Everything's Amazing, Everybody's Broke: The Yin/ Yang of Art/ Business PART 2:

This is a two-parter, so read Part 1 first if you want this to make sense.

BUT WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?  Yes, what can you do?  Call me an idealist, but I’ll tell you a few things:

1-    Stop telling yourself that it has nothing to do with you.  It has everything to do with you.  YOU are a member of the audience, everyday, everywhere you go.  And the way you value creativity in your own life is reflected in the world around you.  Empower yourself.  YOU can take a small supportive action in the arts, be it to an individual, or an organization, and make a HUGE difference. 

2-    Ask yourself what YOU would like to see more of?  What would make you feel better about waking up in the morning? What would enhance your day?  Go find it.  And throw some money at it while you’re looking at it.  THEY NEED IT in order to keep making more for you. 

3-    How about making donations to someone’s kickstarter program this year instead of a political campaign?

4-    You know that annoying friend of yours who’s always asking you to see their band?  How about buying their album off their website… or better yet, buying two, and giving one to a friend?  

5-    How about sponsoring a talk for artists at your local library and bringing in an expert for them on new ways to get their work seen? 

6-    How about connecting that person you know in publishing with that talented writer you know, TODAY, instead of continuing to put it off?

7-    How about making your next holiday gift-giving season about buying beautiful pottery from a local tradesman instead of junk from The Sharper Image? 

8-    How about giving your painter friend a certificate for a hand massage, with a lovely note that says you believe in their talent? 

9-    How about, just asking yourself the question, what can I do to benefit the arts this year and help keep them alive? 

10- How about just bringing a friend with you to the next cultural even you attend?

11-And, if you are a decision maker in a creative field, how about taking a chance on the underdog?

Recently a creative colleague of mine said “Fuck making money, just make art.”  But this is the problem:  it costs me money to MAKE art.  And time. It's like being a mother: it's a full time job with no paycheck.

And the bigger problem is this: when all art MUST PAY in order to be seen, while the artists themselves are indeed starving, then the BUSINESS will have overtaken art.  The YANG will have strangled the YIN.  And what used to be “art” will become commercial, watered-down, dumbed-down, simmered-down, and put down.

The tiny brilliant ideas that, back in the times of the roaring 20s Paris, might have lived no matter if the artist was only eating baguettes or not, won’t stand a chance in this world.  The delicate rose that is itself pure art, will have no water and sunshine for it to grow.  And if pure, true, honest, vulnerable ART cannot earn a living, or at least survive in this world, they won’t stand a chance against BUSINESS.

And the audience, not the creators, will be the ones who have stood by and let the brutal murder happen.   

My challenge to you is not to change the world.  It is simply to NOT be complacent about art.  Be an ART EXPEDITOR, not an ART INHIBITOR.  Just try it, and see how it makes you feel. The rewards will not only benefit the artistes, but you will feel it deep within yourself as well…

Everything's Amazing, Everybody's Broke: The Yin/ Yang of Art/ Business PART 1:

Louis CK did a piece on Conan O’Brien that I recently revisited that became known as “Everything’s Amazing, Nobody’s Happy,” describing the ways in which technology has made us, basically, spoiled and impatient to the wonders of the world and the developments in human technology.  It’s hilarious, because it’s true. (I won’t recount it for you, look it up on you tube, duh).

In the creative field I have noticed a different type of phenomenon, as I watch several highly educated, brilliantly talented friends of mine go through difficulties in job-hunting, getting their creative careers to the next level, or just plain trying to function.  And that is, the creative market, with the developments in technology, has never been MORE amazing.  You can find a photographer online, in your area, in minutes, see their work, and send them a message, all without leaving your bed.  You can watch a new music video on Youtube of your favorite band, then watch 10 more, for FREE.   You can learn how to program an arduino board and order one online to fulfill your homemade LED sculpture visions.  You can find out what’s showing next at the Guggenheim, the local gallery, or the local community playhouse, in a matter of moments.  Actors can be seen, painters can show their work, musicians can record their songs and sell them; it’s a free-for-all.  This is amazing.  Or is it?

The creative professional market has also never been more flooded.  Education continues to pump out new graduates in fields like film and photography, sound design/ engineering, writing, music, graphic design, and all-encompassing “art,” while the actual jobs in these fields have never been at a lower low.   People USED do their work for free, in order to build a resume, in hopes that they can one day charge for their craft.  But there are so many more people now doing their work for free, that the person in NEED of creative services, can find someone willing to do it for less, if anything, or, just do it themselves.

So, why bother getting an education anymore? Hands-on training has replaced theoretical hearsay picked up behind a desk.  Interns who are from situations where they can afford to work WITHOUT getting paid (hmmm… wasn’t that called indentured servitude in the South?) are taking up jobs that would ordinarily go to recent grads, and meanwhile, experienced and seasoned professionals in their fields are suddenly “overqualified”- not in their fifties, but in their… thirties????

And yet, with the endless creative “networking” communities, Burning Man culture, and online resources, creativity is still all “AMAZING,” whether it has any actual substance or not.

As a musician, I am constantly hearing different opinions on whether or not “music should be free.”  I never hear anything about whether or not FURNITURE should be free, or whether or not CAR REPAIRS should be free, or even, whether or not HOUSESKEEPING should be free.  Most every field that exists out there, people expect to pay and be paid for it… except, for some reason, in the arts.

Because we are “doing what we love,” we should somehow be satisfied with doing it for free, or, “doing it for the exposure,” or, doing it because “we enjoy being creative.”  Have you ever heard of a carpenter making a bookcase “for exposure?”

The fact is, these days, the monetary payback (I won’t even use the word “success”- I’ll use “payback, “ as in, getting back what you put into it) of any creative undertaking, is like winning the lottery: the more money you shell out, the more chances you MIGHT have of it paying off.  But, there are no guarantees.  Most artists I know aren’t churning out work because they’re making a killing on it.  Those folks might be out there.  But I don’t know any. They’re doing it because they were born with certain gifts, and they want to fulfill a part of themselves by expressing those gifts, so they can feel their purpose in life.

I know people who continue to put their time, effort, and spare (or non-spare) cash into what they love, hoping that one day, they can quit their job working overtime at the bagel shop/ local bar/ post office/ clothing store/ in order to do something more befitting of their talents and gifts, instead of having their chi continue to be plucked away moments at a time, for $12/hr, and go home too tired to create.  But alot of them, continue those jobs, and find other time to create anyway, because, that is what they enjoy doing, whether or not it costs them money or takes time away from other aspects of life.

So why should the general public care about this?  What does it have to do with them?  Why bother turning off HBO to care about a bunch of whining broke artists?

I’ll tell you why.  Because in a flooded market like this one, the only ideas that are seen and survive are the ideas that advertise.  And advertising your idea/ painting/ song/ play/ film/ book, these days, beyond your friend circle, requires PR.  And good PR is very, very expensive, especially on an artist’s budget.  So, basically, the ideas that end up REACHING you on your flat screen/ computer/ magazine/ cable TV are in fact, filtered by a financially favored meter- and NOT, in fact, on a talent/ originality/ pure inspirational genius meter. 

Again, why should you care?  Well, ask yourself:  how often are you truly inspired lately?  Do you see paintings on the wall of your local restaurant that leave you breathless? Do you see movies that make you feel alive and complete as a human being… on your Delta flight? Do you hear songs that tell you brilliant stories and create a world you want to exist in …on your local radio stations ? 

If you answered yes to all these questions, I’m either moving where you live, or you’re sending me your prescription drugs.  Cause I think I’m not alone in thinking there’s a lot of movies and songs out there, reaching a lot of people, that just plain SUCK. 

But I’m just one person.  What can I do about it? I can't change the world. 

Read part two.