Quit Your Day Job?

It might sound condescending to some, but to quit the day job and spend all day everyday working on art is something many, rich and poor, long to be able to figure out how to do.

Of course, of course, on the other hand, lots of makers find it important to keep a job they care about to balance and influence their art. This great Stereogum interview with Oneida covers that ground beautifully. But to flip the switch in a way I think related, I’ve also known people who make great money at their jobs, great jobs in industries they care about, and are tormented by the fear that keeps them from playing their own songs in public, much less making a real go of everyday life as a musician.

I’ve also been lucky enough to meet teenagers, people living on the street or in squats around Toronto, these were inspiring people working their asses off to change their lives without giving in to everything they had come to seriously resent in an unequal society. People who craved a life of meaningful communication and who together made theatre their art and, eventually, day jobs…

Until the program’s funding got cut. Hmm. If a government communicates disdain for art as accessible day job, art as crucial cultural therapy, is it any wonder some citizens will start to sneer as well, and perpetuate the notion of art as leisure time activity?

Poking around, thinking about the desire to finally just create and how scary/awful/awesome that can be, I found this sorta related SXSW snapshot I thought I’d share- notes taken during a panel at the South by Southwest Interactive 2008 conference, entitled “Quit Your Day Job and Vlog”.

The notes are from a librarian web consultant named David Lee King. I share it with you in a spirit of “I heart librarians” along with this other article, unrelated except that it was also sent to me by a librarian friend, and is about art that can’t help but come into being; Things Fall Into Place - Interview with Chinua Achebe. More on that below the SXSW notes.

Quit Your Day Job and Vlog

Lisa Donovan:

* started a small production company
* lots of corporate stuff
* they wanted to be more creative in their down time
* this was about 2 years ago - they discovered youtube
* started posting videos…
* her videos have been watched 40 million times
* They use the resources they have - no money involved - just time, primarily
* she was picked up on MadTV 2 months after she started doing the youtube stuff

Here’s an example of Donovan’s work - this was written by Lisa and Ben Donovan:

More Noteworthy advice from Vlog Panelist Zadi Diaz:

* start where you are
* don’t quit your day job - just start there - make a show with the people around you

Obviously not everyone has access to video equipment or the web, something webites can be inclined to forget. But the advice is probably sound anyway, since the Vlogger sounds a lot like the great Chinua Achebe there with the urging to start by looking around at exactly where you are. If you have a need to make art, it’s because you believe that really seeing the world can change it for the better, so looking closely at your own world is primary. If you know artists you know that this ardent looking can lead to dangerous ego territory as they try to find in their own eyes and experiences the kernels of something universal. It’s a dangerous road, and maybe it’s better if you balance it out baking bread… or maybe the comfort of a 9-5 dulls perception in some artistically unpure way. Ok, now I know that bit sounded condescending.

Art’s a tricky subject.

Tell me what you think!