I am a artist who has been involved with activities more than once that now seem cult-like.

This has involved several committees that do not appear to be connected to each other, but as soon as you get involved with any of them, you are expected to be involved with all of them.

Artists get shows and appear to be making money, but the people behind the show actually keep the money.

The first few times I ran into this, it seemed like it was just common white-collar crime and I refused to stay with it. But I was already considered a recruit into one of these committees. An aquaintance had invited me out of an interest in showing my work and when I told her that I really just preferred to work in an art-related job at that time and was not ready to show, what followed was strongly like having rejected a cult.

These people were pulling anyone they could into the role of artist, and I had professional training and tried to explain to my friend that they really knew nothing about the art world but they were behaving like common criminals.

If I tell you what happened after that, it will look like any other cult-exit story: the stalking, the interference, the threats.

When I moved to a distant city, I found a job in a print shop and started to plan to get on my feet again. But when I was staying with another artist's family, his wife who was not an artist started gushing over how much this group she knew of could help me. I recognized the pattern and though it was just another bunch of these crooks and I noticed the husband was not very happy with the conversation but was not saying anything and I tried to persuade her that I really had too much to do than to meet anyone else.

I had not identified what happened to me before that with cult behavior, and I thought it was something wrong with me that her kind offer seemed so eerily like what I had been through that I was feeling panic attack.

Then a week later she invited me to a local festival with her children and we were having a very nice time. When we were leaving she said she had something to show me, and she drove me into a neighborhood where her friends had offices and showed me their building. She thought I would be impressed and change my mind about not wanting to meet these people, but I was horrified to see a slight variation of the exact same committee I wanted to forget.

I could not satisfy her pressure and left her house as quickly as I could. I was half convinced I must be suffering delusions. When I was making my hasty exit I also noticed that her behavior had something to do with her marriage breaking up, which it was obviously in the middle of doing. Her artist husband did not like these people, either.

Then I went to the lobby of the committee and took a brochure and left. It did not look like it was the same committee, but it was so similar that I thought it was a coincidence.

Then I noticed a small credit in the bottom of the back of the brochure, and it was the same committee, a local chapter.

I felt better that I was not imagining things and put it behind me. Like a Burger King, there must be one of these in every town. Then I was at a church supper and several people came over to me and began to embarrass me by gushing over me and saying they had heard what an artist I am, and I realized she must have talked to them because I was not doing any art or showing any at all, I was just working in a print shop.

They were very pushy.

I would like to hear from other artists if you have been affected by something like this.

That's interesting. I"ve never heard of that, but it doesn't really surprise me. It seems like Art Fairs and Craft Fairs are popping up all over the place. I never really thought about the people behind the scenes running them. So do you think it's a national organization that is running these art fairs in different regions? Is it a multi-level marketing organization? If you know the name of the company (or the different names they use) maybe there's some way to look it up and see if there are any Better Business Bureau complaints or any other types of complaints against them.

I was involved with an artist and was reminded of my experience by your post. This person was a musician. Basiacally I would call it a cult of personality. The artist would meet people, schmooze them and gain their confidence. Then after winning them over, slowly begin to make more and more use of these "volunteers" and other hanger-ons, getting other people to do all of the gruntwork. For instance, helping to perform a lot of different tasks in order to help put on a concert. The artist would get paid, while all of the helpers and underlings that did all of the set-up work would not. It took me quite a while to see through all of the manipulations. Finally a light went off in my head, and I removed myself from the situation. So it wasn't like you are describing, it was more the artist themself was very good at attracting and manipulating people to get what they wanted.

I need to correct myself: I should have said "art cults" and not "artists" because the cults have artists as a tool, but the artists are often either dead or elderly, or otherwise not in control. Not always, but often.

There would need to be a living leader to have the dynamic of a destructive cult.

Dead artists might have a "cult following," but not an active cult as defined by an ongoing situation with a living leader.

Yes, so when you see what looks like a cult develop around an aging or dead artist, it is probably a good idea to look at whether there is another person "pulling strings".

If it is just an enthusiastic fan club that attracts people looking for a group to identify with, then that wouldn't be the same thing because those people seek out that art, don't they? Often like rock star fan clubs, for example?

But if there is an active recruitment "drive" that goes on that intrudes into campusses and other places, then wouldn't you think it is more like a cult?

A destructive cult if the people who criticize the artist or reject participation with the group suffer harassment? Not just strong disagreement, but real harassment.

In my experience after someone leaves a group the group loses interest in them.

That is, the former participant is not someone that the group would spend additional time with and/or express interest in. Instead, they move on to others that might support and help them.

An exception would be if a former member becomes an activist and in some way is warning others about the group, which of course they would not like.

To be considered a destructive "cult" a group needs an active living leader that dominates and manipulates its members.

This is sooo much what I have been trying to get at! I was expected to do all of this when I was in NatLFed and they were thoroughly entangled with using the arts to promote serious political mind-control propaganda but because it was done outside the actual NatLFed office (it was cadres inside each and every committee in town) no one would ever beleive me.

Look through my different threads about my experience and you see that I mention over and over in small ways that it was as an artist I was both a target and a threat.

The "death-cult" is using art, the sex molestations in schools have been through arts-grants-covered activities. I will continue to nibble all over this cluster of cults like a school of piranha, and emaline I hope you come back and talk some more about this. We have a LOT to share.