Living through an era of transformation is remarkable. We shatter long held prejudices, biases, any kind of “isms” daily. There will always always be a long way to go, but the road traveled so far is crazy. A quick observation from news of the past several days.
Today, the celebrity press is all over Michael Jordan’s wedding to Yvette Prieto this past weekend. In other basketball news, Jason Collins just came out as the first openly gay NBA player. France legalized gay marriage last week. We will see what the U.S. Supreme Court rules on gay marriage in the coming weeks. Why compare Michael Jordan’s marriage to gay marriage? Easy, forty-six years ago, his lavish affair in Florida would arguably have been entirely illegal. And without Loving v. Virginia, who knows how much longer Florida’s anti-miscegenation law would have remained. Yes, Ms. Prieto is Cuban born, but pre-Castro, many white Cuban immigrants were considered white when they came to the United States. Just guessing, but I am sure no one will be quoted in People as saying how cool (or crazy) it is that Michael Jordan can actually marry Ms. Prieto. His marriage is as legitimate and deeply within the fabric of our society as any other. We are getting there with gay marriage where legal, but are definitely not there yet.
What to do with creative business? Or, more specifically, what is creative business’ role in our evolving (exploding?) society? Activism and revolution brings change of which art is certainly a part. However, acceptance, deeper understanding of a new world order and evolution not from place of rebellion, rather unity is the fuel of humanity’s growth. When the fight is over, the real work of creative business begins.
No matter what art you create, your creative business sells meaning. You are tasked with looking beyond what is plainly in front of you and to reach for something more. A picture is never just a picture, a flower a flower, a couch a couch. To those that hire you to create, these are just expressions, the tools of the story you are telling for them. In the context of our society, your art is to celebrate your client’s kind of weird in a way that even those who do not subscribe can appreciate and, dare I say, savor. A cup of tea is a cup of tea whether it is yours or not.
In a very real sense, being an artist during the time of revolution is the easy part. The purpose is to foist change on the unwilling or less than willing. When acceptance happens, homogeneity cannot. The beauty of what is happening today is that self-expression is being honored for what it is. Creative businesses have to move us all to what comes next. Maybe the days of the pretty party are over. However, if the world is to be orchestrated chaos, then it still has to be chaos.
You can dismiss your role any way you want to if you so choose and say all you, your art and your creative business are here to do is to serve the needs of your clients. News flash: if your clients just need you to do what they say, they do not really need you. What they actually need is for you to go further then they ever could. Yes, bring meaning to their lives, even if only for three minutes. In that role, your expression of your and your client’s meaning is transformative. An awesome responsibility no doubt, but one that you signed up for the moment you decided to make art for a living.
