This past month, Creatives Rebuild New York was honored to participate in the Guaranteed Income Now conference in Detroit, Michigan, hosted by Economic Security Project. The conference brought together over 300 elected officials, advocates, and journalists from across the country to discuss successful guaranteed income policies, highlight the populations who would benefit most from guaranteed income, and strategize the movement’s future.

Maura Cuffie-Peterson, CRNY’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, and Claudia Maturell, a social practice artist and participant in CRNY’s guaranteed income program, spoke on a panel about cultural strategy and storytelling methods that can help advance guaranteed income policy for all. Joining Cuffie-Peterson and Maturell on the panel was Ricardo Beaird, Community Development Director at Springboard for the Arts, which has led an artist-centered guaranteed income program in St. Paul since 2021. Beaird was also part of CRNY’s Guaranteed Income working group in Fall 2023.

Maura Cuffie-Peterson, Ricardo Beaird, Claudia Maturell and moderator Cara Rose Defabio on stage at the Guaranteed Income Now Conference. Photo by Economic Security Project.

“I feel a personal duty to contribute to society and my community, and art and creative practice have been that path for me,” said Maturell. “As an artist living in New York, you have to hustle a lot. Having the foundation of this income […] opens up so much of my brain power and energy to come together with my community and think about the things we need to do and how I, as an artist, can contribute. …I can be even more generous, not only with my time but with the financial resources that I can contribute.”

Maura Cuffie-Peterson, Ricardo Beaird, Claudia Maturell and moderator Cara Rose Defabio on stage at the Guaranteed Income Now conference with one of Claudia’s photo portraits projected on the screen behind them.

Hearing from Claudia affirmed what guaranteed income demonstrations across the country show—guaranteed income is a critical piece of a strong social safety net that not only provides economic stability for recipients but also creates “ripple effects” for the wider community. 

When asked about the decision to provide guaranteed income to artists, Cuffie-Peterson noted, “Artists live everywhere. They live in every neighborhood. They’re your neighbors. They make the music we devour, the posters for the protests — they’re doing all the work that makes our lives meaningful.” She went on to add that “they’re also caregivers, they’re also parents, […] they’re also facing all the precarity that the financial system we live in creates. Artists deserve guaranteed income because we all do.” 

Cuffie-Peterson also discussed new data from CRNY’s ‘Portrait of New York State Artists’ survey. The survey found that artists are earning significantly less than the average New Yorker; nearly two-thirds of artists don’t have a financial safety net; and almost half of artists are gig workers. You can read more about the survey here.

To learn more about the role of art and artists in movement building, watch the full panel here.

Photos by the Economic Security Project.