An Artist, a Businessperson
Last night, in Trade School’s second class, Amy Whitaker shed light on the current economic crisis and what terms like “Externalities” and “Derivatives” mean. Starting with the classic Supply versus Demand graph from high school, Amy moved to Game Theory, hedging bets, and the funding system employed by major non-profit art institutions around the world. (download the handout)
Amy Whitaker is an enthusiastic speaker with both an MBA and and MFA, ready to tackle both pragmatic explanations and business ethics at any moment. At one point, Claire Pentecost challenged the dualism that Amy presented between judgement and imagination- Claire pushes for individuals (artist or not) to act creatively WITH moral responsibility. Amy responded by pointing out that a corporation can become an immoral aggregate of perfectly moral individual actions. Here are some other questions, thoughts, and notes I took last night:
- Amy asks: If museums are by definition “failed businesses,” supported by the government as a public good in need of protection, why is growth a measure of success? Expansion projects and increased attendance is not necessarily a measure of quality.
- “Averting crisis is a thankless job.” (If crisis never comes, how can we know if we averted it or if it naturally went away?)
- “Most social problems can be solved with education and campaign finance reform.”
- Net present value = What you have now is more valuable than the same amount in the future because you can spend/invest it now!
- Attack capitalism with capitalism,
- Amy says we should read Too Big to Fail
- Trade School teacher Chris Kennedy says read Natural Capitalism
Amy will return Wednesday, February 17 for a second session of “Business School for Artists,” and is taking requests from students.
I asked, “Amy, why are you interested in Trade School?”
Her response:
I happened upon Trade School by accident because a friend hosted an Egg-Nog party in the same space and I got to talking to Ben. That party took place in a driving snowstorm when it would have been tempting to ditch, and I am so glad I didn’t.
I really love Trade School because it is generous, it seems to be founded by artists who are broad-minded — what I would call, as a type, ‘people who read most sections of the newspaper’ — and it’s an attempt to change the way the world works. George Bernard Shaw said something to the effect: Reasonable people adapt themselves to the way the world works. Unreasonable people try to get the world to adapt to them. Thus, all progress is made by unreasonable people. Trade School is a form of social entrepreneurship in this mold, but without the big capital S, capital E label. It’s still nimbly creative, dish drying rack in a suitcase, beautiful shiny red tables, enormous blackboard.
As to class itself, I am always heartened to see how artists, when given information about markets, come up with really creative approaches and ask exactly the big questions about the fundamental nature of the system. It is my hope that the classes replace the judgment of markets from afar with creative engagement in how we would fix the things we don’t like. (There’s always judgment in the backing-up-from-the-canvas sense, but it’s nice to see people wielding a paintbrush.)
I can’t say enough good things about Trade School itself and the idea of an artist-run barter-economy school. I know everyone needs a paying job and I am lucky to have one otherwise, but the exchange of expertise among artists reminded me of a real generosity at the heart of what I love most about art.
I know you may see Trade School as a point on the road to your larger vision of a barter website, but I actually would love to see the school live on. It certainly inspired me to keep giving my talks.
About OurGoods
OurGoods is a community of artists, designers, and cultural producers who want to barter skills, spaces, and objects.
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