Recently, I was interviewed for a program called “Support Local Culture” at the local community run radio station. They’ve been talking to arts folks as part of a program sponsored by Noosa yogurt.
(By the way- this is incredible yogurt, made by a dairy that happens to deliver a half gallon of milk right to our porch every week! )
anyhoo- here’s the link. Lots of thoughts condensed into about 5 minutes
http://www.krfcfm.org/nanci-erskine-support-local-culture-featured-artist-july-14/
in the full-length interview we touched on several obvious topics- how did you become an artist, what inspires you, yada yada.
But one of the points I really wanted to make was that as a long time practitioner, there are trends I’ve seen come and go- changes in the economy, changes in the way people see and buy art, various schemes that have been tried by organizations in my city.
There have been several times in my life when I was associated with ‘artist groups’ They often morph into support groups or built-in cheering sections rather than a way to really look at our situation and motivations, or critically look at the work being done. The sad thing is- the pattern of devolving into a whining mass of self-pitying humanity is all too common.
It’s the same refrain I heard 30 years ago- “no one appreciates us/me” or some variation on that theme.
So…what if a mythical ‘Creative District”, or some government sponsored Arts Council doesn’t come to your rescue..
I say- be nimble. Do whatever you gotta do to keep it going.
Don’t wait for approval, validation or the calvary.
erskinestudio.com 