In Wednesday’s (3/4) Philadelphia Inquirer, Melanie Cox McCluskey writes, “In today’s economy, Kevin Derrick is lucky to have a job as an interior designer. Not leaving anything to chance, Derrick also moonlights as a studio director, creative consultant, and furniture designer. Sure, he’s feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. The marketing, advertising, and retail worlds that employ creatives like him are suffering. But artists like Derrick also have built-in mechanisms for survival: their own creativity. ‘We are moving into the economy of the free agent,’ says Richard Florida, the author of Who’s Your City and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto. ‘Whether you have a government grant or you work for a company occasionally, you have to take control of your life.’ To weather the layoffs and canceled contracts, diverse income sources make sense. … Maryann Devine, owner of the arts marketing firm smArts & Culture, says that a lack of opportunities will never keep artists from following their passion. Artists ‘are used to living on the edge,’ says Devine, 44, of West Philadelphia.”
Posted March 6, 2009
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