New York based advocacy and support group hosts, The Artists Financial Support Group, will share their mission to strengthen the financial circumstances of the creative community, through financial self-advocacy, change in the cost of artist education, and innovative ways to manage student loan debt and to budget on an erratic income.

Admission is free, though RSVP is required. RSVP here.

This program is the third in the series "if it's not work it must be PLAY: discussions on the state of work in the arts." This series is presented by CUE, and produced by our inaugural Public Programming Fellow, Cevan Castle. For more information, please visit Critical Distance, a new blog produced by CUE highlighting discussions, near and far, on issues relating to the arts and humanities. 

About The Artists Financial Group

HISTORY

In the fall of 2010, several alumni of the NYU Graduate Acting Program met in New York.  After graduating from one of the foremost artistic training programs in the country, we found ourselves working in the arts, and yet struggling with debt and student loans.  We were beginning to realize that we might not be able to afford to be artists, simply because we had gone to school to be artists. Attempting to leave shame and panic aside, we started the Artists Financial Support Group (AFSG).  We wrote a book, A Financial Handbook for the Artist, and prepared a workshop for the next NYU graduating class.  Our goal was to share with those students everything we wished someone had told us when we finished graduate school.   We did just that in May of 2011 when we gave our first workshop at NYU.  The AFSG has since led workshops at NYU Grad Acting, NYU Grad Design for Stage and Film, Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, Actors Fund, SAG Foundation, Long Beach State University, and Christopher Newport University.  

MISSION STATEMENT

The Artists Financial Support Group seeks to: 1) Educate student and professional artists on financial self-advocacy 2) Advocate legislative and institutional change in the cost of artist education and 3) Innovate new ways to manage student loan debt and to budget on an erratic income.

ELEVATOR PITCH

For artists who fear they'll never understand money or finance, the AFSG is a financial guide that hopes to inspire young talent by making them more confident about money, because only the AFSG understands the financial mistakes that can hinder the growth of up-and-coming artists.