Last month, I started teaching a class called “Entrepreneurship in the Arts” at the Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta campus). The first class was thrilling, because I witnessed the excitement of artists and art entrepreneurs just beginning to follow their bliss. It was especially enjoyable to see those who have been working in non-artistic fields for 15 to 30 years, who have decided to finally make a go of an arts career.
Interestingly, I discovered many of my students had a misleading assumption about not being a “real” artist until someone “anointed” them as a “real” artist. Although they had been painting or taking photographs of many years, they didn’t consider themselves real painters or photographers …yet. I had to stop the class and explain, in no uncertain terms, that they didn’t need to wait for anyone to legitimize their identity as an artist; they merely needed to claim it.
This is very important for emerging artists to understand: you determine who you are, don’t let others determine it for you!!! You’ll be surprised at how people respond when you claim your identity.
For example:
When moving to New York City, I had a dream of becoming a theatrical director. However, I assumed I had to have grey hair to be worthy of that role. I had this scenario in my head that after years of grunt work and apprenticeship some theatrical master would turn to me in a “rite of passage” moment (a la Mr. Miyagi and Daniel Larusso in Karate Kid) and say, “You are ready now.”
Well, in my last year of NYU, I decided to create a show for independent credit, but I didn’t consider myself the director. One evening, I was standing outside the theatre when a passerby inquired, “What do you do with the show?” I replied, “I’m the director.” (Internal freak-out moment) The words felt so insincere and foreign coming out of my mouth that I felt like a major fraud. In fact, the time between uttering this statement and the person’s response felt like an eternity, in which my head raced with thoughts like:
“How could I lie in this person’s face?”
“How could I claim to be a director? I don’t know what the hell I’m doing;”
“I don’t even know the names of the light fixtures;”
“I’m gonna look like such an idiot if they ask me some technical thing that I don’t know about.”
You can imagine my surprise when the person said, “Oh, Awesome!” with out any questions asked and with a new tone of respect. I was shocked, “They actually bought that?” It must have been a fluke, right? Well, I tried it out on a dozen other people and guess what? They all bought it with no questions asked. In fact, they all adjusted their behavior to accommodate my new identity:
“What do you do?”
“Oh, I’m a director.”
“Really? Wonderful. I am a costume designer. Do you need any costumes for any upcoming productions?”
It really hit home a few shows later, when my producer put out a casting call inBackstage and 100 accomplished dancers/actors showed up and auditioned their hearts out…for me!!!
In reality, I was legitimately a director even though I didn’t know it. I had been organizing, choreographing and managing amateur shows on a regular basis from nine years old. Yes, there was a lot I didn’t know about directing theatre, but I learned and am still learning.
Being an artist is not like getting licensed to be a doctor, you don’t have to pass a test or complete a residency. It is a life long journey of being and becoming simultaneously.
This all goes back to the idea of empowerment and self efficacy. Many of the artist consultants we spoke with talked about the importance of focusing on what you can controlas an artist, instead of the things you can not control. If you wait for others to do it for you, you could be waiting forever.
Another Example:
Charles Huntley Nelson is a well respected afro-futurism artist in Atlanta and art professor at Morehouse College. Charles moved to Atlanta in 1995 after graduation from Howard University with his MFA. He fell into the Atlanta art scene and made a lot of connections with emerging artists like himself. Initially, he started pursuing his career in the traditional career model:
The Artist submits work to (or auditions for) a middle-entity > middle-entity gives Artist “Big Break” > middle-entity invests in artist’s work > middle-entity delivers work to market for a return on their investment.
Charles was looking for a middle-entity to accept and legitimize his work. However, his breakthrough came from being rejected by this career model. He applied to the Atlanta Biennial with eight installation proposals and they rejected them all. So, he decided to try the D.I.Y. career model:
The Artist produces, markets, distributes, and earns revenue on work.
He took one of the concepts he proposed to the Atlanta Biennial and said, “I’m just going to do it myself, if no one else is going to give me a show.”
In 1999, he did his first photo shoot for the show. He also began inviting other emerging artists to contribute work and partner on the costs of producing the exhibit. As the curator, he decided to have an urban art theme that uniquely showcased work of both black and white urban artists, which had never been done in Atlanta (as “urban” was always considered a black thing.)
In January 2000, the exhibit was up at Eye Drum. His innovative concepts and the emerging reputations of his fellow artists brought in the critics, they got great reviews, and he earned a reputation as a curator/artist.
When asked what advice he would give to emerging artists, Charles said, “Create your own opportunities. You have to bring people to your work, if you aren’t getting a response…everyone is not going to knock down your door, you have to get out.”
The first step towards being a D.I.Y. artist is empowering yourself with acceptance of who you are. Again, do not wait for others to anoint you, claim your identity, and take control of your career.
(Originally published on FracturedAtlas.org February 2, 2009)
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