Dear Rich: I built my business on printing my designs on fabric and making stuff. Now there’s a handy service (VIDA) that makes stuff with your uploaded design and sells it to others. I am just leery of any “catches.” Can you look at the licensing agreement?

For the most part, I’ve had the good fortune of doing work that doesn’t compromise my beliefs. But a few years ago I wasn’t so lucky.

As observers of the natural world, artists and scientists find new audiences and new grounds to discuss and create in the face of a changing environment and impacts to pollinator populations. As pollinators end up on the endangered species list, is our humanity the result of our inhumanity?

Musicians and the music they create are critical to halting further attacks on net neutrality. When net neutrality protections were at risk of being destroyed in the past, musicians came out in large numbers during a multi-year campaign to save it. And we are needed this time around too.

Trust me, filling a ticketed show is hard work. Getting 30 people out to a gig on a Friday night in a large metropolitan city is like pulling teeth! That’s why bands split bills. If you’re at a place where you can fill the room, you probably could use a booking agent.

Inevitably someone is going to compare your work to someone else’s. And when someone says, “This reminded me of your work” it’s hard to know what they mean.

If your inbox is overflowing with booking requests and media opportunities, and you simply cannot handle the workload on your own, you need a manager.

Far too often in this country we throw things away that would still be wanted by someone else. Everything from perfectly edible food which places like Whole Foods throw away because the bananas are “a little too yellow” to the unwanted pets that get thrown away by fools who get a dog without wanting the responsibility of its care.

I believe that a greatly modified public domain work would be a new work and therefore copyrightable, right? I couldn’t be sued for modifying my own writing, could I? What are my rights in this case?

The very best prospects for your nonprofit’s board will be people who share a passion for, and commitment to, the nonprofit’s mission. No matter what name recognition or professional credentials particular people may have to offer, they will not be assets to your nonprofit’s board unless they care a lot about what you do.

If you’re an independent artist, you have no choice but to roll with the punches. Things change. Things fall apart. Venues close down their business without telling you…and then you find out through their Facebook status update (yes, this actually happened).

We artists and writers can’t afford to passively watch all the things we care about burn to the ground. Rather, we should be proactive in ensuring that the arts have a place to flourish and thrive in every town and community in the US.