So you’re an artist and you need help—maybe with raising money for a project, or just managing your career.

Or you’re an artist and you want to give back and help others.

Turns out there are all kinds of great resources for creatives, whether you need help or have help to give.

To help you, dear artist/reader, I’ve compiled a list of some of the most helpful resources I’ve found online. Some of these organizations are geared specifically toward visual artists, musicians, writers or the self-employed (which is, of course, how many artists are employed), but most artists should be able to find something of use in each of them. Hope this helps!

Art, Activism, and Aid

• Center for Artistic Activism: This is an organization whose aim at first befuddled me greatly, but it’s really all in the title. They want to art-ify activism, and activate art. By combining art and activism, you can make more effective art and can affect greater change. “Our goal is to make more creative activists and more effective artists. We aim to win.” Essentially, they help artists who want to become effective activists create work that has a social impact.
• HeARTs Speak: HeARTs Speak connects artists with the fuzzy, cuddly, adoptable ferrets (and doggies, and kitties, oh my!) that they want to help. And how could an artist help a boatload of ferrets or doggies or cats without adopting a boatload of ferrets of doggies or cats (something I’m almost always in danger of doing)? By doing art. “It is the Mission of HeARTs Speak to save the lives of animals in need by supporting artists, animal welfare organizations and communities.”
• The Haven Foundation: Stephen King started this organization to help freelancers in need continue their work, after being struck by a careless driver and nearly killed. (When your government doesn’t give you universal health care, your favorite critically acclaimed author of horror stories {and this fabulous book on writing} tries to look out for you.)

Business/Career Advancement Help

• Fractured Atlas: “Fractured Atlas was created to give artists the tools and help they need to shift their focus back to the important things, like actually making art!” Yay! Thank you. This nonprofit does cool things like sponsor artists in financial need. They also provide insurance information and career development resources. They also connect art patrons to their network of empowered artists.
• Freelancers Union: Freelancers Union is super cool! Their website is chock full of great articles and resources. Health insurance! New paradigms! Sensitivity training! It’s all there. “We’re helping the diverse self-employed community build a powerful voice—in politics and in markets. We connect freelancers to group-rate benefits, resources, community, and political action to improve their lives—and their bottom lines.”

Unique/Innovative Crowdfunding Platforms

• Patreon: This is a place where fans can support musicians (and bloggers and YouTubers and web comics, too!) each time the artist creates a work. It’s a new type of crowdfunding. “Be a patron of the arts: support and engage with the creators you love.”
• Standing O Project: This project, created by John Dillon and Viv Nesbitt of the nationally syndicated radio show Art of the Song, allows music lovers across the globe access to great music while generating revenue for musicians. It’s a new type of music community. “This is a worldwide community of musicians and music lovers supporting great music.”

Collaboration

• MutantSpace: This is the trippiest one, for me! Super cool organization based out of Dublin. It’s a (I didn’t even know these existed) skills exchange project wherein you can ask for things and provide things. It’s not really trade. It’s not really the barter system. It’s where “you register, put your skills into our bank (and) whenever you need a creative, production, management, marketing skill to realize your arts project or event you go into the bank and take what you need.”

Bonus Resources!

• Art-Support: So much to investigate here! Rich, technical businessy info-laden links to federal and state art organizations, volunteer art lawyers, copyright information and more.
• Artist Help Network: This is a great resource put together by Caroll Michels, the author of How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist (which was featured here on Pyragraph). You’ll find her superbly curated resources on career development, sales, presentation tools, and more.
• Terrible Minds: This is writer Chuck Wendig’s blog. I’m adding it here because I love Chuck Wendig’s blog. I first learned about him through this very Pyragraph post, and now I’m hooked. He’s vulgar and awesome and has great advice on being a writer, which somehow translates well into other disciplines. Read it and subscribe and let him pull you down the path of darkness… and art.