Financial Access

Abbey of the Arts charges fees for many of its programs to create a mutual exchange of energy with participants and support our many administrative costs. A fee helps to honor the many hours of labor that goes into creating and sustaining a vibrant community like this one and to pay our artists and teachers an adequate living wage.

We offer sliding scale payment structures for most of our online programs. This helps to build a more equitable way to make our work financially accessible. It acknowledges the various forms of systemic oppression that result in economic disparity. Through a sliding scale model (and additional scholarships beyond the fee tier we offer), we can help to relieve the financial barrier to participate in our programs that some may experience.

Rather than ask for proof of income, we rely on participants to prayerfully discern what fee they can afford using the following for guidance:

The standard fee for our programs is what we need to be able to stay financially sustainable.

The scholarship fee is for anyone for whom the standard rate is prohibitive. This includes those who are unemployed, underemployed, experiencing illness, disabled, a carer for others without financial support, in extensive debt, or retired without other forms of financial support.

If the scholarship fee is still too high for you, please get in touch to request a higher scholarship amount and/or a payment plan. 

Please note if you are able to travel, have savings or investments, a continuing education budget, a stable housing situation, or people you can ask for financial support, we ask that you pay the standard fee.

The sponsorship fee is for those who are experiencing more ease in their financial circumstances and want to support those who aren’t to have access to our programs.

Please note that while we do have people who choose to pay the sponsorship fee, there are always many more per program who choose the scholarship fee and some who request additional support. We fundraise in other ways to keep the fees accessible, but there is a limited amount of support we are able to offer. It is because of the generosity of those who are able to support our work financially we are able to offer our many free resources such as our prayer cycles, book club, and scholarship fund to nourish everyone regardless of financial capacity. If you are able to offer additional support please visit this page.