"But what's your real job going to be?" If you're in the arts, you've probably heard one of the various forms of this extremely understandable but terribly underhanded remark about what you want to do with your life. I say it's understandable because it is.
The fact of the matter is, jobs in the arts are slim. There's no skirting around that, but the question that nobody on both sides of the argument seems to ask is "Why?" Why are there more jobs for people who want to be engineers than painters? Why are there more jobs for people who want to be dentists than dancers?
The reason why is that jobs are created where there is need. People need dentists. People need engineers. However, I would love to tell you that you need artists just as much as you need anything else.
Please, wherever you are reading this, imagine your life with no music, no TV shows, no movies, no concerts, no books, no paintings on your walls. Anything that you view as entertainment, gone. Sounds pretty bleak doesn't it? That's because artists are the people who breathe life into the mundane.
They make things out of nothing. They are the story tellers and the messengers of culture and history. That's a heavy burden on the back of an artist especially when they are required to wait tables or work a front desk to be able to do what they really love: tell stories through literature or dance or act or sing.
Imagine spending your current college tuition rate on a nursing degree, graduating, getting a job as a nurse, but then having to work two other jobs because being a nurse didn't pay enough. Imagine dreaming your whole life of being a nurse so that you can help people, and then having to spend half of your time at your "real job" so you can support yourself.
This is the life of an artist. Imagine your family and friends worrying about you all the time because you don't have a "stable job" which must mean that you aren't a "stable person." This is the life of an artist. Imagine getting asked to do your job for free. This is the life of an artist. Imagine your passion and your talent and your hard work combining into your vocation and then it being seen as "fun" or "not serious." This is the life of an artist.
As I said, jobs are created where there is need. We need artists. How do we show that need for artists? We support them. We go to their concerts (which Nashville has no trouble with). We go see their plays, we go see their dance concerts, we go to their exhibits, we read their novels.
Ultimately, art is a two-way street. There can be no art without an audience. As an artist myself, what I need is for there to be somebody in the audience when I perform. Artists use their craft to communicate a message, an idea, a desire. This is why, when you look back at the past you hear stories, you see paintings, you hear music, you see fashion. All of these were created and cared for by talented artists who trained and mastered their craft so that they could use their craft to change the world.
If you know somebody in the arts, give them a hug. Encourage them. Support them. It is not easy to be a professional artist. There are so few sustainable jobs in the arts. That's why we need more of them. We get more by needing more. That's why when I hear the phrase "Yeah, but what's your real job going to be," all I can do is laugh.
I know very few people who would continue in their mundane "real" jobs if they weren't paid enough or appreciated enough, but every artist I know does this every single day. Fixing teeth, planning weddings, being a lawyer — those are all hard jobs. They are honorable jobs. They are necessary jobs. However, they aren't eternal. Stories told, feelings felt, lives changed by artists are forever. Changing the world: that is what my real job is going to be.
