within their own minds and ok welcome to new beginnings with karen delk and i am so pleased to have joining me today shondra roxanne who is joining us from new haven connecticut and we're going to talk about a brand new subject that she's doing extensive research and getting her advanced degree so we're going to learn a lot about her concept and what she's doing so thank you for joining  so you and i met last spring i think and we've known each other for a few years you were looking into studying abroad and i had got my  masters at the london school of economics and you were looking at that but you were also considering some schools in italy and so our conversation just blossomed from there and you have this whole new concept that i think is so unique and that's what led me to want to have you on the show to explain your research what are you thinking about for artists in this new economy for them to be paid what they're worth and of feel good about their pursuits and talents in the arts so can you tell us a little bit about the concept and your research so it would as you said not replace the current funding structures but would be in addition to it would help the entire arts economy to function better and probably get if an artist was using their subsidy or their governments or like supplies but they aren't current in the same supplies and the arts market then that money that government subsidy that they were using can now be used for something else so it actually stretches the buying power of artists as well as arts organisations yeah and it sounds like it gives them greater flexibility to make decisions as needed yes and that you seeing this across the arts meaning performing arts visual r of you know music of all kinds musicians performers  are you seeing it also for stage productions so that it helps both the actor an actor but also you know those who are producers and writers are you are there any of organization will also be the challenge but like a museum we might be slightly restricted and maybe that's not the right word but how they use our security system is going to be different than how our on the arts or says but it won't restrict them from accessing that makes any no that does make sense so are you seeing some type what you're this concept that you're talking about is it in operation somewhere in the and spend it and supplies or microphones or paints or you know gas shoes or whatever it is canvas and you get i guess some change back that you can have one hour of art work and if you only work for half an hour you will get a half hour of our wonderful wonderful so who do you think are the major stakeholders that need to give an opinion or need to provide input if we were to roll this out you know a larger scale absolutely so the if that seems under invested money into the arms currency system they now have the potential to benefit more organization who are working in the system who are participating in that system and so we and it's a started but he also talked to people who get the vision who can then go around and begin helping organization that just understand the concept but research and europe and i had a couple of people who really pushed me to say take this with a ph d level take it because we need this so i'm slowly making my way there and last and there are so when you say that is is the ph d going to be an economics are you creating your own ph d is there are there existing programs where you could actually launch how they interact with each other but more importantly how they interact in a relationship they've built up on ours because that will be helping our trust to understand how we can better s particularly in urban areas within you know everyone else meaning commercial real estate in funders and investors and to some extent residents have given up on a particular area they turn it over to the arts when it's blighted when it's you know trashed and low and behold the arts community turns it around makes it beautiful thinks of unique ways to use the space and then that community becomes more vibrant than it was before i've seen that really in several places across the country so i think you're definitely on to something when you talk about how to integrate the non arts community because i think some of that intersectionality is already you know it's happening without its i don't even know if it's organic but it's happening in spaces and for instance in trenton which is the capital city of new jersey they have something called arts all night and were able to hook former factories and that were long in i mean huge took blocks and they've converted that space to arts colonies artists colonies and they do twenty four hour program of arts all night where you know you have different food vendors and artists come and musicians and performances and all of that and i think that has been around for probably at least a decade if not it might even be two decades  so you know and it's really trying to transform you know some of the areas where these these properties were no longer in use and yet they're they're viable you know yes they're viable that moment of exchange that is just that is continuous beyond what a great yes yeah you got me sold i definitely and i am not an artist but i am a patron of the arts i love live performing arts i love you know visual arts i love dance and music so i definitely supported heavily  so i would be one of those non artists who you know would definitely support the idea which is why when i you know heard you discuss it i thought this is this is really innovative this is this is something that needs to be broadcast because as our listeners hear about it you know i think you'll get a lot of people who will be interested i'm we right in downtown princeton and the university is you know all around us and there's a renowned theater called the macarthur theater where the you know they're probably much like the yale repertory theater a lot of great works come through both organizations and go on to broadway and you know all kinds of things so i would think that there would be a lot of of interest in the act in academia but also in you know a regular commercial for profit business because it's you know this is one where it's a win win win all stay and i understand well so where are you now you know you've described a lot of things like what needs to happen next or what's what's your next goal to move this forward road you know you're looking to get the ph d and so where where are some of the what are some of the programs you're considering i mean not you know more location rather than naming the the schools necessarily so definitely the u k there are a lot of interesting work that's going on in euro and the year in our market fascinates even just because they're heavily subsidized and so be if people are afraid what were they afraid of well if you don't understand something then it's hard the fear of leaving what you know even when it may not work is a fear yeah and it is so radical i understand that it's we have our own parents the we have our own uncertainty there a lot of responsibility a lot of accountability so it's very much like do i stay in my comfortable job where i have health benefits and i have my four a one and a steady income or do i take the plunge and start anew that is right and it's that fear is the same kind of fear yeah yeah we're almost out of time but i want to ask you one last question and thirty seconds so what is your new beginning for twenty nineteen so no fear even for my own life i have i took the time to do some soul searching and i realize i have a plan and i and that was michel that's where my i lack of your lot late early and so being able to throw that away and say i'm awesome well i thank you for joining us this is been so insightful as i knew it would be and i'd love to have you back after you have some updated research to share with us what you found that would be awesome i really appreciate that yes well thank you again and thank you to our listeners for tuning into new beginnings with karen