Paying it Forward

For as long as I can afford to do so, I want to keep money out of the equation for this 1000 Cranes for Alaska project. This has been able to go so far and do so much already with only the inspiration and willingness of people to participate in our story, and I have been making the continual executive decision to keep the money out and fuel this project solely with participants' good will and spirits of cooperation. 

This may not be possible forever, I recognize, but for now I'm able to volunteer my own time and resources to run this project and search for new wellsprings of help and support that aren't financially driven.

I hope my decision does not worry you about the future of Alaskan artists. I believe artists need to be able to make a living at what they do, and I have surely spent larger chunks of my life than I, or my parents, would have liked, living on ramen noodles and spare change foraged from my couch. When I began 1000 Cranes, and in fact during my entire stay in St. Michael, my bank account was overdrawn from the up front costs of the trip and I continued to rack up bounce fees just to be able to eat. I am still recovering financially, and while I recognize the possibility of cashing in on this idea, I think this is one of those rare opportunities for me, even with my very limited means, to "pay it forward" to my community. 

I believe this idea is reaching a lot of people, and reinforcing the incredible role I know arts can play in connecting and healing our communities. As a result, I hope more members of our community will be willing to open up their wallets and vote on initiatives to lend support, financial and otherwise, to future programs involving the arts. I would love to see this project become a gateway opportunity for people who have never even considered the value of arts to become both artist and community activist through the simple act of folding a crane and joining our story. 

I believe there is inherent habit in the action of paying money; we do it so frequently that we have weakened the connection between the physical act of it and the result of our exchange. As a result, I think we've weakened the power of the activity to affect us. Without any space for the familiar act of paying money, people participating regain their creative ownership of how they'd like to get involved to move the idea along. So far this seems to be working and I want to see how long it continues.