The SWITCH
He later asked, “When do you singers ever start to make any money if you’re always paying to perform?” Good question Man, GOOD QUESTION.
The beginning of a stage career is not unlike being the maid of honour or best man at a wedding; you get all the glory of having your name at the top of the program but, by the time you buy the dress, matching shoes, pay for the stripper and gifts, you’re out of pocket and still looking for love.
Now, I continue to pay to learn. I go to great coaches and a fantastic teacher to get professional feedback and direction. My intention, however, is that I am ready and belong with the pros. I no longer second guess that I have graduated - FOR REAL.
When do we transition from playing the role of student* to professional?
When do we stand up to be the artist who stops paying to be on stage
and instead, is being paid?
I’d like to blame my old fallbacks; the business, school, my mother, or the economy but, I think it goes deeper than that. It’s not up to anyone else to:
Change our way of thinking
and the the way we present ourselves.
If we finally trust in our training, we can assume, and maintain a new role in the industry as:
‘The professional, creative artist whose talent and hard work has earned
practical, and monetary value.’
I’m not sure when the switch happened for me, but it did. I’m not talking about agents or managers; publicists or press. Nor am I referring to being arrogant or pushy about what you have to offer. I’m talking about when you stop playing the role of underdog, flip the switch to being quietly confident that you belong, and allow yourself to be offered something more practical than accolades. Don’t get me wrong. You will always be a student of life and I encourage people expand their knowledge, collaborate for fun, or for great causes. I love the intensive learning of summer programs or independent projects but, in the grand scheme, we can’t stay that way forever (can we)? The switch (I think) has to happen sooner, or later because singing for your supper - LITERALLY- won’t sustain you for very long:
BANK: Hello, Ms.Cardinal’s Nest? Yes, we received your “payment”.
Unfortunately, we don’t accept Dinner scraps & flat Champagne as currency.
Kindly deposit MONEY into your account...
you know, that green stuff that makes the world go ‘round?
I meet a lot of artists who, after much training and professional experience, still continue to think and present themselves as the student and not a valuable contributor to the art form with an educated perspective. This is so key for me. If artists continue to play small, or lower their status, when will they have the opportunity to earn a REAL living as a result of all that hard work and patience?
It’s up to the individual, I suppose. There are most certainly a lot of energetic performers, right out of the blocks that are undeniably in command of their destiny and will accept nothing less than their own terms (even before they’re ready). AWESOME. Gotta’ give credit where credit is due. Yup.
Unfortunately, articles about artists who say they love to create and if they are paid for it, well, it’s a bonus don’t help create value for their future protégées, or the industry. Nope, I just don’t buy it, man. If the MET said, “we’re going to pay you (after coaching $$$ a role for a year) with magic beans as a BONUS” you’d be ok with that? C’mon! S’cuse me while I move over. I don’t want to get hit by lightening....
Being an artist IS rewarding in itself; no question. Yes, we do it for the love of it and, hopefully, choose to give generously to the next generation. BUT after paying through the nose to train with the very best, there needs to be a point when we take charge, recognize that we are ready to make the switch, and that:
payment for art should not be an optional bonus, it is, after all, a business.
Thank you for reading!
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Your feedback has tremendous value. Thank you!
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*SOandSO was still at an age when going away and paying for a stage is an awesome way to make connections, work more roles into the voice, and onto the resumé. She had few expenses/responsibilities (at the time) other than rent, food, phone and internet. I fully support summer programs for students to bridge the gap to the professional stage.
**Student: yes, the learning never stops, and hopefully we will always be open to new ideas until the day we die. My hope today is that younger artists will see that playing the role of student (past their due date) is something else entirely, and that staying put is just as scary moving forward so, maybe consider the latter....
