“Can You Make a Living Doing That?”
“Can You Make a Living Doing That?”
An artist friend of mine is about to meet a lot of new people and is dreading the conversations that will include the inevitable question, “So, what do you do?”. She knows when she tells them she’s an artist, they’re going to ask, “Can you make a living doing that?” and it’s going to make her feel bad.
I don’t know why people feel like this is a socially acceptable question to ask artists but I, too, have been confronted with these sorts of responses when conversing with civilians. When I was an actor, people used to say, “Oh, really? You’re an actor? What restaurant do you wait tables at?” Har, har, har. I think they meant to express some secret knowledge they felt they had about the difficulties of being an actor but it was always such an uncomfortable moment. For me, my answers were: “No, actually, I’m working as an actor.” “No, actually, my day job is teaching.” “No, actually, I’m temping.” For my friends who did work in restaurants, sometimes they felt they had to play along, laugh at the joke (which was their life) and name the restaurant they worked in.
I don’t know why people think it’s so amusing when they encounter artists in the wild to ask about our money. Why are our struggles such fair game? It’s nobody’s business whether or not we make a living doing what we do — or how. And it’s the least interesting thing about an artist’s life.
If you met a wizard at a cocktail party, would you ask him how he makes his money? I mean, you could, sure. But you’d be missing all the most interesting stuff. And I’m pretty sure a wizard might just turn you into a hedgehog if you asked too many questions about his finances. It’s lucky I don’t have the ability to turn people into hedgehogs because I would be very tempted.
Why would I be tempted? Because it IS hard to make a living as an artist. It’s full of contradictions and questioning and all of us are up against it all the time. Like, unless you’re Damien Hirst or Taylor Swift or Meryl Streep, you are up against it all the time, even if you’re doing okay. Do you remember that story about the guy from The Cosby Show working at Trader Joes? It’s kind of a beautiful story because people tried to shame Geoffrey Owens for his day job working at a grocery store and he just wasn’t having it. Neither were many other celebrities who rushed to his defense.
He was intensely gracious about it all and I think it led to him getting a fair amount of acting work. My friends who know him tell me he’s an incredibly gifted Shakespearean and an amazing improvisor. But sure, talk to him about the specials at Trader Joes when you meet him at a party. You could talk to him about Shakespeare or sitcoms or his years of teaching actors but sure, ask him how he makes his money instead.
Artists don’t love having this conversation about how we make a living because it is a pain point for all of us in one way or another. And it’s not a secret! Knowing that it’s hard to make a living in the arts in this country isn’t specialized knowledge. It’s an indicator that we live in a culture with some very skewed values and artists find a way anyway. Sometimes you’ll run into an artist who has found a way to make a bunch of money and they will take a special kind of pride in telling you that, Yes, they DO make a living and do quite well thank you very much. I hope anyone who asks this question of artists runs into one of these rather than the rest of us — because part of the problem is the general perception that art isn’t work and that it can’t be compensated. But it is work and people can get paid. It’s just kind of a crapshoot — and whether or not someone makes money doing it is not a reflection of the quality of the art being made. That, I can promise you.
Anyway — my friend and I were brainstorming about what she could say when people ask her if she can make a living doing that. What can she say that will stop this line of questioning but not alienate her from these people she’s never met before?
I can imagine a lot of snarky replies for this scenario but I don’t think that’s really what’s called for here. Like, it would not be cool to snap back with, “How much do YOU have saved for retirement?” and when they balk, then say, “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought we were asking triggering personal finance questions!”
Like, that would not win me any friends. Nor do I think I’d actually manage to say it. I’d probably just giggle uncomfortably and say, “Not really.” And before too long the person is receiving a trademark Songs for the Struggling Artist in-person blog about the economics of art. This is also not likely to make me any friends.
So — what do you suggest? My friend and I talked about this weeks ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. What should artists such as us say whenever questions like these arise? (And they do arise, in some form or another, fairly often.) If you have asked this question, what kind of response did you imagine you were going to get? What would have made you think twice about it?
Can you make a living doing art?
Sometimes, if you’re lucky.
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Originally published at http://artiststruggle.wordpress.com on September 23, 2024.
