The Brave Artist Community is an online community for people who want to live their most creative lives possible. It’s run on a forum platform called Discourse, and live virtual events occur on Zoom.

The Brave Artist Community at its most basic nature is a forum – a forum structured by empathy and support. In reality it’s a living, breathing community of creative individuals who are all there to do the work – whether that means drawing daily or finishing a manuscript or designing their dream life in another country – alongside each other. 

There are also plenty of opportunities to interact in real-time on Zoom. We host co-working sessions, weekly in-progress celebrations, and have monthly group coaching sessions, among other special events.

If you’ve read this far, I’d bet you are. 

We define the term “artist” the way that the dictionary does: a person who creates art using conscious skill and creative imagination. 

If you are using skill and imagination to create something, you’re an artist in our eyes. Maybe you create with food and recipes. Maybe it’s chewed up bubble gum sculptures you keep in a drawer in your cubicle. Maybe it’s doing a post-it sketch a day. Maybe it’s starting a business. 

If you can imagine something new – a thing, a way of being, an idea – and you want to creatively bring that out into reality, you are an artist and we think you’ll fit in just fine.  

This is NOT a class, although we do have weekly prompts to help propel you forward. 

This is a living, breathing community of creative individuals – meaning this only works if you put in the work to join the community. There are no minimum time requirements, but we find that the people who get the most out of the experience dedicate at least 10 minutes a day to moving their work forward, and 10 minutes a day on the platform.

Regarding your own practice, it’s up to you. Some people spend that time writing, others doing research, others might be coding, or painting, or practicing ear training, or sketching, or anything else that moves your creative life forward. 

Regarding time spent on the platform, it might be responding to other people’s comments on your posts, it could be writing a reflection on your work for the day. Maybe it’s joining a co-working session or reading someone else’ posts.

It really depends on what you put into it. It’s just like real life in that the more time you spend supporting others and starting conversations, the more likely you’ll find the support you need and have people eager to converse with you. 

We also have a weekly space to share your work-in-progress. If you choose to participate, this is the time to ask for feedback (we have more information on how best to ask for, give, and get useful feedback), get the support you need, and practice talking about your work. 

As our past members have said, the primary benefit is having other like-spirited people who support your journey and celebrate all the many steps along your creative journey. They’ll cheer for you when you ship a product out into the world, but more importantly they’ll be there to pick you up when the going gets hard.

You’re likely not to find a subject matter expert who can give you a perfect critique of your work (although you might.) However, you are likely to find friends who can cheer you along the way, offer new perspectives, and talk you down from the cliff of giving up.

We do not offer trial memberships – although our refund policy allows for full refunds for those who give it an honest try and actively participate but find it’s not for them. Please see our terms and conditions for more information. 

We have six-month memberships because we believe that it takes time to form new habits and relationships, and given all of the wild curveballs life can throw at us that might knock us off course, six months allows for time to get back on the proverbial track. 

Also, we believe the fastest way to your goals – whether that’s a finished project like a portfolio or a novel or an album release or whether it’s maintaining a daily writing or singing practice – is small, consistent steps. This steady, incremental progress is what we focus on supporting through weekly celebrations, checkbox accountability, and our weekly progress updates, and the longer you go leveraging these tools, the more likely it is to stick permanently. 

PS – Our memberships do not auto-renew. We require you to recommit every six months because the practice of doing so reinforces the commitment you’re making to yourself and your work. 

Providing the structure for spaces of belonging takes time and energy and resources. Just as we believe everyone, especially creatives who are largely undercompensated, should be compensated fairly for their time, so too should our work.

We also know what it’s like to live in a capitalist system and be shut out from opportunities due to lack of funds. That’s why we offer scholarships in order to make it financially viable for as many artists as possible. 

Starting a business is an incredibly creative process, and we welcome people looking for support in creating a new venture. That said, there is a line between talking about your business and directly soliciting clients.

Directly messaging other members with sales info (unless requested by the other member) is strictly forbidden and is grounds for removal from the community. Posting links in your own Scratchpad is fine, posting links as solutions in others is not.