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a12187
>Actually wait, how the fuck does an art hive make a living anyway? Presumably the art scene isn't all just money laundering.
I think most hives that deal in the arts work like Storytree, though most of them are much more specialized than we, er, they are. Most of the funds that are earned go into the Hive’s central bank account which pays for taxes, food, utilities, and other general things. Reoccurring costs. Only a few of us can touch that account, and it supports our lifestyle. From that account the Queen transfers a certain amount every month into a shared account that most of us do have access to. That’s basically used to pay for like, personal purchases, Hive events, everyday expenses.
Once you’re an adult and considered responsible enough you get a card that lets you access the shared account within certain limits. Before that you must ask someone with access to the account to do transactions you can’t do with petty cash. So, when I was a kid I used to ask J’raine to buy any personal instruments or easels or whatever and once I got a card my little sister bothers me whenever she wants some stupidly expensive history book or access to some online biography that’s behind a paywall.
Any individuals or small groups in the Hive that do paid work that’s not ‘Hive sanctioned’, which means the Queen doesn’t personally look over or listen to the work and sign off on its quality, sends their profits directly into the shared bank account. It’s not required, and I know a few who don’t, but they usually spend what they get almost immediately. If someone needs funding for the project they use the shared account, and we basically work on an honor system that no one will take too much out of it. So, if decided to do a band gig with some hivemates then, well we’d probably borrow the equipment from someone else in the Hive, but if we couldn’t we could buy the equipment with the shared account and we’d forward the pay back to that account. Assuming we weren’t paid in beer, obviously. Overall, this isn’t much of our income.
‘Hive sanctioned’ work are contracts that are brokered by the Hive itself. Generally, the Queen or her representative will meet with another Queen, company, or whoever and work out the specifics of the deal. This can be something like production design work on a small movie. Usually the Hive picks who’s going to work on the project and if the Queen signs off on them it basically just goes like any other job. Income from this goes to the central account, and it’s the bulk of how we support ourselves.
We also own a few businesses which I think operate independently, money-wise. A few hivemates live and work there full-time and they grab kids for part-time work as needed. We have a publishing house, the front of which doubles as a book store, and the amphitheater we call the Hall. Oh, and the gallery. That’s new though, and I’ve never been there and don’t know much about it. The Publishing House mostly prints Hive stuff, but we do lease it out to outsiders sometimes. The theater is the same, though it’s a lot bigger. The Queen is always looking to expand, and I think she has her eye on a studio next.
Storytree is more stable financially than a lot of other artistically focused hives since our products are diversified, but the drawback is we can’t handle large volumes of work in the same medium. If someone needs a small band we can do that, but we don’t have enough professional-level musicians trained in the specific instruments to field a full-scale orchestra, for example. We do have an edge over our competitors since we can do multimedia projects in-hive with a lot more ease.
I think that’s everything?
>Why are we still here? Just to suffer?
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…
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