It’s no surprise that people who have been working remotely this past year (or for longer) are sick of Zoom. I’ve been a remote worker for years but it is only this past year that the video face boxes fill me with a deep sense of exhaustion and boredom. For years, Zoom was what I used for work, but now it has to also be what I use to talk to my family and mentor, and to watch movies with my friends.

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been troubled to say the least.

When operating an arts organization or other kind of project, you have to decide what kind of formal structure is best for that project. Should you be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit? A worker-owned co-op? A collective? A business? A community group without any official structure?

As an organization, Fractured Atlas understands that change is not only inevitable, it’s often a good thing. This past year has required all of us to deeply rethink how we work, how we communicate, and how we can better align our skills and our vision in service of what matters. While we acknowledge the deep losses we as individuals and as a whole sector have faced, we also embrace the chance to plan for and create a more equitable future.

At Fractured Atlas, we think a lot about the structures that govern our interactions with one another; the structures that determine who gets decision-making power in a group, and who is accountable to whom.

Artists and arts organizations need to be able to communicate with your community, your audience, your donor network. You can and should use social media, paper mailings, or phone calls but the email list is golden.

When news of Cecilia Giménez’s restoration of the “Ecce Homo” fresco became international news, most people saw a meme and got a quick laugh. The restoration has been called the Beast Jesus or Monkey Jesus and is one of the most notable failed restorations of our time. It spawned internet fame for Giménez and countless jokes and riffs. It also ended up bringing new tourist attention to Borja, the Spanish town where Giménez and her restored fresco lived.

It’s not unusual for an artist to take on a lot of roles in the creative process. You can be a multi-hyphenate director/choreographer/performer, a writer/editor, a producer/host, and much more. In addition to wearing multiple creative hats, artists are often your own project manager, grant writer, fundraiser, PR person, finance department, and social media manager.

Every month, Fractured Atlas provides a list of upcoming grant opportunities for artists and arts-based projects so that you can discover more opportunities to get financial support for your work. As a fiscal sponsor of 4000+ artistic projects, we provide access to grants for artists in every discipline.

Nobody stays at a job forever. If we’re interested in developing healthier work cultures, that has to encompass what it means to leave a workplace. We have to build work cultures that allow us to do better than politely pretending that we’ll all work somewhere until we retire and then out of the blue give our two weeks notice. We have to become more open about job hunting and interviewing.