xGerman Munoz, 28 January 2013

ORGANISERS:

Fergus Evans and German Munoz

Attendees:

Amy Ip, Dan Woods, Maria Thomas, Nicola Stanhope, Imogen Lewis, Ellis Kerkhoven,

Lois Tucker

Notes:

-We combined two separate sessions dealing with people having full-time day jobs but

also wanting to make theatre and not be consdiered hobbyists. The session was

meant for people with careers that they don't just use to pay the bills, but actually love

what you do (i.e. working for ACE, engineering, biomedical, etc).

-People usually use their weekends, annual leave to make theatre. This leads to

someone having no holiday since 2009.

-Looking for tips for people who are working.

-It was mentioned that your full-time job gets in the way of art.

-Someone mentioned a similar struggle as a freelance performer and also running

your own company.

-Another participant mentioned she was a tutor and also ran her own theatre

company. Loved both jobs.

-Some felt the arts community was partly responsible for people feeling guilty about

juggling two careers. Put guilt aside!

-You do have to come to terms with the fact that your output will be less/ you will be

less prolific than your peers who do not have additional full-time careers. This is

frustrating though.

-People also dumb down your art work if you're not doing it 9-5.

-Are people who have rich parents and/or supportive partners as much hobbyists?

-Running a strugglign small theatre company is MORE than a full-time job.

-For the guy who said this last part, he was asked how he made the transition from

part-time artist to full-time artist. He said the full-time artist was always his aim, but that

it happened really gradually. He had a day job but because of a gig he had to leave it

and then when that was over he was jobless. He had to sustain himself as an artist.

-Teaching. There is a theatre company made up of university drama teachers.

-For most, their day job took priority over their arts job (i.e. at ACE helping artists vs.

making your own art)

-Chekhov worked in a post office all his life, he was never a full-time artist.

-Part-time jobs that pay well: plasterer, plumber, locksmith. Maybe teach drama

students to learn a trade, they can get flexible work that pays decently.

-People mentioned the 10,000 rule from Malcom Gladwell's Outliers. You need to

practice your craft otherwise you will never get better. You need to practive A LOT

(10,000 hours is part-time job for 10 years).

-An actress mentioned setting up a group for artists with children to support each

other.

-INSIGHT: My career is TWO activities. They are not in conflict. (i.e. tutor and running

theatre company). How we communicate this affects how we are perceived.

-Also, celebrate the training you got in drama school.

-If you stop doing something are you perceived as failure? (i.e. stop writing for

personal reasons). We need to redefine sucess.

-Sometimes working outside of the arts sector informs the arts practice.

-Trying to discover perfect parallel jobs. Sometimes not possible.

-Being an artist can help you get a non-arts job. You can add value to organisations

were you skills are scarce (i.e. engineering, biomedical)

-Part-time/temp jobs are short term, can be like acting gigs.

-Don't separate different aspects of your life.

Tags:

arts, Arts, Working, full-time, day job, hobbyists, working, hobby

Comments: 1

Li-E Chen, 6 March 2014

Hi German,

Many thanks for sharing this, just thinking about the same question and leaving my day-job in three weeks. I realized being

further away from my practice and felt it is time to move on but no sure where to go, but wanted to begin by asking myself

and others ("What is your practice?")

Really like this:

You need to practice your craft otherwise you will never get better. You need to practive A LOT (10,000 hours is part-time

job for 10 years).

Thank you. Good luck to all of you!