Category Archives: Questions

May 20 2012
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Creativity, Questions, Thoughtful

On smugness, searching, and self-reliance.

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There’s a lot of advice about following your dreams and loving what you do.

I think it mostly comes from an empowering place…spending 40+hours something you enjoy can only enrich your life, your relationships, right? For those of us who have lucked into/sacrificed for/found one of those jobs, it seems pretty smug to preach about the importance of adoring your professional life. I mean, who wants to spend their workweek doing something that they hate? Um, nobody. Even if the perks or money are compelling for a while, sooner or later an exit strategy is developed, a parachute is crafted, and a departure is engineered.

However, doing that thing that we love can come with some serious baggage in the form of financial hardship. Student loans, a rough (to be generous) job market…if you’re in the arts, you’ll also factor in the cost of living, which will likely be on the high side since metropolitan areas are usually the places where culture thrives. (Not always, for sure…and there’s something wonderful to be said for those communities who embrace art-makers as an integral part of their fabric.)

So, how to reconcile following the career that makes your heart sing while also being able to live? And really, to live, not just survive?

Million-dollar question, that.

I came across this quote:

…The first step is creating a foundation of self-reliance: a survival dance of integrity that allows you to be in the world in a good way—a way that is psychologically sustaining, economically adequate, socially responsible, and environmentally sound.

I think it’s absolutely true that you cannot make your best art, or your best effort, when you’re not feeling safe. There’s a reason that the trappings of security are the foundation of Maslow’s pyramid: if our basic needs aren’t met, we can’t function strongly in society…we can’t contribute creatively if we can’t feed ourselves!

But, and here’s the bigger question: Do we dive in and hope for the best? (We are artists, after all…there’s a certain amount of grace for those who make beauty for a living, I think.) Do we defer the dream for security? How do we find a balance, find that self-reliance?

There are some great stories on this site of folks who have found that balance…and they’ve done it in as many different ways as there are people profiled. If you have a similar story, I’d love to hear it- you can find me in the comments here, or at indirectroutes@gmail.com.

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May 18 2012
3 Comments
Creativity, Questions, Thoughtful

Career Scaffolding

Rather than posting a personal profile this week, I’d like to direct you towards a post on Creative Infrastructure by Linda Essig, the director of ASU’s Arts Entrepreneurship Program.

(Side note – Arts Entrepreneurship? How awesome is that? While the 17-year-old-Me might’ve been all about performing, the [mumblemumble]-something Me is totally entranced by this program of study.)

She writes, in reference to a chance meeting with an arts worker in a metropolitan sushi bar:

The story of J is a good example of a person who uses his talents, skill and training in the arts to build a career, albeit not one he would have envisioned as an art student. Students enter study in the arts with many dreams and aspirations. […] If J had kept his head down, looking only toward the world of studios and gallery shows, he might not have seen the opportunities that have led to what became an enjoyable and sustainable career.

I can vouch for the undergraduate nearsightedness, and also for the value in keeping one’s eyes open to opportunities. If we think about our undergraduate (and, in some cases, advanced studies) as the scaffolding upon which we build a career, rather than the than the gun barrel through which we cast our aspirations, it free us up to look in any number of directions. Sometimes the straightest, most direct route is simply the easiest route, and not the best. Maybe we should co-opt Lysander’s words of wisdom for this little corner of the internet:

The course of true love ne’er did run smooth.

Amen…whether in love, or relationships or vocation or avocation…sometimes those crunchy places are trying to catch our attention. Listen. Look around, lean into those bumpy, rocky spaces.

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May 16 2012
2 Comments
Questions, Thoughtful

The Prestige Pitfall

It’s funny – I had the opportunity to sing last week for a retirement concert for a mentor. It was a tune I knew, with several colleagues whose company I enjoy, to celebrate a teacher who has made a large impact on my career.

And I politely declined.

I have two degrees in vocal performance. As a student, I loved the study and the collaboration, but what I really wanted was the applause, the fancy costumes, the name on the poster, the roses after the show. The singing was, sadly, secondary to all of the other noise surrounding the act of performing.

Now, I sing all the time. (Ask the manicurist who called me out yesterday for humming along with Shania Twain.) But I don’t sing “for real” anymore…and that’s a very good thing. Singing for other people made me feel insecure in a fundamental way, and in a pervasive manner that was unlike anything else…most likely because it wasn’t what I really wanted to do, but it was the only way in which I could figure out how to be close to the performers and the performances, both of which I enjoyed. And I enjoyed being the center of attention…but more for saying something witty or profound, rather than making a beautiful noise.

I’m happy speaking in front of a crowd, especially when the words are my own. I had the opportunity to address several thousand folks last summer, and several hundred for this retirement concert last week…and found both experiences totally enjoyable. But singing? It’s off the table…happily so, in my particular case.

There are articles upon articles that proclaim that the key to success is Doing What You Love. No dispute, there. But I personally had a difficult time distilling those things that I loved into a career.

Paul Graham wrote a great article called “How To Do What You Love.” And let me tell you, I wish that I had read (and internalized) this in high school. Among one of the personally salient points he makes? (Besides the truth that work should be mostly something that you enjoy?) Is that doing something for prestige (say, for the sound of cacophonous applause after your big aria, or for a sterling review) is in fact doing it for all the wrong reasons.

Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world. When you can ask the opinions of people whose judgement you respect, what does it add to consider the opinions of people you don’t even know? [4]

This is easy advice to give. It’s hard to follow, especially when you’re young. [5] Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. It causes you to work not on what you like, but what you’d like to like. (emphasis added by the editor)

That’s what leads people to try to write novels, for example. They like reading novels. They notice that people who write them win Nobel prizes. What could be more wonderful, they think, than to be a novelist? But liking the idea of being a novelist is not enough; you have to like the actual work of novel-writing if you’re going to be good at it; you have to like making up elaborate lies.

Prestige is just fossilized inspiration. If you do anything well enough, you’ll make it prestigious. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. Jazz comes to mind—though almost any established art form would do. So just do what you like, and let prestige take care of itself.

Brilliant, right? And an infinitely more sustainable approach than trying to enjoy something that fundamentally doesn’t appeal to you.

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Apr 09 2012
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Questions, Rah Rah! (Encouragement), Uncategorized

3BR, 2Bath in Search of a Second Career?

The New York Times today is celebrating several career changers who made the transition from performing careers (actresses, rappers, even a hand model!) to selling real estate. The performing aspects of sales, the flexible schedules, the professional autonomy, all plusses for many performers seeking out a Plan B.

Selling real estate has long been a second or third career choice for most agents, a place to turn when the children grew up or Plan A didn’t quite work out. And while in much of the country moonlighting homemakers and former lawyers dominate the field, New York City is a different story. Here, the arts are a magnet and the dreamers run thick, so the first career of your real estate broker might just be a doozy.

“People come to New York from far-off lands and states with a dream,” said Leonard Steinberg, a managing director at Prudential Douglas Elliman and a former fashion designer. “Oftentimes, those dreams don’t pan out as well as you’d like them to, and then you start looking at alternative careers.”

What do you think?

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Mar 13 2012
2 Comments
Questions, Rah Rah! (Encouragement)

Stop me if you’ve think that you’ve heard this one before…

…but here’s another bit of theater wisdom, echoing the previous post but condensing it in a helpful way. (Brought to my attention by LaJefa herself – a colleague who knows a thing or two about parlaying a theater background into a significant career.) I am a big fan of #6 (Do what needs to be done) and #10 (Doing the Best You Can With What You’ve Got). Amen, and again I say Amen.

Job titles are flashy…but the work most often is not. I’ve driven artists from western DC to Baltimore in my roller-skate of a coupe because the flight was affordable. On days that are slated to be both hard and thankless? I’m not above plying people with treats to help them feel cared for and thereby reframe their day. My supervisor has found childcare for visiting artists, and frequently houses visiting artists in her own home. (It’s a beautiful place, to be sure! But giving up one’s privacy regularly for one’s job is definitely going above and beyond.) Being not just capable, but willing to do whatever needs to be done? It’s important, especially in smaller offices. It’s not a given, nor is it something we should take for granted.

(By the by – bonus points if you get the Morrissey reference in the title line. You are one of my peeps.)

Next profile will be up on Profile Phriday. (Wow. How cheesy. So much for the professional tone, eh? I feel so much lighter now…) James will tell us about his path from singing to a profession that’s a little more secure.

Mar 12 2012
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Questions, Rah Rah! (Encouragement)

Dirty Little Secret?

There’s been an interesting and relevant thread on LinkedIn, in the Performing Arts Administrators group.

The question on the table is whether we should downplay our theater experience when interviewing for non-industry jobs.

One of the commenters referred to this article, written by actor and drama professor  Louis E. Catron (1932-2010), pictured at right. It outlines 25 Special Advantages that Theater Majors can bring to a job. And I think that in many ways he’s hit the bullseye, especially when referring to those positions that are less knowledge based (medicine, law, dance, opera) and those which are trait-based (i.e. the employer’s looking for someone with a variety of desirable characteristics).

While the list is obviously geared towards students, I find several good parallels.

My question for you – do you tell people about your arts background, or do you let it emerge? Do you find it an asset or a liability?

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