End of the Road

Today, December 24, 2018, is the final day that I will be adding any new features, interviews, reviews or other items to the Sonoran Arts Network website. Also today is the day for the final email newsletter you will receive.
 
SAN was established five years and eight months ago, in May 2013. I want to express my gratitude to those who helped me publish this online arts journal. Thank you for your written contributions, for your interviews, and for your financial and moral support. SAN made it possible for me to meet a lot of interesting artists and writers in southern Arizona. I am very grateful for that.
 
Why is this the end of the road?
 
First, money or lack of it. I am not independently wealthy. I have to work in order to support myself. I had hoped that SAN would provide a supplemental income. However the income never reached more than $76 each month. At the same time, SAN took lots of time away from other more lucrative ventures (freelance writing, book writing and publishing, art and fine craft marketing). SAN never qualified for grants because SAN is not a non-profit. Becoming a non-profit is very expensive so SAN stayed a de facto “for profit” and as a result, could not qualify for grants.
 
Second, I’ve written a lot on this blog about the mismanagement and mishandling of Tucson Open Studios by SAACA (Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance), a mishandling which is now being facilitated by the Arts Foundation of Tucson and Southern Arizona. Both groups had the opportunity to support local artists’ groups such as Heart of Tucson Art and Art Trails. In fact, they promised to support local arts groups and to not compete with them. They did not fulfill this promise. Instead they chose to promote themselves and their own organizations at artists’ expense. I depended on Open Studios as an important source of income for more than ten years. Now I can’t ethically participate anymore because to do so would mean cooperating in my own exploitation as an artist. Well-paid SAACA and Arts Foundation directors and staff seem to be primarily in the business of helping themselves. “Exploitation” is absolutely not too strong a word to describe these groups’ actions.
 
I became so discouraged about all this that I no longer have any motivation to continue publishing Sonoran Arts Network. SAN is another victim of SAACA and Arts Foundation.
 
I’m turning my efforts now to my own art and writings. I just published my second Letty Valdez Mystery and my tenth book overall.  Subscribe to my personal email newsletter to learn more about what I am doing these days.  My personal newsletter has news about writers and artists as well as my own art and book news, and news of the natural world. 
​Subscribe here:  Shane's News
 
 The SAN website will stay on the web for an indefinite time. SAN is a Weebly site and my subscription renewal isn’t due for at least a year. But eventually SAN will no longer exist.
 
Thank you for reading, for participating, and for helping.

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