Words By Medha Uppal
Pay is always such a touchy topic for everyone. No one talks about it. Always a “hush-hush” subject that is danced around. Why??
It makes me frustrated because it is such a taboo topic, and I feel a lot of anxiety when talking about pay for artists. I’m thinking “Is this the right time to ask?”, “How much should I charge?” etc. As artists, if we don’t talk about pay and what it means to value yourself; everyone is going to continue to think this and we won’t be able to see BASIC standards we should be charging and might even undersell ourselves.
Art is a beautiful thing cause it can be consumed by anyone and it's everywhere. But along with this, you can get so overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that is out there. I’m not saying that you have to be an artist to make art, but since it is so easily accessible, people take it for granted and don’t understand the DEPTH of the process that goes into it. This leads to a weird ground to stand on when asking for payment, especially as a young artist. I wish people wrote more about pay and talked about these topics that seem to be taboo so that people didn’t feel as strange when talking about pay and it was just as natural as asking “What do you like to do?”.
Know that what you are creating is yours, therefore it holds value. Don’t ever sell yourself short.