This past July, the 22nd annual Basic Income Guaranteed conference brought together over 300 program administrators, researchers, policy makers, public officials, organizers, artists, and pilot participants at the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture in San Francisco, California, to continue to advance the movement for guaranteed basic income and economic justice.

16 of our Artist Power Building School Fellows made the journey to San Francisco to participate in the conference alongside the CRNY Guaranteed Income team. CRNY was proud to participate in two panel discussions, sponsor an exhibit featuring the work of artists in our program, convene a post-conference gathering about GI and Disability Justice, and serve on the planning committee for the entire conference. Learn more about our participation in last year’s 2023 BIG conference here and check out related videos of the 2024 conference here.

Conference attendees felt a profound impact from the presence of the Artist Power Building School Fellows. A highlight of the conference included a participant affinity session, co-facilitated by Myra Smith, a Community Advisory member of the Changemaker Fund in CT, and Kara Fan, Iya Espinosa, and Chemareéa Biggs, three fellows in CRNY’s Artist Power Building School who shared their testimony on GI. These fellows later took the mainstage to share broader reflections with an audience of over 300. 

Read their reflections on the conference, their experiences with guaranteed income, and their respective artist stories below:

Tell us a bit about your respective artistic backgrounds and practices—and how these backgrounds and practices inform the kind of movement building work you’re exploring as Fellows now.

Iya Espinosa: I’ve been an artist my whole life. As a child I sang, danced, and acted in theatre. As an adult, I became involved in radio, and media, which helped me connect to the immediate community, and the social causes surrounding them: from healthcare disparities to migrant worker rights, and end-of-life care for the terminally ill in hospice. I became an advocate and activist for Human Rights, and equal opportunity for those in marginalized and underserved communities. I chose to do this through educational entertainment.

Kara Fan: I vividly remember being punished in preschool for focusing on a drawing during circle time, so this is where I can say my obsession was evident. At five, I asked my parents for piano lessons, and by eight, I was learning GuZheng and viola while dabbling in dance and martial arts. My curiosity for art shifted toward visual art, leading my parents to enroll me in classes with Ms. Pei Hwa, who quickly had me training in observational drawing. I loved the magic of directly translating life onto paper. I was also inspired by my mom’s Garfield comic compilations, which showed how much could be communicated in just three panels. By ten, I knew I wanted to be an artist and focused on honing my illustration skills.

Everything changed at the Rhode Island School of Design. I graduated with a BFA in Illustration in 2017, but the experience was overwhelming. I struggled with the pressure to specialize, and I felt my personal artwork wasn’t marketable. I prided myself on being a jack-of-all-trades, yet this often led to feeling undervalued and isolated. The disconnect between art and labor left me feeling trapped, especially during the challenges of freelancing in the pandemic. The amount of how much literal garbage I felt like I was producing was awful, and how much waste I was desperately trying to save felt insane. How much of my life did I have to undersell to the Creative Industry to feel like I got a break?

Support from CRNY came in and was my break; it gave me the means to figure out how I really wanted to show up in the NYC arts community. This GI program empowered me to pursue my artistic vision and motivated me to assist low-income artists facing greater challenges. These seemingly small shifts made me realize that support, empathy, compassion, and assistance are a practice—and made me remember why I seek community involvement in the first place. I had almost forgotten how much I was always involved in the community because, like my other interests, I gave it up to focus on “making it as an Artist.” Thanks to Artists U and the Artists Power Building School provided by CRNY (as well as Crip Coin), I have begun to unlearn the ways I’ve packed my core self away because of this idea of success that had been drilled into me over and over until I was so misaligned that I almost lost myself.  

I’m using this whole opportunity to educate myself so that I can educate others, empower them to share their stories and heal from there because we cannot move forward and expand without communicating with one another. There’s only so much expansion that you can do on your own. If you truly love something or someone, you support them so that they can blossom into something beyond what you could’ve imagined on your own.

Chemareéa Biggs: I grew up as the oldest sibling in a single parent household with one sister in Dallas, and I come from a family of artists and musicians. My mother, uncle, and grandfather are all creators themselves or lovers of the arts, and they value education more than anyone I know. The contrast between those things is almost unfathomable to some because the narrative of being an artist and musician at all with emotional support from family is perceived as a rare occurrence, especially amongst people of color. As a child, I learned to read, compose, and perform music. Learning a variety of instruments along the way and finding myself most comfortable with woodwinds, I had plans to go to university for composition and eventually tap into psychiatry and experimental psychopharmacology after undergraduate studies. On a random day in high school, I got called down to the office confirming approval to graduate a year early, and for conflict with my band director in the same meeting. That day, something in me turned around, and I realised that I didn’t need collegiate guidance to make me a well respected musician in academia, and there might not be room for activism incorporation in a space like that either. My activism lies in education, so it felt convoluted. I thought of creative outlets that I hadn’t experienced yet, and visual art was the last one left. I wanted to learn something new that would use my life as a reference directly, and I ended up being a natural at it.

Now, as I prepare for graduate school and plan to get my MFA, I realize that the choice made that day opened the door for my involvement in the GI movement. I told Maura so often that GI could have helped solve more than half of the issues I experienced before living as an adult, as well as how it could truly impact anyone. A confident, marginalized voice with the tools to be heard is powerful, and through GI, I get to speak on all of those facets, as well as potentially alleviate some of those struggles and disbelief factors that are so common in lives similar to mine. I always think I lucked out with the grit that my mom had to put me through those music lessons and make sure I was ahead of the curve. With GI, I connect to those like me, and have a chance to inspire future artists, and am working to actively break a cycle of holding back dreams that feel too expensive to even care about coming true.

Tell us about a highlight of the conference for you. Any particular sessions, run-ins, meet-ups, or art experiences stick out to you as exceptionally meaningful and exciting?

KF: I absolutely loved learning about the work that’s already been done and the work that is on-going. The Strategies for Narrative Change breakout was super incredible. Sumbul Siddiqi’s talk on Cambridge Rise was really insightful. I was so incredibly thrilled to meet Shafeka because she gave us a workshop that was so useful to me and the way she speaks is aspirational. Getting to further connect with her and others during Crip Coin was invaluable. And Antonio Gisbert’s conversation about the Oregon Rebate was incredibly inspirational. Hearing him talk about organizing a diverse group of people was incredible because it did not sugarcoat how much work and effort it takes. I was there to pick brains and I was so happy those brains let me pick. The air of everyone wanting to exchange knowledge, experiences, and insights was so electric I wished it was a whole week!

CB: While the entire conference was liberating and inspiring due to seeing other people from across the country (and being exposed to international initiatives) be on board with the movement and taking action, I find myself thinking over the personal time spent with other artists in our cohort during the conference trip. I really got to know the thoughts and feelings of those who had the same experience with CRNY, and make friends and collaborators that I might have for a lifetime, like Kara! Speaking at a conference added credibility to my efforts and a new way to share the basis of GI in casual conversation. People ask where I went and how it’s related to art as well as the world, and it’s easier to talk through and for them to understand. 

IE: I enjoyed the poetry session with Kevin Dublin, “Connecting through Creative Experience.” Listening to some of the incredible writings of my fellow artists, written in such a short period in particular Peggy Robles, was impactful and moving. I also enjoyed the spontaneous drumming/Plena session of another fellow artist Marcos de Jesus, that broke out in the parking lot, during which other fellows joined in through song, and chorus, which was just marvelous. I felt so blessed to be surrounded by such a beautiful group of souls.

CB: I actually cut my eye with a loose eyelash on that trip from wiping my tears when Peggy recited that piece. That shows how much she moved me. 

What was the participant affinity session at BIG, and what were your roles in facilitating it? Why did this session feel important/necessary?

IE: The affinity session held an important role allowing the CRNY participants/fellows to commune with each other and share their journey and experiences with GI, the challenges faced, and the victories won. I think it allowed us the opportunity to give our perspective on how GI had an important impact on our quality of life. It gave insight to all who attended.

KF: Having a space to meet other people who require this type of financial assistance is necessary because although we already know we have the baseline shared experience of receiving it, a space to share experiences allows us to feel safe, open up, and be empowered. Our role shifted from the initial plan because we did have non-participants present who wanted to listen in.

CB: Opening up the conversation to non-participants made for more space to talk about their side of operating pilots and non-profit initiatives. Seeing representation of more specific groups like domestic violence survivors who are also mothers prompted me to think about how wide the range of guaranteed income’s positive effects could extend when it comes to zooming in on quieter, yet common, disadvantaged groups. Seeing similarities and differences in pilot program frameworks by region and location (compared to CRNY) was also super insightful in the participant affinity session. I’m glad we were able to share our stories with those who are actively doing the work across the country and willing to learn from experiences.

What was it like to meet the other Power Building Fellows in person? What was it like to connect with such vibrant, exciting artists as part of a larger power building movement?

IE: I thought the experience was surreal; the fellows, the environment, the talent, organizations, providers, and individuals in attendance all felt genuine to me. There was a feeling of cohesion of mission and purpose.  

CB: I agree with Iya. The environment was so welcoming and comforting in the sense that we were meeting other comrades in the GI movement that work in different ways. The duality of us having our own cohort as participants and fellows and a large group from all over taking initiatives that we hadn’t seen or met before was inspiring. I felt like my passive thought of starting my own pilot was more realistic because it’s really happening outside of CRNY, my first true introduction to the GI movement.  

KF: It was amazing to finally be away from the screen and be present in each other’s company. It was great to commiserate about the art world because we all know and understand from being artists that [art and artists are] not valued enough. Being a low-income artist is so draining physically and spiritually, but to then be connected with a band of people in the same boat was incredible. These were all people that didn’t define themselves at just one thing, it was a multi-hyphenate haven! Misfits of the art world finding each other and scheming how we can rise up past the bullshit. I loved being surrounded by people who aligned with my goals and visions for what being an artist can be past the trope of suffering and struggle. It was a relief, like “Oh my gosh, I’m so beyond elated that this is all real!” I felt something inside me reignited, like the little flame within me was stoked, and now it’s a raging fire I can hardly contain.

CB: I already felt somewhat connected to everyone from the CRNY exit program because of how life changing the run of guaranteed income was for all of us. Our meeting by [NYC] borough right before our last payment gave everyone a chance to speak in a circle together and talk about the impact. That was elevated by the fellowship’s opportunity to learn together online, and I felt the full impact of the community aspect found in the GI movement once we all got to meet each other in person. We talked a lot about the fact that the gift of a trip across the country together felt just as unbelievable as the email confirming that we would be part of the program two years ago. However, we felt more deserving of it because guaranteed income encourages the idea that we are worthy of wellness and opportunity just for being human, and that directly applied to us during those 18 months. 

What do guaranteed income and economic justice mean to you as program participants, artists, humans in the world? And how did BIG help develop your view on guaranteed income?

KF: Guaranteed income is, in this current state that we are in, the swiftest way to equity, but the biggest no-brainer has the biggest pushback (for obvious reasons). BIG helped me really sit with the reality of those push backs and appreciate that so many leaders have pushed the policies they’ve developed forward despite [these obstacles]. It was really useful for me to learn the difference between GI and UBI, and the ways in which those against it are trying to block these programs. I definitely felt inspired to pick up the torch of this decades-long struggle.

CB: I also want to mention that I made connections at the BIG conference that have lasted and have now joined GI initiatives active in Arizona and San Francisco. Outside of talking about my experience, my prior knowledge of fundraising and all of the information we were given through the power building sessions over zoom have been useful in helping out groups that have already made an impact with their own participants and are working to bring their findings to policy makers and a growing list of potential donors. Guaranteed income means a better world and quality of life. This country needs the psychological effects that I often hear in conversations about the unemployment program created during the pandemic in which an extra $600 was added to your eligible benefits. That made the pandemic seem like there was a bit of light waiting for us at the end of the tunnel. We might’ve been stuck inside, but we had more money than we’ll probably ever see again. Financial guarantees are more than a safety net for expenses and costs of living. It is vital for health and making it through the challenges found in our capitalist system. 

IE: BIG, helped me expand my worldview and expanded my understanding of the inner mechanics of how legislation and the people’s involvement can help push this GI movement forward. I was not aware of the movement in countries like India, and the model they used, and its success. Listening to the stories shared, the organizations involved, the pitfalls, and how to avoid them gave me perspective on how we can make GI a reality for everyone. The difference it made in my life and the opportunity it afforded me to have a better quality of life is something I want for every human being.

Iya Brenda is a seasoned interdisciplinary artist, singer, writer, and storyteller with over 30 years of experience in metaphysics. She holds a master’s degree in Metaphysical Psychology and is pursuing a doctoral degree. She has collaborated with The Human Advocacy Group of Orlando, Florida. Her academic achievements include a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion, specializing in Latin American Cultures and African Studies. As a co-author, she contributed to the book “IFA & Orisha Reverence: Avoiding Fraud, Charlatans, and Scams En Route to Truth, Power, and Wisdom.” Iya’s passion lies in researching metaphysical sciences and quantum phenomena paradigm shifts while using Meta-Art to shatter social norms of victimhood and oppression.

Chemareéa Biggs is an interdisciplinary artist and educator with a focus in music composition, performance art, and printmaking. Chemareéa’s visual work encompasses conservation of the city’s current DIY underground music culture and a look into her experiences in these communities as a Black queer femme. Through sonic contributions with her band and generational involvement in the vinyl industry, she adds a variety to the scene with her identity alone. A Dallas native and an alum of The University of Texas at Austin’s Studio Art program, Chemareéa works as an activist through education, too: a youth tutor in academics and music theory, as well as an advocate for young artists in underfunded communities through college application and portfolio preparation support.

Kara Fan (they/she) is a 1st-generation Chinese-American artist born and raised in New Jersey, now based in Queens where their maternal side settled in the late-80s. Navigating their practice in this late capitalist hellscape has been as much of a nightmare as it is a delight, but now they want out. With the support from CRNY, Kara co-founded F234 Film Productions, which has allowed them to delve deeper into themes of healing, health, and agency. Additionally their involvement with the Ain’t I A Woman?! Campaign has further fueled their commitment to labor justice. To support their film work, go to https://ko-fi.com/f234filmproduction // To support the new labor movement and get involved, go to www.aintiawoman.org

Artist Power Building School Fellows and conference participants at the 2024 BIG Conference in San Francisco, CA.