spinning limitations into gold
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Last night Michele Martell demonstrated such generosity! She prepared and delivered a thoughtful, customized, and informative ‘DIY Legal Workshop for Creatives’ for us for free.
@Martell_Media on Twitter and @martellmichele on Instagram
What a gift!
Thank you to everyone who attended and asked great questions.
I want to point out a phenomenon that I’ve been seeing - and why I no longer offer free workshops online. When I was offering my workshops for free they would sell out in minutes and the attendance numbers would be less than 50%. When I set them up as a pay-what-you-can model the attendance shot up to 90%. When I charge a set price more than $15, attendance is 100%.
Last night’s workshop sold out at 100 people. Attendance was at 60%.
I just think we should all be thinking about how we have let capitalism and money impact how we respect people’s time and value an offering.
Food for thought…
Have an awesome day!
Shannon
Shannon Brags on Jayna:
Jayna came to Chicago for an event a few years back and we were able to meet for lunch. We knew each other’s work and had connected online but it was a delight to spend time with her and dig in. When I was in LA she brought the family to my stitch-up and I got to meet her precious baby and delightful husband. I find Jayna to be wickedly joyful, confident, and strategic.
About Jayna (formal edition):
Jayna Zweiman is a multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her independent practice combines architecture, art, craft and new media to focus on experiences that overlap physical, virtual and conceptual spaces. Perhaps best known as the co-creator/co-founder of The Pussyhat Project, an international network and movement of women’s rights supporters, Zweiman has become a leading advocate of using design innovation to enact social change. The Pussyhat Project became a worldwide phenomenon at the 2017 Women’s Marches with one of the largest crowd-sourced art advocacy projects ever. She is also the creator and founder of Welcome Blanket, a reconceptualization of the 2000-mile length of the proposed border wall as 2000-mile length of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for new immigrants coming to the United States. Last spring Zweiman started Masks for Humanity, a hub for essential workers and vulnerable groups that need cloth face masks and people who can make cloth masks.
Zweiman’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. Her work has been nominated for the Beazley Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London, acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, and awarded the first ever Brand of the Year by the School of Visual Arts. Zweiman was named one of “The 25 People Who Defined Visual Culture” by Artsy. Zweiman received her AB from Brown University in visual arts and economics and her Masters in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Today’s Inspiration:
Woven throughout my work is the idea that limitations can be inspiration. In my architecture background, confronting and working with and against constraints – budget, building code, gravity, client preferences, etc. – are often what leads us to make architectural innovations.
Whatever you are making right now has its own constraints. Though they may feel frustrating at first, they can help generate great work. When I am in tune and in dialogue with those constraints, what I make becomes more meaningful, and has more opportunity for discovery and invention.
Maybe your constraint is a material you’re using, or maybe you’re pushing the current limits of your skills. Maybe it’s the problem that keeps you up at 2am – it might be deeply personal, a big societal issue, or both.
What is a constraint you are wrestling with: how do you respond to these limitations, and use them to make gold?
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