Why not just help talented artists? "Underrepresented communities" seems to be the most important point. Are we not anymore the unique human community?

^^^ I can�t like this comment enough. It�s just like the statue of the brave little girl facing down the Wall Street bull, paid for and dreamed up by an investment firm that has a dismal record of hiring and promoting women. Smoke and mirrors.

And the request to keep comments about both announcements in separate threads, as if they�re not connected, and as if keeping the announcements separate will somehow keep us from connecting them.

It is really sad and frustrating to see corporations continuously taking actions to systemically harm under-represented communities while paying lip service with publicity stunts. I mean predictable and unavoidable but still sad.

In this example harming income of an extremely diverse group of contributors from all over the world with the setting up a free image collection which devalues their work to increase engagement for Adobe and their products. The effect being ultimately to drive income from them to the pockets of extremely well off and not at all diverse group of shareholders in wealthy countries. Simultaneously setting up a fund which ultimately does nothing to address the underlying issue or make any meaningful change is whitewashing plain and simple.

Same strategy as SS or more broadly why Citi Group or BP are constantly funding charities or museum exhibits. It�s just ad spend for the companies involved that will have no real impact on the lives of the vast majority of BAME, LGBT+ or disabled people but does wonders for their public image.

I am sure it it�s just a coincidence these two announcements have been made at the same time. If you want to have a real impact in the lives of under-represented communities as a group why not start by doing everything you can as a corporation to preserve the value of their work and level of their compensation (it�s rhetorical I know the answer).

Apologies for any redundancy caused by placing this in this thread, I can understand why it is in your interests to keep these two announcements separate, but the connection has to be pointed out.

I reached out to the team that has been working hard on this program and asked them to comment on your statement. I want to share what they told me with you.

"Adobe has had a longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion that is deeply rooted in our company culture. This can be found in our people, product, and ecosystem.

Adobe Stock shares the Adobe corporate ethos. We have many different diversity and inclusions initiatives in progress. To be thoughtful and meaningful requires longterm planning and implementation. We know that we can do more and have committed to take immediate action to support underrepresented communities. With a $500,000 commitment in 2021, the Artist Development Fund helps us build a platform and give voice to self-identifying artists from underrepresented communities. Each artist will receive approximately $12,500 per production to fund their own personal project or work with us on topics. We intentionally created compensation that was larger than the average RPI (Return on investment) to support fair and equitable terms to the artist, while at the same time, making this content available for Free gives the work and the artists greater visibility. The program also supports a need for creative democratization to make high quality content available to all.

At Adobe, we believe that stock represents creatives helping creatives and take great pride in providing a platform that supports creativity for all. We look forward to showcasing artists and, in their own words and imagery, share their work and how it is informed by their culture and life experiences."

These movements are not improvised. Against free, the competition disappears?
File monopoly? The Agencies, the rest of the agencies, against free, cannot fight.

It is clear that the market is changing. The current system needs to evolve.
Interesting move. Very interesting.

This might be an amazing opportunity for the forty selected artists depending on the exact terms of deal. For the rest of us, I personally think it would be a lot more impactful and meaningful if Adobe used their considerable influence in the industry to work toward preserving the value of creative work in general.  If any company has the position, resources and incentive  to help come up with solutions for the "race to the bottom" in pricing of creative assets it would seem to be Adobe.

Education was mentioned in yesterday's announcement and I would genuinely love to see some sort of plan from Adobe about teaching copyright, IP and valuing your work as an artist. Maybe Adobe could even work with artists from the underrepresented communities to become ambassadors and educators in their local design communities?

I don't want to take away from the good this program will do for those selected and I'm not trying to be dismissive of it, but to me at least it feels awfully empty after yesterday's news, particularly if one isn't eligible to be considered. I'm not even sure I understand who is eligible, the phrase "self-identifying artists and content from underrepresented communities" sounds like vague corporate word salad to be honest. No offense meant, but the language could perhaps be more clear here.

It's good that Adobe is actively working on diversity and inclusion initiatives, but looking long term, what is the benefit of nurturing these new artists and content creators without a viable market for selling art in the future? Considering how much more difficult it has gotten in the last two decades to earn income this way, I truly wonder what it will look like to try to make a living as a creative in 2030, and moves like the free image collection seem to be making that a more remote possibility.

This might be an amazing opportunity for the forty selected artists depending on the exact terms of deal. For the rest of us, I personally think it would be a lot more impactful and meaningful if Adobe used their considerable influence in the industry to work toward preserving the value of creative work in general.  If any company has the position, resources and incentive  to help come up with solutions for the "race to the bottom" in pricing of creative assets it would seem to be Adobe.

Education was mentioned in yesterday's announcement and I would genuinely love to see some sort of plan from Adobe about teaching copyright, IP and valuing your work as an artist. Maybe Adobe could even work with artists from the underrepresented communities to become ambassadors and educators in their local design communities?

I don't want to take away from the good this program will do for those selected and I'm not trying to be dismissive of it, but to me at least it feels awfully empty after yesterday's news, particularly if one isn't eligible to be considered. I'm not even sure I understand who is eligible, the phrase "self-identifying artists and content from underrepresented communities" sounds like vague corporate word salad to be honest. No offense meant, but the language could perhaps be more clear here.

It's good that Adobe is actively working on diversity and inclusion initiatives, but looking long term, what is the benefit of nurturing these new artists and content creators without a viable market for selling art in the future? Considering how much more difficult it has gotten in the last two decades to earn income this way, I truly wonder what it will look like to try to make a living as a creative in 2030, and moves like the free image collection seem to be making that a more remote possibility.

Let's be clear.
Do you want clear words? This is a business.
As for the collaborators, it seems that AS is going to push us a little more.
We must associate in groups. It is clear that it is our future.
Everyone needs us, but we are not able to organize ourselves into groups. Simple.

I've been licensing images since 2003, I'm pretty clear on the fact that it's a business.  I'm not sure I understand your other posts though, it seems like you are under the impression that Adobe is moving toward a new model that involves paying up front for content.

That isn't necessarily what's being said here.  Even if that were the case I'm not sure I'd see it as good news.  It's highly unlikely any company would be able to pay full time living wages to each artist it gets content from.  Even the amount from this program wouldn't cover most people for a year. For me licensing creative assets is a way to get away from being tied to an employer or a salary anyway.

I think I agree with you about groups in theory, unfortunately that has not worked out very well in the past.

.

I wonder if there is any Federal money or Federal incentive to Adobe with this program ?

From the announcement:
Forty selected artists will use these funds to embark on ambitious new projects in 2021, offsetting costs that too often become barriers to developing new productions, like paying models, renting spaces, and covering equipment costs....

The Artist Development Fund will allow us to offer creative and financial opportunities for artists and fill an acute market gap by spotlighting the value of their communities. Content created through the Fund, sponsored by Adobe Stock, will be included in the free collection exclusively for one year.

Some initial questions:

• After artists use the money to pay their 'costs', how much is left for their other living expenses(aka rent,food,...) much less real 'income' to the artist?
  
• As work will then be offered for free is there an additional payment as for the other 'free' contributors?
• Or, is the initial payment all they get?
• How much of the artist's work during the year must be given to Adobe?
• What happens to work Adobe doesn't add to the free collection?
• Who owns the rights?
• Are the artists to be considered freelance or contractors?
• Do they get the benefits available to Adobe employees?

.

Leaving aside any politics and motives its more subsidised content for the vast majority of contributors to compete against.