participating artists will design their own booths to be placed all over New York City this September, from sidewalks to bodegas to bank lobbies. As AFC’s Whitney Kimball and Clara Olshansky have said before, this project is inspiring, but full of potential issues, the most obvious of which being tax implications.

The meetup on Sunday will seek to address some of the looming difficulties ahead. Artists will interview their fellow artists about their debt experiences and post the recordings online. Not only will this promote the project, but it will begin to build a cohesive Debt Fair community by breaking the silence and stigma surrounding debt. Artist Rachel Schragis will lead a collective assembly designed to visualize future aims and the upcoming Debt Fair itself, and a prototype Debt Fair will be hung by participating artists. Finally, performance artist Cassie Thornton will direct a “Debt Scream”, a recording of which will be broadcast into space. We imagine it’ll look something like this.

If you want to join you are encouraged to RSVP at debtfair@gmail.com

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