By Candyce Burke
I think all artists can appreciate the fact that it is not enough to just love your art form. You have to practice and exercise your talent. But, sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life and work, it can be hard to make time for this valuable aspect of being an artist.
In our society, value is placed on working a 9-5 and making as much money as possible. And this value aside, the truth is that we need a reliable source of income to survive, pay bills, and make ends meet. This fact alone may be the main reason why artistic passion at times gets placed on the back burner in our lives.
While there are those fortunate artists who have had the opportunity to make a living performing and presenting their art to the world, the term “starving artist” is not a myth or cliche. IT IS REAL!!! There are thousands of dancers, singers, painters, and musicians who have given up their day job in order to devote all their time and energy to their artistic expression, only to find themselves struggling to stay afloat financially.
Most of us probably fall into a category somewhere in between. We have not quite made it to stardom in the pursuit of our artistic passion, and neither have we chosen to solely pursue our art despite our financial obligations and other, non-artistic goals. I believe that it is possible for an artist in either of these categories to take their art form just as seriously as the next.
Clearly the artist who has “made it” has time to exercise and perfect their talent and so does the “starving artist”. But what about those of us who may work and be currently in pursuit of an educational program or career in an unrelated field?
For the vast majority of us, it all boils down to prioritizing. It is very easy for our artistic passions and pursuits to take a back seat to our non-artistic careers. As members of A Chosen Few, step is our collective passion. Although we all have other goals outside of being professional steppers, we have accepted the challenging task of making step a priority in our lives. As a team, we come together once a month for 10 hours of practice and it is our goal to gig at least once a month as well. Each member lives in a different state, so in between time when we are not together we create new material and make sure the steps in rotation are performance-ready. This is no easy task and prioritizing step in our lives and being excellent as artists is a constant goal.
So tell us: How do you prioritize your passion in the arts? What sacrifices have you made in your life to ensure that you make room for artistic expression to be apart of your daily routine? Can you call yourself a stepper, dancer, singer, or painter if you don’t incorporate practice and performing into your life?
Is it realistic to have a passion for the arts and a full-time career in another field? What factors prevent you from pursuing your artistic passion full-time and/or professionally?
Let’s dialogue…
It is so hard. I get so discouraged when I think about what I want to be doing and what I am actually doing. I want to be that person who is able to live a life full of things I am passionate about and nothing else. I believe the first step to accomplishing this goal is to position myself in a place where I can do that. Prioritizing is a huge part it. The questions of “What is most important to me”, “How can I make what’s most important to me work for me”, “What are my financial responsibilities”, “How can I satisfy those responsibilities doing what I love” come up in my mind when I think about. Answering those questions, is a completely other thing. I personally do not think one can reach their full potential in the arts if they have a 9-5 in an unrelated field. These are just polar opposites. One is strict and rigid and the other is expressive. Its hard to bring the two together and have it be successful in your life. I think it’s like serving God and money. You just cant! Either you will hate one and love the other or vice-versa. Neither will be getting 100% of your effort. I think with the arts, you just have to dive right in.
ReplyDeleteSO....I agree that the balance is extremely hard. The 9-5 world is NOT like the world of the arts. How much MORE difficult is it then to have dual passions? A case in which you ARE passionate about your 9-5 and recognize that it is NOT related to your other passions? I think this case presents even more difficulty because now you actually want to do both or all things...then again, life would be a little" plainish" if we all only had one passion. Must we then prioritize?....
ReplyDeleteI think we must! Prioritizing is the key, but how does one decide what is more important than the next thing and where does desire and actual responsibility meet? Someone could want to do something but responsibilities are pulling them in another direction. How is this remedied?
ReplyDeleteI think the key is balance. Its easy to live your life and not do anything that you are really passionate about. OR for you to feed one of your passions and not the other. Just because you like doing something it does not make it your passion..but what you are passionate about you MUST pursue. You have to chase it down and make time for it. You are doing yourself an injustice if you dont make time for the things that are REALLY most important to you! We do some many things, most of them feeding who we don't relly want to be. You have to have a clear vision of what you want your life to look like which will undoubtedly include your passion and then work hard to make what you see a reality...
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