I have (thanks to a combination of hard work, luck, and a good upbringing) reached a point in my career where I can support and help out others in achieving their goals. Given my association with the arts throughout my life (my mother is a visual artist, my grandparents are musicians, I worked in the art department throughout my undergraduate years, and so on), I am proud to be able to help support some of my fellow skeptics who happen to be artists of various types.
The website Patreon is a pretty amazing idea – it’s similar to Kickstarter in that you are crowdfunding money, but different in that Patreon is for ongoing support, not a singular project. As I’ve written before,
If you’ve not used Patreon before, I really urge you to give it a try. You can pledge very small amounts of money on a per creation or month basis that can help support artists and writers. In return, you get access to various cool rewards, as well as knowing that you are supporting something great being made.
The three artists I’m currently supporting are my friends Monty Harper, Kyle Sanders, and Ryan Long. below are some brief descriptions of what they are doing. I’ve bolded the link to each one’s Patreon site, so you can see it a bit easier.
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Monty has launched a Patreon site to assist in funding his music creations via Flying Spaghetti Music!
What is Flying Spaghetti Music?
My writing for kids and families is fueled by a scientific world view. I value critical thinking, literacy, education, diversity, curiosity, imagination, humor, silliness, inquiry, wonder, compassion, respect, cooperation, reason, democracy, and a life well-lived!
I mostly write about science, reading, families, and fun! If you’re comfortable with evolution, Harry Potter, Halloween, and asking questions, then you’ll gladly embrace my “Flying Spaghetti Music.”
I’ve known Monty for several years, and kids and families love his music.
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Next is Kyle Sanders, creator of the increasingly popular webcomic Carbon Dating. I met Kyle at TAM in 2013 (in a funny bit of coincidence, I actually taught his wife while she was an undergraduate and I was a graduate student at Oklahoma State!) and was impressed with both him as a person and his cartooning skills. Kyle’s Patreon site is set up to help support the creation of the comic, supplying funding for he and his artist, Elisa Wikey. The comic, in case you’ve not read it, follows a science journalists navigating relationships, skeptics, non-skeptics, and is great!
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Last but not least is another person I first met at TAM 2013, Ryan Long. Ryan is a graphic designer and digital illustrator working out of Hollywood. Ryan’s Patreon site is focused on creation of new digital content, and he’s got some pretty excellent ideas for educational and entertaining material that combines his knowledge of art, design, history, LGBT studies, and social issues. He also did the graphics for the Skeptic Ink Network, so you know he’s good people!
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If you’ve got people you’d love to see supported by more folks, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
