Art Rookie: Trust Funds and Nepo Babies, How Class and Austerity Affects The Art Industry
If you were online at all over the last few weeks of 2022, the phrase ‘nepo baby’ has probably made its way into your feed via a viral New York Magazine cover story, reminding you once again that meritocracy is a thinly veiled lie. The cover and extensive reportage of the phenomenon of the nepo baby was a culmination of a year that began with the not-so-shocking news that "the quiet girl from Euphoria" - Maude Apatow - has famous parents and ended with Lily-Rose Depp clapping back at how unfairly journalists have treated her. It was inconceivable to Depp that gilded family ties were now being discussed out in the open, in magazines and TikTok, rather than in hushed tones at casting offices.
While celebrities continued to be shocked and hurt by anti-nepotism sentiments, heated discussions on nepotism have been fairly regular over the last few years. Every time a star kid is launched, we groan in disbelief, laughing at how untalented they are or spitefully appreciating that they do have the certain something that makes them shine. These discussions keep going around in circles, and nepo babies keep getting churned out and pushed onto the silver screen (or a Mindy Kaling web series) by their doting parents.
What the magazine and general discourse avoid, however, is a serious discussion on the myth of meritocracy. Nepotism exists outside of the entertainment industry and seeps into the art world, politics, business and even "nepotism-proof" careers like medicine and law. What all of this really boils down to, then, is then our social networks and the capital that is passed down to us by our family and immediate community. In this case, I don't mean tangible monetary resources. However, it would be extremely naive to suggest that economic capital has little to do with access to fame and success but rather social capital. According to sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, social capital or our ability to access resources and connections is determined by our position in the social strata, or more specifically, "the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition."
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In rookie terms, it's all about who you know and not the skills on your CV. Social capital has the power to launch careers. As Fran Lebowitz famously and rightly said, "Getting in the door is pretty much the entire game." In creative industries, this social capital is an unspoken pact between gallerists, art families and publishing execs. As you start inching your way into these circles, you realise just how many opportunities are offered over a glass of wine to those with influential family and acquaintances. While I have no concrete proof of this, I am almost sure that the idea for Brooklyn Beckham's book, which was replete with poorly lit photos of elephants and his family vacationing in Napa, resulted from one of these cultural handouts.
It is also crucial to contemplate the role class plays in accessing these industries. Research shows that the proportion of working-class professionals in the creative industries has sharply declined since the 1970s. Secure housing, education and networks within your community can put you on a higher playing field. As reported in the Guardian, this study raises significant concerns about why outreach programs have failed, why young people whose parents have white-collar jobs are four times more likely than those with working-class parents to be in creative work and myriad other issues of social mobility. Ultimately it reiterates what we all know and what meritocracy tries to hide: that there is no even playing field.
While it is rare to see institutions address their social and economic bias, an ongoing exhibition in Berlin unpacks how this class inequality impacts both the production and display of art. "Class Issues" at the Berlinische Galerie runs through January 9th and includes artwork concerning inequality that permeates the art world. The wall labels are especially revealing and include personal details of the artists, including their parent's professions, unpaid work they have taken up and the cost of production. A painted banner by Vlad Brateanu that reads, "An artist who cannot get funding is no artist", looms over the space reminding visitors of the role of funding in the life of an artist and how an artist's background can fracture their access to monetary resources through funding and grants.
Other works reveal what's at stake when artists can't afford the resources and materials to realise their projects, including concept sketches by Douglas Boatwright and Verena Pfisterer in place of an installation which would be significantly more expensive to create. A series of anonymous letters from artists over 60 requesting financial support during the pandemic was another focal point. The artist Gülbin Ünlü is also on show. Ünlü is the grandchild of Turkish immigrants and considers ethnicity and race relations in Berlin's art scene through a canvas titled 'waiting faster' covered in black lace. The press release for the show is blatantly honest, with a disdain for art world-classism that is overtly present in the commercial world; it goes on to state, "The field of art is characterised by a paradoxical simultaneity. While the works of a few artists fetch astronomical prices, others work under precarious conditions and finance themselves through jobs at a minimum-wage level."
Early last year, the Whitechapel Gallery presented an enormous show that presented a 100-year look into artist studios as a means to peek into the mind of an artist and peel back the layers of how great art is made. It highlighted the importance of, as Virginia Woolf called it, "A room of one's own". While the show was met with dazzling reviews, Eloise Hendy for Elephant Magazine shared how romanticising creative spaces of the past without providing structures for young artists to develop their practice and create those great works of art was unproductive. She shares, "In the grand scheme of housing, cladding, and cost of living crises, the accessibility of surplus space (space not just to survive but to thrive) might not seem like the most pressing concern. But these issues are intrinsically linked. The question of who can comfortably develop their practice, create work, and be part of an artistic community is a crucial part of any broader question about who contemporary cities are being shaped for and what kind of society we want to live in."
Hendy's essay was a stark reminder of how austerity impacts the creative industries and how once again, young artists from marginalised communities with little to no economic capital are pushed out of the creative industries and forced to take a day job. They are given dismal support to thrive within these spaces. Those who have attended art school complain on Twitter about how their curriculum doesn't cover practical advice on getting funding, writing grants, residences and studio spaces.
As Lola Olufemi declares in Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting power, "We must dismantle the systems of poverty, racism, incarceration, and impoverishment that leave so many women unable to fulfil their creative potential. A set of social and financial circumstances that enable creativity to take place. The question of who gets to make art is inseparable from questions of liberation and freedom."
Words: Zara Aftab
