In the months since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents undertook Operation Metro Surge in January, eviction rates have been on the rise throughout Minneapolis.
The City Council and the Mayor’s office have been at odds over how to resolve this, with politicians proposing rent-relief funds and changes to pre-eviction notice periods.
Layl McDill, an artist based in the Flux Arts Building, 2505 Howard St. NE, had another idea in mid-March.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, and it was in my head: ‘Art pays the rent,’” she said from her studio. McDill reached out to a variety of artists and designers, asking if they’d be willing to get involved in a new initiative to assist Twin Cities residents in need of rent assistance.
A group of artists in Minneapolis have signed up to donate a portion of proceeds from art sales to mutual-aid efforts. Here, a mural and mirror made by Natalie McGuire, an artist who shows her work in the Solar Arts Building, 711 15th Ave. NE. (Michael McKinney)
Local art and mutual aid
Art Pays the Rent (APR) is a deliberately straightforward operation. Artists involved — some of whom McDill reached out to directly and some of whom reached out to McDill — sell their pieces as usual, but with a new caveat: They donate a percentage of profits towards mutual aid.
(Mutual aid is the practice of peer-to-peer support, often in the form of financial assistance.)
That simplicity is part of the point, McDill stresses. “Make it quick and not too complicated,” she said of the project’s ethos. “Also, it can be something that can go on further… I feel like there’s a chance it could keep snowballing.”
The project bears personal significance for McDill, too. “When I reach out to artists that are considering doing this, most of them say, ‘Yeah, I’ve been there. I have had trouble making rent.’ Many artists do struggle, and when they get there, they want to give back.”
In McDill’s eyes, APR is a locally focused initiative, but she’s leaving the door open for it to go national. “As we grow, and as artists grow, as needs pop up in other places — it doesn’t have to be what happened here with the federal government. It could be a hurricane, or a tornado,” she said.
Not a new practice
Laura Stamper, a jewelry artist who shows her work in the Northrup King Building, 1500 Jackson St. NE, said she intends to help with APR “until there’s not a need.” That said, she’s always donated a portion of her proceeds to some sort of charity or organization she supports, whether that’s the American Civil Liberties Union or the World Wildlife Fund. Stamper estimated that, since Operation Metro Surge started, she’s donated “between $5,000 and $6,000.” She said most of her clients have expressed support for the project.
“I had one customer read me the riot act for being political: ‘Art has no business in politics,’” she recalled, adding in a bit of colorful language. “But I don’t even call this politics: I call this morality.”
Protest signs to donations
Holly Tappen, a painter who shows her work in the Solar Arts Building, 711 15th Ave. NE, shared McDill’s personal relationship with the project.
“I know some people who were stuck in their home, and (they) were running out of money,” Tappen said, speaking of a Columbia Heights family she knows personally. “I would drive (the family’s mother) to her jobs.”
After an encounter with ICE agents left her rattled, Tappen “began to collect money,” started painting protest signs and signed up with APR. She’s donating a percentage of everything she sells to a variety of mutual-aid networks.
Natalie McGuire, a photographer who also makes “Photozaics,” pieces where she uses mural-making techniques to recreate photographs, was selling a mirror commemorating Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, two people killed by ICE agents in January.
“I wanted to pay homage to them,” she said. At Art-A-Whirl, she was selling it for $600, “But if somebody pays $10,000, then $10,000 is going to pay rent for somebody who needs it.” Catherine Palmer, an artist selling from the same studio, had a selection of pieces available in exchange for pay-what-you-can donations.
Expansion and flexibility
Regarding plans for the future, every artist interviewed expressed a mix of uncertainty and optimism. Most said they planned to continue donating to rent-relief funds or other mutual-aid funds indefinitely, responding to their community’s needs as they arose.
“People have jumped on, saying ‘I can do this,’” McDill said. “And it’s starting to take off with more hands lifting the boat.”
“(APR) is partially about showing the message that art can sustain, and that art brings beauty into life,” she continues. “The tagline I use is: Rent is a necessity, and art is, too.”