If you’re familiar with the mission statement here at SAEN, or you’ve spent time in or around the art scene, it’s likely you’ve heard the term ‘starving artist’. Certainly it’s a concept that drives the work we do here at SAEN, but it’s also an exceptionally prevalent idea that generates artistic aesthetics, fuels myths and stereotypes and, most detrimentally, acts as a repellent that keeps aspiring artists from pursuing their dreams. But where did it come from? And why does