A life in the Arts is sustained by hope and resilience. Hope inspires me to keep putting my work out there, and resilience stops me giving up when my enthusiasm for what I do is not matched by funding and institutional willingness to support it 🙂 Audiences and readers are enthusiastic but I’m wondering if they realise what goes in to sustaining an artistic life/career. So, I thought I’d present an overview of what I have been doing since the beginning of the year to try to get my work out there, and why I think there should be a greater voice for Arts in the public conversation than there is now.
For those of you who are not involved in the Arts this is a snapshot of the time, energy effort and emotional investment many of us put into our work.
I started out with a concerted effort to apply for projects – currently totalling an estimated 40 or more discrete actions to realise my arts practices.
I decided this year I’d concentrate mainly on my theatre work: writing, acting, directing and occasionally producing. In summary:
Of these, 6 playwriting submissions had a positive outcome – dramaturgy, readings etc. and I’m working with a director on a potential productions in 2015.
I’ve presented 4 writing workshops and have 5 more lined up for the rest of the year.
I auditioned 5 times and was selected 3 times, plus I had on-going voiceover work. I performed in a remount of a play from last year, which was presented at a regional festival. I am currently in rehearsals for a show in November.
I was dramaturge/director on a play reading, and am currently in pre-production as a director for a play for next year.
I helped with publicity on ‘3 Seeds’, a play I transcreated with Afeif Ismail at the Blue Room Theatre, and I began producing a show that subsequently stalled.
However, I submitted some poems and of the 10 sent out, 2 were selected for publication and I am waiting to hear about 3 others. And I was a guest at a regional writing festival.
I also sat on panels, was involved in industry consultations, judged competitions, published reviews and articles, attended conferences, marked essays, gave talks and presentations, MC’d at events and gave informal dramaturgy to friends and colleagues when asked to.
Of the over 40 attempts to work, I’ve achieved 24 publications/activities so far this year, and I’ve been paid for 10 of them. So over half of the ‘work’ I’ve done has been unpaid. Around 20 applications were unsuccessful, so nearly half of my efforts to achieve work were also unpaid. This snapshot is not uncommon amongst artists. Often we are driven by passion as well as profit, plus there’s a belief that it’s important to remain visible and engaged in the Arts sector, otherwise you’re easily forgotten.
So why am I telling you this (and thanks for staying with me)? I said earlier that it’s time the Arts and Artists had a greater voice in the public policy conversation. Recently The Arts Party, a new party dedicated to arts and culture, has entered the political arena. But I feel arts should be a key part of every political party’s agenda of whatever stripe. If we want that to happen the question we should ask our politicians is ‘So, you want my vote, what’s your Arts Policy?’
Collectively, across all art forms, and arts and creative industries, we can have considerable impact. There are a lot of us!
If, like me, you are committed to working in the arts, or if you’re a passionate lover and supporter of the Arts (often we’re both) and you’re interested in being part of this, please make The Arts a political as well as a personal priority in your life.
Don’t delay – the 2016 election is not that far away…
Vivienne Glance 