“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.”

Redemption Song, Bob Marley

Matronage is unlike patronage in that it works on the basis of cooperation rather than hierarchy. Matrons will become part of a web, a community of women and men who give each other support and solidarity for any artistic, magical or Earth-lovin’ projects they’re involved in for reasons of passion.

Supporting ourselves as artists, connecting with our audiences, with the communities and society we come from while maintaining our artistic integrity – these are very old dilemmas.

By supporting an artist through matronage, you will not be buying a service for there are no servants here; and you will not be getting a product because nothing is finished, we can only begin.

Matrons for the Arts is not exactly a charity either. It is too easy to become something which encourages passivity and undermines the ability of art and artists to really challenge things. It would be great to have the necessary support to be able to pull away from this kind of disempowerment.

 

 

 

 

“We are human beings doing what must be done in reality: we are dreaming…”
from We Are Everywhere: the irresistible rise of global anti-capitalism by Notes from Nowhere.

The relationship between a matron and artist is fundamentally different from the traditional relationship between a patron and artist. It is an active, living, organic relationship. Nobody knows where the journey will lead. It requires the climbing out of comfort zones, the possibility that nothing will come of your investment, the spectre of vulnerability both for artist and matron. Only then can the gift of support really mean something to both and be a bold and creative act by both.