Letter from the editor #2
Hello and welcome to the second edition of Drawstring Magazine. Our contributors have been working hard over the past two weeks to bring you fresh words, ideas, and even a few images. You may have noticed that Drawstring is collecting donations to help compensate our creative workers. Our hope is that the content produced here is valued by our readers enough for them to consider tipping the producers.
That being said, fair pay for creative labor is not the most critical fight right now. As we see our police forces continuing to kill black people in the streets, and the pandemic lays bare the fundamental inequalities of American society, it is important that we all take action. All contributors to the first issue of Drawstring have decided to pass our $94 in tips on to the Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota based organization dedicated to Black liberation, as a gesture of solidarity at this critical time. As much of America is sitting home and one in four unemployed, there are more eyes than ever here to witness these atrocities. Our hope is that this sorrow turns to rage, which then turns to action.
* Please know that we want to be trusted with your tips. We understand that as a supporter of the first issue, this was not where you originally chose to contribute your dollars. If you feel uncomfortable with your money going to support Black Visions Collective, then please reach out and a refund will be issued. If this is the case, know that our values fundamentally clash and you may not be the audience for this publication.
Additionally, I would like to encourage BIPOC community members to contact us about contributing work to upcoming issues of Drawstring. Whether related to race in America, or not - personal, academic, historical, poetic or political - I hope to hear from you. I will be reaching out as well. As a white person managing a platform, I accept the responsibility I have to cultivate diverse voices - as well as continue to support, advocate, and educate myself. Please reach out. I am here to listen to any and all thoughts, ideas, or criticisms.
Some Resources
(Please feel free to leave more in the comments below)
Toolkit for Cooperative, Collective, and Collaborative Cultural Work
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Moving forward, please note that funds donated to the “Drawstring Tip Jar” are intended to directly pay contributors and myself for our creative labor, and help with the production costs for this site. I believe there should be more transparency around money and value while consuming media. I will be putting that into practice here. Art is not free. Artists do not live for free.
Perhaps in the future digital media collectively moves towards a micropayment system, such as the one described in this Wired piece. But until then, most of us have browsers with our credit cards saved, and a reasonably simple interface that allows for you to throw us two bucks for our time and energy.
In these challenging times, we are being called to donate to everyone from the local bar, to national nonprofits, to pop-up aid funds for groups such as hospitality workers. But where is that money actually going? I have experienced first hand unfair and poorly managed distribution of aid funds, and this isn’t anything new. So I would like to attempt to be transparent about every dollar that comes into this project, and how every dollar goes out. This will be shared publicly in every edition moving forward.
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The Pay Structure (Note this is a hypothetical example as all Issue 1 tips have been donated to Black Visions Collective)
On the eve of a new edition release, the tip jar is emptied and put back.
Issue 1 Tip Jar: $94 (after processing fees)
Drawstring (The website) receives 1 Share
Each contributor receives 1 share
Each individual who provided Admin labor receives 1 share
The first issue has 7 contributors - 3 of which will receive 2 shares
The pool is then divided into 11 shares
Final Tip Out:
Contributor: $8.81
Contributor +Admin: $17.64
Magazine: $8.81
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Though this may not seem like much, there is a symbolic value to being paid for creative labor. We are so grateful for the generous support we have received so far, and plan to continue this experiment in transparency moving forward.
Take care,
Jessica Pierotti Founder & Editor