What is your walk away price?

March 15, 2010
NYC
Elevation: 80 m

As I skim through all my RSS feeds from various blogs and news this morning, I came across an interesting question. “How much would someone have to pay you to stop doing what you are doing (assuming that you have dedicated your life to the pursuit of your art and passion) ? What is your walk away price?”

I  reposted this question on my Facebook Status and of course, there were some interesting comments. Some friends would take $100 million dollars and an Aston Martin but would reserve the right to still take snap shots, some would take $10 and a 6 pack of beer and they would go learn a new art, while others are trying to see how strict is the interpretation of “walking away.” As in, can they take up another art form, another discipline or do they have to give up the arts all together?

So I sat down and give this question some serious thought. What is my walk away price? Firs off, I personally would interpret the question to be that you would have to walk away from all artist pursuits. No more arts in any discipline, any medium. Period. No mas. What is the sum (post tax) for me to give it all up?

One million dollars? No. That is not enough.

Two million dollars? Well, that get me to pause for a second and think about it. With that kind of money, I can buy a small house somewhere and maybe set up a small business of sorts, maybe a hostel? There might be enough left to generate enough interest for me to travel and not have to worry about general day to day living. But what fun would that be? I don’t think I would like my time on the road as much if there was not a project that keep me focused. I think I would very easily start to drift and lose any sense of reality. Also, it would extremely frustrating to not be able to take a part in any artist endeavor what so ever.  To be jailed in the role of the observer and consumer and never again the creator and must let all of my ideas wither and die. UGH. I don’t think 2 million dollars is enough.

Five – Six million dollars? That would be enough money for a small house somewhere, enough to set my parents up and taken care of them, enough to travel and also set up a small NGO or 501 (c) to do some good. With 5-6 million dollars, I can actually do some actual good in many places around the world. Anything from clean water, to child labor, child prostitution, sustainable farming, to general education. I can actually set up something that would be of service. Or I would start a 501 (c) and help to nurture artists in  some capacity, a residency program, a grant, something. Ok. Maybe. If I couldn’t speak through my work and change the world with what I create, then I would like to be of service.

So, today, my walk away price is between 5-6 million dollars. Would I happily walk away? I am uncertain. Understand the real world, business valuation of my work is far less than any of the numbers I have considered here. The point of this hypothetical exercise is to think about why we do what we do, what would we trade it for, if we would trade it for anything and the perceived value of your work.

The fact that all of you who responded to my Facebook status would want to built in a bit of wiggle room in the contract of walking away means that we are not creating with blood, sweat and tears for nothing. If nothing else, we still love it so. Then, lets work on the increasing the perceived value of our work and not worry about what else we could actually do with our lives and time.

*The image above is of Peter Schumann, founder of Bread and Puppet Theater, walking towards the Dirt Floor Cathedral. He may look like he is walking away,  he is doing anything but…I have enormous amount of respect for him and The Bread and Puppet.