No, it's not the same.
It's not what we trained for or what we're used to. And we deserve time to grieve all that's been lost, or in many cases, temporarily misplaced. We deserve time to wring out our unpleasant emotions of anxiety and frustration over the work that's to be done.
But when we are ready, we will remember that we are beings of enormous creativity and resilience, and once again, we artists will begin to push the boundaries that have been imposed on us. That is what we, as artists, are wired to do. We question. We make things. We come up against The Rules and say, "Oh yeah? Watch this."
The old way of doing things may come back, after a while. In the meantime, there's a new medium. Play with it. Learn how to use it. Learn how to make it yours. Bring your brilliance and weirdness to it.
You don’t have to share it right now. You don’t owe anyone a performance. But if you have been numb, devastated by the overnight implosion of the world you spent a lifetime building, perhaps by reframing online performing as a new genre, you can find your way back to art-making.
When you are ready, look up and see the enormous wealth of creativity that is already enriching a hurting world. Let it inspire you. If you say to yourself, “I can do better than that,” excellent! Do it.
You’re a creator. Creating again will help you heal.
What a wonderful opportunity this pandemic is to re-examine what is both good and bad about the world of art-making. Artists are already working to make the profession better, to rid it of some of its nastiest and most inequitable old systems. The internet is the great equalizer —- there is no gatekeeper, anyone can make and share their art. Anyone can find an audience, no matter how small. We have the opportunity to experience so much more art and share it with so many more people.
Many of us have channeled our creativity into cooking and baking, rediscovering hobbies we abandoned for our art, repairing and beautifying our homes and gardens, knitting. Things we didn’t have much time for, before. For some, it just hurt too much to try to sing.
When you are ready, try to approach your art with new eyes. Try to learn a new way and a new platform for communicating. We didn’t think we would have to retrain at this stage of our careers, but here we are. And for those of us in the classical arts, this could be a pathway forward in a world where we have had so much competition from pop culture. This could be a way to reach and engage new audiences. That’s exciting.
Before COVID-19, you were a creator, an artist, a performer; and you still are. Creating, art-making, performing is who you are, and you need it in the same way you need oxygen.
When you are ready, remember who you are.
The world is waiting.
