I’m about to be a part of something really cool. Next month, I’m going to New York with Xander and Ben for a sort of tour 2.0-type thing. We’re calling it Man (hat on). There’s even a logo (and the likelihood of t-shirts). No, I’m not a musician. My misguided adolescent foray into the world of string instruments is likely as far as I’ll ever go, musically. But it doesn’t matter. Because–although there will be music involved (provided mainly by Ben, obviously), this is really a tour about freedom, and doing what you like, and creating things.
We’re playing with this idea of “sustainable creativity”, you see. It’s about using communities and ideas to sustain yourself, so that you’re able to do what you love doing. It’s simple, on paper: if you’re a writer, you find a way to write. If you’re a musician, you find the support you need to play gigs and write songs. If you’re someone without a clearly defined path, someone who just likes to play with ideas—it means finding a way to do that.
It sounds easy, but it isn’t. Creative output takes a lot of time, energy, love, and support, not only from the creator, but also from his or her community. The problem is that many of us are saddled with a lot of extra baggage. We have bills to pay and debts to pay off. We have social and professional obligations that rigidly divide our days. Very likely we’re burdened with a “real job”—which we may find intellectually dull and emotionally empty, but necessary nonetheless (I mostly babysit photocopiers and answer telephones grumpily, for instance).
And in an era where time is money, how do you justify spending a few hours every day on your craft? How do you find a few hours every day? It’s impossible to underestimate the negative power of financial constraints. If you constantly spend your time thinking, I should be making money, not fucking around, you quickly become creatively impotent.
So suppose we make things easier for ourselves. Suppose, to start, we surround ourselves with other, similarly minded, creatively charged people, and become a kind of micro-community based on the idea of mutual inspiration. This removes a number of barriers, and in their places, provides us with a number of opportunities. It gives us an automatic audience, a built-in sounding-board, a kind of creativity support group. It allows for collaborative effort and means that even an ordinary trip to the pub can result in a great idea. In a way, it combines the social aspect of our lives with the creative aspect, thus gaining us time as well as emotional backing.
Well, that’s good. That’s a source of motivation and stimulation. But we’re still stuck with that bland job, those pesky bills, all the worries that get us down. Even if we have a micro-community of like-minded creatives, we’re still not going anywhere. Not yet.
The next thing to do, then, is to give up the rock star dream. Forget, for a moment, that you want to be the next superstar of the rock n’ roll, or literary, or art, or whatever world. And remember why you started singing, or writing, or drawing, or playing with ideas, in the first place. Innovative solo bass player Steve Lawson writes prolifically, and very well, about this: “I no longer need to pretend to be a rock-star. The mythology of rock ‘n’ roll is nowhere near as interesting as the reality of creativity.” And, Steve adds, “The 80s dream of everyone becoming Stadium rock stars has faded, and more and more musicians are looking at fun ways to get to play music in a financially sustainable way.” And what we’re trying to say is: not just musicians. Anyone who wants to make anything should be listening to Steve on this point.
It sounds cheesy, but this is an idea about survival and satisfaction, not about making a profit, not about constantly striving, clawing your way up the celebrity hierarchy. This is an idea about how you can do what you love doing—what you would be doing anyway–and earn enough from it to justify doing it as something more than a hobby. To earn enough from it to recoup your costs, eat a meal or two. Eventually, to earn enough from it to pay all those bills, to live comfortably, to buy a new pair of boots (or the male equivalent) when you need to. But to start, it’s only about getting by.
Luckily, that built-in creative community—even if it’s just a group of two or three people—is the key. Gone are the days when any artist can continue to cling to the alcoholic outcast myth and hope that her lonely genius will be discovered. There’s just too much stuff out there for that to be a viable tactic. There are literally thousands of other musicians writing songs and putting them up on the Internet. Thousands of other filmmakers uploading clips to YouTube. Thousands of other writers with blogs. Thousands of other painters with thousands of canvases stacked up in their basement. And every single one of them can publicize themselves, advertise themselves, with the click of a button. Passivity and sheer luck may work for some; but the only way to guarantee a sustainable, creative life is to actively seek one out.
So you start with a tiny community. A few friends. Maybe you start at the pub, where ideas can flow unchecked by the ordinariness of daily life. And you realize that actually, there’s a lot of overlooked potential in the world. You buy some tickets to New York. You decide that you’re going to prove this theory by living it.
So we are three people, with different skills and ambitions but a common goal of creating things and doing cool stuff, taking a week off work. We’re going to pack up our guitars, our laptops, our brains, and head across the Atlantic, where we’re going to do what what love, and what we’re good at, and find a way to survive. We’re going to stay cheaply (with friends, on couches). We’re going to earn just enough to recoup our travel expenses, and hopefully have enough left over for a few beers at the end of the day.
There are, of course, one or two things that anybody sensible might want to ask. Or maybe not. Anyway, there are some things that I had to ask myself as I wrote this all down:
But isn’t hunger/poverty/whatever a good creative motivator?
Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t (see my post on this here). But this isn’t about “making it” as an artist, necessarily (though it certainly could be); it’s about literally surviving off your own work. It’s not about becoming great whilst (or even as a result of) stealing bread and sleeping on the street, but about using whatever greatness you already possess to buy bread, pay your rent, and get by. It’s simply meant to be proof that you can, if that’s what you want to do.
Okay. But by making it as much about money as the creative output itself, aren’t you somehow tainting your work? Aren’t you basically selling out, on a minute scale?
This is really where the word “sustainability” comes in. This whole idea is fundamentally about sustaining yourself, as a creative-type, so that you can create more. Ultimately it’s always about the creative output, and the act of creating, not about the money; the money is simply what allows that process of creation to occur unfettered.
This is all very theoretical. What’s the end result?
The end result is whatever you want it to be. In theory this is a limitless idea. That’s the beauty of it. In practice, it may have more limitations than I currently anticipate. But we’re going to find out, and we’re going to let you know. In the meantime, please check out the Man (hat on) site, and follow our progress, and be a participant in this crazy idea.
Nicely done. I think the trick ultimately is to bring your creativity to the work, whatever it is. Harder in your 20’s when you are starting out, cause the powers that be won’t relinquish. More feasible in the middle to later years when you’ve taken over.
Thank you so much for your post Miranda! It sums up exactly my feelings about creativity (but photographs rather than words are my creation so I always appreciate others when they can sum u[ what I want to say). I have a job I like, it’s not my dream job (may be one day National Geographic will call!), but it’s a job that allows me to sustain my creativity outside of the office and that really is my life blood. The time off I take allows me to focus on my creative side, I make a little money from that, and it allows me to keep developing my skills and go to new places to capture new slivers of time, but more importantly to be pretty happy! Sustainable creativity! Fabulous concept!
Excellent, Miranda! Your mom sent me the link to your video. I wish I could join you guys in NY in December. Sustain on.
Just finished watching your fantastic video on Man (Hat On) – meet my friend Naomi while you’re there – she runs a theater company http://www.longstockingproductions.com/Home.html
Email me and I’ll send you her email address if you’re interested.
I have lots of friends there if you need help! Good luck! So excited to read more about how you guys get on.