You see, creative people, that’s people like Ms Delaney, must live in locales befitting their importance, not their budget.
…whose time has come.
You see, creative people, that’s people like Ms Delaney, must live in locales befitting their importance, not their budget.
…whose time has come.
I had a friend (no longer) who truly thought the government owed her better in her retirement because she had danced with the National Ballet, danced in TV specials and was an “artist”. After her dance career was over, she had a “loose attachment to the workplace” (did not like working). Was bitterly disappointed with her CPP as she had hardly ever contributed, she received the bare minimum. Lives in a basement apt on the outskirts of Toronto, last I heard. She dropped me when I did not feel for her.
People forget that The Arts have traditionally been the playground of the fabulously wealthy. People like Mozart made a fairly precarious living by basically whoring out their talents keeping the High and Mighty entertained of a weekend.
Nothing has changed except the names.
Art is what happens when the rent is due and the artist has to push ANYTHING out the door for a couple hundred bucks.
I saw that almost immediately waaaaay back when I wanted to be a Famous Cabinetmaker. How many Michael Fortunes can one town support? This was the question I asked. Answer was: one (1) and I am not him. Therefore I make things for a giggle on weekends, and earn money all week doing things people will pay handsomely to get.
Ernest Hemingway lived in Chicago, Toronto, Paris, Key West and Cuba and was also in Italy in WWI as an ambulance driver, and on the frontlines in the Spanish Civil War and WWII as a reporter. His skill at writing seems to have moved with him suggesting that talent is not tied to location.
Charles Dickens left school as a boy to work to support his family. Perhaps today’s writers should be sent to a 19th century sweatshop working 10 hour days in order to inspire them?
Jack London worked a multitude of low paying tough jobs which sustained him while he worked at his craft of being a writer. He endured because of his deep motivation and commitment and he did it without taxpayer support.
Most of the great literature was written either by candle light or by the light of day. There was no electricity, no central heat, no public transit, no fast food, no lattes, no laptops, no cel phones, no fleece wear, no welfare. Yet, they produced …. great literature and great music, and great poetry and great scientific discovery …. I guess the modern ‘artist’ is a f–king weakling with no self respect, no integrity, no pride, no skills, no determination, little creative juice but a lot of whining and complaining about life’s hardships.
“You don’t sing the blues in a penthouse”. – OC
No wonder so many of them are starving. They deserve to.
I alluded to this on a earlier Comments Thread regarding ‘being productive so that one can do what the love’.
What I learned as a low paid employee was that I could not often do that which I liked. It was a stretch to pay the $150 fee to play men’s basketball for example. Eventually, I got my arse back into school. At the time, as a father and husband with low earning power; I had to choose a career that was in demand, and which offered an afforable education. The first question I asked the Dean of the program I was considering was: what are the job prospects when I graduate? To which he said “100%”. I was sold.
At the time I did have some lofty asperations; but, took training in something a little more modest in hopes that I could afford to support my wife and kids chasing their dreams.
Anyways, what I learned, is what I tell my kids “choose a career that will support the lifestyle you choose”.
Art, lives 2 blocks over, 3 blocks down. Music is when Art cranks his modified V-8 at 8000 RPM while blowing off an eco-weeny pri-ass
This reminds me of the Canadian Arts Council’s decision that Robert Bateman is not an artist (because he actually supports himself with his art).
My late father embarked on a artistic career in the early 1970s. He tried the Canada Council route but found it too political and in his words ‘silly’. Fortunately he befriended another artist who gave him this sage advice- “A successful artist needs to be perhaps 60 per cent an artist and 40 per cent a salesman.” He took that advice to heart and went on to have a successful career sans the Canada Council grants..
Many years later I worked with a well known canadian author designing his books and he said pretty much the same thing.
Successful artists rely on both their artistic talent and their business acumen.
If I wasn’t retired on a modest pension I would go out and demand that the government support my endeavour as a free lance cruising sailor/travelog writer. Sending SDA advance promo images and descriptions of Caribbean destinations.
Some of the most pretentious people I’ve met are those with LibArts degrees working in the ‘arts’. They truly believe that society owes them a living because they perceive they have unique special talents. As a group they have the most tenuous grasp of reality, which they consider a ‘creative asset’. In recent times it seems that anything different is supposed to be ‘artistic’, even if it’s crap.