Tuesday Tea ☕

This week's tea might sting a little because I know many of you were a target.

Here's the tea: Abstract Mag, an art-focused Instagram account with over a million followers, reached out to dozens of artists this June with an invitation that sounded like a dream. An all expenses paid, two week residency this August in a "historic chateau" in the country of Georgia, some artists were personally invited after being shortlisted for a similar program the year before. People cried, called their parents, started planning. In July, Abstract Mag posted that 40 artists had been accepted. Then their social media pages went dark. No residency, no explanation, nothing. Hundreds of artists worldwide say they were affected.

So, how do you protect your hope and your trust as an artist when opportunities like this keep getting used against you, and should artists be more skeptical of "big break" invitations even when they come from accounts with huge followings?

Were you approached by them? How did you react?

See you in the comments.