A right to be proud

I would like to talk about Artists. Artists and our right not only to exist, but to feel comfortable, even proud of our profession.  

Imagine a student, they are young enough to feel the world is their oyster but old enough to start thinking seriously for the first time about what they want to do with their life.  At that age, the most important aspect to them, is how much they will enjoy their job, how exciting it will be.  They choose from the heart.

Now imagine that child goes to mum, dad, teacher whoever and says, I want to be an artist. Why not?  It’s an interesting, rewarding career.

The number one thing I hear from artists or people who want to be in the arts, was how, when they expressed an interest they were instantly belittled for their choice.  Some people even go so far as to coerce and demoralise a person to choose what they think is more suitable profession.  

Now, I will qualify here that I have children and they are interested in the arts (amongst a plethora of interests) so yes, I can say with confidence that I am okay with that choice.  You see I have a bit of inside knowledge, that the arts is not only rewarding, it’s lucrative.    

The arts industry is worth, last I heard about $111 Billion.  Let me say that again.  

The idea that an artist can only make a sale once they are dead is not only false its damaging, please stop saying this to artists.  I get it about once a week myself.

Maybe you would say sure, it pays okay but what about how stressful it is, how they will lack human contact etc.  How it won’t build intelligence.  Okay so here are some facts for you.

·      Recent studies show that the brains of artists are different.  They have more white and grey matter, an increase of neural matter the parietal and precuneus lobe. This is a good thing.

·      Art in general enhances brain function.  In children, it helps with cognitive abilities such as developing motor, memory, sensory, and emotional skills and it can/does work much like meditation.  That’s why artists enjoy it so much.  So why the arts isn’t encouraged more in schools I will never know.

·      It’s incredibly powerful as a healing tool.  Many an artist started after suffering either mentally or physically. 

·      If we go back, way back in time.  Think how invaluable a creative mind would have been.  Who built weapons, found new ways to build shelter, new ways to traverse or challenge environmental pressures?  Creative people, that’s who.  Did you know that the parts of the brain that are stimulated by being creative are also the same parts that lights up in entrepreneurs?   

That’s right not only is being creative a fundamental biological function it can also make people better at business.  

We take individuals who have an incredible amount of potential to change the world and tell them they are being silly.  That they are unintelligent.  The number of times people have pointed out something lacking (in their minds) in me and then written it off openly as being attributed to being creative.  I kid you not that I once made a spelling mistake in school and had someone simply chalk it up to being artistic.  There she goes being an artist again!  Not only is that attitude hurtful it can also instil a sense of hopelessness.  Why even bother to try at something if apparently, you are incapable of ever having any sort of success.  How many of you have heard this “Oh they are artists so they can’t use the mathematical part of their brain”?   Actually, once I had a supportive teacher in college I was in the top of my year.  

As far as stress goes I believe the number one issue is the fact that we teach people that the arts is not a career, it’s not a business, so people go about it all wrong.  I truly believe that teaching young people about proper business skills for the arts would go a very long way.

Instead of what I experienced in school, being told there was no work in the arts.  Show them the different industries, show them how to run a business and show them how to deal with a sometimes-competitive field.

In case you are thinking “what industries?” here are just a snippet of things in your life that the arts have created; Illustrations both in books (scientific and otherwise) and magazines, books themselves, advertising, movies, television, buildings and architecture, tattoos, cooking and decorating of cakes, the clothing you wear, the plates and bowls you eat off, photos and videos, the gadgets you use, the cars you drive, the creation of furniture, gardening and so on.  Let alone the art that graces your walls.  Even if it’s a print its part of a wider group of creative people.  Unlike popular held beliefs that creatives and artists are out there skipping around all airy fairy, not contributing at all we are actually a large solid part of society.  Your life would look incredibly different without these men and women doing what they do best.

This doesn’t even take into account that the arts donates a significant amount every year.  Most artists I know are incredibly generous and in rough times like the recent bushfires, they sacrificed much to help others.  They were so quick to act that they outweighed the support of our own government in some ways.  Yet the government has chosen to remove any kind of government council for the arts, that funding has been drastically reduced at a time when the arts was doing so much for the country.

But that’s another matter.  I think most artists just want to be able to run a business at heart anyway. I’d rather resources were put to building the industry and weight of the Australian arts as opposed to just another random handout.   It’s almost like the funding itself has no faith in us.

So, let’s wrap this up shall we.  

Some people are literally programed to create, they build their brain function through art, cope with trauma and physical disability with the art and can make not only a giant of a contribution that dwarfs that of the government but also makes $111 Billion for the economy. 

However, these individuals should not only run from their passions they should feel ashamed and be demoralised for their choices. They should be bashed verbally until they see reason before they become too far gone.  That they would become stupid and incapable of rational or critical thinking.  Wont someone think of the children!

NO.

Artists are successful, resourceful, generous, hardworking, critical thinkers, capable of changing the world.

AND

They should feel proud, competent, intelligent and capable of making a good living.

I’m setting out to change the way people think.  Will you join me?  Will you work to never belittle someone’s career choice?  Will you recognise that creative people offer our community a great deal and bring richness to our lives and that they aren’t only important that they are as necessary as any other industry?

Will the creatives stand with me and be proud of who you are?

I’m going to embrace the stigma and call myself a crazy creative.  I stay up when everyone else sleeps, I stop and stare at an interesting crack in the brickwork, I am sometimes moved by random things.  That’s my job.  It crazy but it’s beautiful.  It’s part of who I am and I wouldn’t have any other way.

All the best,

Janet