In my eighth grade English class, every student had to write a story that they wanted to become a memory at one point in his or her life. As usual, it took me forever to come up with something. But when I did, I realized that film is where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. Other than that letter or when making home videos with one of my friends, I never really voiced that. Not that I can remember, anyway. When I was deciding on which college I wanted to go to, my parents asked me, "well, what do you want to study?" Looking back on it now, I remember being slightly nervous to say it out loud. It was no longer a dream to me, it was something that could actually become my future. I was foolish to be nervous telling my parents what I wanted to do. I knew they would support me in any decision, but I remember all of the doubts that went through my head. I could just hear voices saying, "that's neat, but what do you want your career to be?" or "are you sure?" There are a lot of people in the world that look down on those of us that want to pursue art and I am writing to you, dear parents, to let you know why you shouldn't.
It's not easy.
A lot of people assume that being in the arts is some sort of cop-out on the real struggles in life. Just because our homework is choreographing a piece, making a short film, or memorizing lines, that doesn't mean that it's easy to do. No, we don't have to solve derivatives or investigate the biological makeup of a species, and I tip my metaphorical hat to those who do. It feels easier to us because we are actually enjoying what we do. When it comes down to it, everyone could easily be this way.
What we love is a "real" job.
Often, we hear, "that's great that you like to paint, but what is your real job going to be?" It is exactly that. Painting, dancing, drawing, sculpting, acting, singing, you name it, it can become a career. It can (and will be) a struggle, there is no doubt about that, but that is what makes it all worthwhile. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it takes a special type of person to be involved in the arts. We see the world in a very special way, and it is our duty to express that. Art is truth. Through art we can express difficult parts of the world in the most beautiful way possible. It can also provide an escape. When you take your seat in a movie theater, you have at least an hour and a half in a dark room to just escape. Through art we create community without even realizing it. If you strip it down to the basics, when you go see a movie, you are just in a dark room with perhaps another hundred strangers. You may come from different places and different realities, but in those moments in the theater, you are sharing an experience. According to the in-theater, Regal Cinemas commercial, "we're all the same when the lights go down."
When you think about it, we idolize those who are successful in the entertainment industry and use them to define/exemplify success, but yet those who are pursuing it are told that success in this field is not possible.
We are a part of something special. We are part of something eternal, and we should never have to apologize for that. We should be celebrating our unique contribution to the world instead of trying to sweep it under the rug.
We are well aware that our future can be blurry and yes, we worry about it (More than we'd like to admit).
A future in the arts is uncertain and scary. We all know that going into it, but this is where we want to be, and we belong here for a reason.
Love and support is all we need. We're going to live in a world chalk full of rejection, and we don't need any more from the people that we love the most. I'm not saying that you should "baby us", but having faith would mean the world. We're going to get knocked down a lot, but having a soft landing and foundation in the ones that we love will make it worth getting back up again. However, I believe that goes for everyone.
