Something remarkable happens when you support creative people and process: New ideas are born. Lives and communities are transformed. We view the world differently. Sparks fly. And yes, the products and outcomes are pretty amazing, too!
Advocating for artists – painters and poets, choreographers and composers, filmmakers, writers, architects, and others – and their creative development is risky business. It is not easily measured by tickets sold or tourism generated, by test scores or tax returns. The tangible results – the plays and dances, books and music, and all the rest – often emerge months or years after the first creative spark. Artists’ communities fan the flames of creativity by offering inspiration and support to artists at a time when outcomes are especially uncertain, when ideas are often most fragile, in the private moments of creative daring when first the pen is put to paper, or brush to canvas, or fingers to keyboard.
Now more than ever, we need artists – to offer new ways of examining our world, to ignite our imaginations, and to tell the stories of our time. One of the most important investments we can make in our artists is supporting dedicated time to create new work, explore new ideas, experiment and take creative risks. That’s what artists’ communities and residency programs do, as research-and-development labs for the arts.
~the Alliance of Artist’s Communities
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Time and space to create. Imagine that. Whether you paint, craft, write, bake, sculpt, heal, perform, you know this desire. When you wake up in the morning with an incredible idea, the energy to sit down at the desk or worktable, but instead have to leave for your day job. When you realize it is midnight and the work is half done, but you need to go to bed to have the energy to face the chores of the next day. When the telephone interrupts the magical world you have slipped into where your characters are real, or the drawing has come to life.
You may say that I’m a dreamer, to borrow a phrase. I am. I have this need to create a space for artists. To teach the next generation to go to these places of imagination. I believe the arts are as important as the corporations and the colleges. When I receive mailing from The AAC, part of me rejoices, and part of me feels so disheartened. How do I get from here-the basement-to there- a place with studios and performance spaces, cabins and galleries? During a recession. While working my day job. When I don’t have time to even get a painting finished.
This morning at my day job, I looked up at the TV to notice YoYo Ma, the cellist, playing. If you have ever watched him, you know the joy in the man. I saw him perform in person once. During breaks in his solo work during a symphony he listened to the orchestra, smiled, relaxed, emanated complete joy at being where he was at that very moment. When he played, he played with such ease it was is he was simply channeling the music that was already in the air. He was simply the vessel pouring out the music. I cannot help but become entranced by the man. For three minutes I was transformed.
So there’s where I am: grabbing minutes of creativity. Looking forward to spending a few hours a week teaching theatre again. Running home and into the basement for a few hours a week. Blessings to all the artists who are able to work at their art today, and to all of those who are still waiting.
