In the face of systemic inequities, financial precarity, and exploitative practices in the arts, mutual aid has emerged as a powerful framework for collective support and resistance. Rooted in solidarity rather than charity, mutual aid seeks to address immediate needs while challenging the underlying structures that perpetuate inequality. For artists, mutual aid provides an alternative to the competitive and market-driven systems that dominate the art world, fostering collaboration, community, and collective resilience.
This article explores the history and principles of mutual aid, its relevance to the arts, and its potential to create equitable and sustainable systems of support. Drawing on the work of scholars such as Dean Spade, Audre Lorde, and adrienne maree brown, as well as examples of mutual aid initiatives in the arts, this analysis highlights the transformative potential of mutual aid as a tool for systemic change.
The Roots of Mutual Aid
Mutual aid, as a practice and philosophy, is rooted in the idea that communities are best equipped to meet their own needs through collective action and solidarity. The term was popularized by anarchist theorist Peter Kropotkin in his 1902 book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, in which he argued that cooperation, rather than competition, is a driving force of human survival. Kropotkin challenged the social Darwinist narrative that positioned competition as natural, emphasizing instead the importance of reciprocal support in fostering thriving communities.
While Kropotkin’s work laid the theoretical foundation for mutual aid, the practice itself has long been embedded in the traditions of marginalized communities. Feminist theorist Audre Lorde highlights how Black women and queer communities have historically relied on mutual aid to survive systemic oppression. In Sister Outsider (1984), Lorde writes, “Without community, there is no liberation, but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.” This ethos of mutual care and recognition of difference underpins the principles of mutual aid.
In contemporary contexts, mutual aid has been revitalized as a response to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate disasters, and the failures of state and institutional support. Dean Spade, in Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) (2020), argues that mutual aid is not only a way to address immediate needs but also a strategy for building long-term systems of care and resistance. Spade writes, “Mutual aid projects build solidarity by fostering relationships based on shared vulnerability, breaking down isolation, and challenging the logics of domination that underpin capitalist and state systems.”
The Role of Mutual Aid in the Arts
The arts sector, characterized by financial precarity, inequitable funding structures, and gatekeeping, is uniquely positioned to benefit from mutual aid practices. For many artists, particularly those from marginalized communities, traditional funding sources such as grants, residencies, and institutional support are often inaccessible. Mutual aid offers an alternative model that prioritizes collective care and resource sharing over competition and commodification.
1. Addressing Economic Precarity
The economic precarity faced by artists is well-documented. According to a 2019 report by the National Endowment for the Arts, the median income for artists in the United States is $30,000 annually, with many relying on supplemental income from non-artistic work. This precarity is exacerbated by systemic inequities, with women, artists of color, and LGBTQ+ artists disproportionately excluded from funding opportunities and institutional support.
Mutual aid initiatives in the arts provide direct financial assistance to artists, bypassing the bureaucratic processes and gatekeeping of traditional funding systems. Examples include emergency relief funds, sliding-scale payment models, and crowdfunding campaigns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mutual aid networks such as the Artist Relief Fund and the Freelancers Relief Fund mobilized to provide immediate support to artists affected by canceled exhibitions, performances, and gigs.
2. Building Collaborative Networks
Mutual aid fosters collaboration and community among artists, challenging the competitive individualism that often defines the art world. By pooling resources and skills, artists can create networks of support that prioritize collective success over individual gain. These networks often include skill-sharing workshops, cooperative studios, and collaborative projects that emphasize accessibility and inclusion.
For example, the Disability Arts Network has embraced mutual aid principles to create spaces where disabled artists can share resources, advocate for accessibility, and support one another’s creative practices. This model not only addresses immediate needs but also challenges the systemic barriers that exclude disabled artists from mainstream art spaces.
3. Challenging the Logic of Commodification
Mutual aid disrupts the commodification of art by emphasizing process and community over product and profit. In a market-driven art world, where value is often determined by marketability and commercial success, mutual aid provides a framework for artists to prioritize their creative intentions and social impact. This approach aligns with adrienne maree brown’s concept of “emergent strategy,” which emphasizes collective action, adaptability, and the importance of relationships in creating change. In Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017), brown writes, “What we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system.”
Examples of Mutual Aid in the Arts
Mutual aid initiatives in the arts take many forms, from grassroots projects to formalized networks. These examples demonstrate the diverse ways mutual aid can address systemic inequities and build collective resilience.
• Arts Mutual Aid Funds: Organizations like the U.S.-based Artist Relief Fund and Canada’s Toronto Arts Foundation have created mutual aid funds to provide direct financial assistance to artists during crises. These funds prioritize accessibility and equity, often focusing on underrepresented communities.
• Art Collectives and Cooperatives: Artist-run spaces and cooperatives, such as the Black Artists Union in the UK or the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative in the U.S., embody mutual aid principles by sharing resources, knowledge, and opportunities. These collectives challenge traditional hierarchies and create alternative systems of support.
• Community-Based Art Projects: Mutual aid is also central to community-based art projects that prioritize social impact over commercial success. For example, the People’s Paper Co-op in Philadelphia uses collaborative art-making to address issues of mass incarceration, combining creative practice with advocacy and mutual support.
The Transformative Potential of Mutual Aid
Mutual aid is more than a response to immediate needs; it is a framework for reimagining how the arts sector operates. By prioritizing solidarity, equity, and collective care, mutual aid challenges the systems of domination and exploitation that underpin capitalist and institutional structures. As Dean Spade writes, “Mutual aid is not charity; it is a practice of building new social relations rooted in collective survival and liberation” (Mutual Aid, 2020).
For the arts, this means creating systems that value collaboration over competition, accessibility over exclusivity, and social impact over profit. It also means recognizing the ways in which mutual aid can address systemic inequities, from economic precarity to the exclusion of marginalized voices.
Conclusion
Mutual aid offers a powerful framework for addressing the systemic inequities and economic precarity that define the arts sector. Rooted in solidarity and collective care, mutual aid challenges the logic of commodification and competition, creating alternative systems of support that prioritize equity and inclusion. By embracing mutual aid, artists and communities can build networks of resilience and resistance, fostering a more just and sustainable arts ecosystem.
Works Cited
• Brown, adrienne maree. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. AK Press, 2017.
• Kropotkin, Peter. Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. Heinemann, 1902.
• Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press, 1984.
• Spade, Dean. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next). Verso Books, 2020.
• National Endowment for the Arts. Artists and Other Cultural Workers: A Statistical Portrait. 2019.
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