Creating in a Hostile Environment

It’s a hostile environment for creative and performing artists nowadays. Not only do artists have two lives to support – the parallel artist’s life along with the regular one – but there’s generally little encouragement for that choice.

Instead, ridicule, disengagement, offhanded dismissal, even anger and hostility are frequent responses to a person living the artist’s life. And now that we find ourselves immersed in an ongoing global crisis, we’re also asking whether making art even makes sense these days.

Lately, with colleagues and friends, I’ve noticed the same topics floating into the conversation. In a nutshell, how do we stay with our creative practice(s)?

 

Here are some of the things we’re up against

 

  • There are no guarantees that what we’re doing will reach an audience of any size.
  • It’s inherently antisocial to isolate, even though it may be essential in order to be creative.
  • Why are we doing this stuff, especially now? Aren’t there more valuable contributions we can be making?

Umm, disproportionate force much?
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Here are some things we’re doing

  • We’re repeating the behaviors that tend to encourage us creatively. That can be as simple as returning to the same workspace and tools every time we want to engage. Or it can involve stepwise routines that ‘clear the decks’ for creative work. Or perhaps cueing ourselves with certain times of the day for certain kinds of practice.
  • We’re holding back on judgment – of ourselves as well as of others in our lives. When we’re all already stressed out, judginess harms everyone. We need the benefit of the doubt, so why not extend it to people we interact with.
  • We’re remembering to allow time for interactions with other artists. Working alone can make us extra thirsty for shop talk – the water-cooler conversations we miss in an isolated day-to-day. This can also include giving and getting feedback from others.
  • We’re focusing on the things that work for us. This is more than a way to accentuate the positive. It’s also a way to streamline our responses to commentary from any inner critics or bullies who may be lurking. If it works for us, it doesn’t matter that someone else might mock our way of doing things. (There’s some of that unnecessary judginess.)
  • We’re keeping our heads down and identifying the tasks and projects that matter NOW. Not dreams we may have had, not vague scenarios of future wonderfulness.
  • We’re noticing what engages our creative attention and exploring accordingly. Grinding away at “shoulds” isn’t in the cards so much these days. We ask, “what interest me?” rather than “what am I supposed to be doing according to a list I made six months ago?”
  • We’re using deadlines as friendly incentives, not punitive evildoers.
  • We’re bearing in mind the possibility that the work we dislike or doubt today may well look quite different to us later. We’re all allowed some extra benefit of the doubt.
  • We’re repeating to ourselves “what we do matters.”

What things are you doing? What helps you keep going?

Luna Project Update

Wolf Moon is up – video and audio are here, (with some backstory as well), and Bony Moon will be going live on Sunday 1 February. It feels really good to be making this happen, one full moon at a time, over the course of 2026. If you want to know each time a new piece launches, subscribe to my YouTube channel. To buy high-quality downloads of the music, please visit me on Bandcamp. Thanks to the readers who are offering support, encouragement, and good vibes!

Submit a Comment