I don’t know about you but I’m standing in my kitchen mainlining coffee. Wondering if today’s the day I’ll finally figure out how to squash my creative chaos into something that resembles an actual career.
The point is this…
We’re all drowning together
Some of us have pool noodles
It’s time to share the damn pool noodles
Now let’s talk about creativity in our late stage capitalist hellscape (and yes, I’m using that term unironically, you can fight me if you want)
We’ve been sold this myth that success is a zero sum game. That for you to win. Someone else has to lose. That there’s only so much creative oxygen in the room. If that other artist takes too deep a breath. You’ll suffocate and die.
What a steaming pile of horseshit.
Truth is that creativity isn’t a finite resource. It’s not oil. It’s not Bitcoin. It’s not your grandmother’s secret cookie recipe that loses value if too many people know about it.
It’s more like…
…a virus.
(Too soon? Never too soon. Time is a construct and trauma is forever)
The more it spreads, the stronger it gets. The more people it infects, the more interesting mutations we see. And just like that virus that shall not be named (but we’re all thinking about it), it doesn’t give a single solitary fuck about your carefully constructed boundaries or your social media strategy or your five year plan.
Let’s get into it…
SECTION 1: THE GREAT CREATIVE CLUSTERFUCK
This is where we are right now:
Instagram poets selling their souls one perfectly filtered sunset at a time
YouTube creators burning out faster while also burning their platforms to the ground
Writers churning out content like factory workers on speed (Hell yeah AI herp-a-derp)
Artists reduced to “content creators” because apparently making art isn’t legitimate unless it feeds some stupid fucking algorithm
It’s a mess. A beautiful, terrible, soul crushing mess.
This is the type of game we don’t have to play.
SECTION 2: THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE MONETISED
(But Maybe It’ll Pay Your Rent Eventually)
Stop treating other creators like competition
They’re not your enemies. They’re your comrades in the trenches of this creative push pull war. Share your trenches. Share your snacks. Share your Adobe password (just kidding, FBI agent reading this)
Create like nobody’s watching
(But also maybe like someone IS watching because privacy is dead and everything is content now)
Support other creators like it’s your job
One day you’ll need that support. And karma’s only a bitch if you are.
SECTION 3: PRACTICAL SHIT THAT MATTERS
Want to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem?
Here’s your action plan:
Buy art from living artists (Dead ones don’t need to eat)
Share work you love (Not just the work that might get you noticed)
Give honest feedback when asked (Not when you’re just being a dick)
Create community spaces (Your kitchen table counts if you don’t have anything else)
Remember we’re all just making this up as we go
And here’s the most important part. The part they don’t teach you in art school or business seminars or those $997 online courses about “crushing it” as a creative…
There is meaning behind your art. It’s not art for the sake of being art.
Every time you create something. Every shitty first draft, every wobbly sketch, every off key song. You’re adding to our creative experience.
That’s also the closest we’ve gotten to magic.
SECTION 4: THE REAL SHIT
Here’s the little talk about fear.
There’s this fear that there’s not enough success to go around. Fear that if someone else makes it, you won’t. Fear that you’re not good enough, talented enough, connected enough, young enough, old enough, whatever enough…
So I’ve whipped up a quick little permission slip to let that fear go.
[X] PERMISSION TO FAIL SPECTACULARLY
[X] PERMISSION TO SUCCEED UNEXPECTEDLY
[X] PERMISSION TO HELP
[X] PERMISSION TO ASK FOR HELP
Final thoughts. Which is basically just a call to arms really.
This is your wake up call, your battle cry, your permission slip to create differently…
Create with purpose.
Create with community.
Create like the world depends on it because maybe it does.
The next time you see another creator succeeding. Celebrate them. Every win for art is a win for all of us.
Now go make something.
Make it weird.
Make it wonderful.
Make it yours.
And for fuck’s sake, make it matter.
Stephen Walker
P.S. If you’re reading this and thinking “This is too idealistic” or “This won’t work in the real world,” congratulations. You’re exactly who needs to hear it most. The real world is whatever we make it.
P.P.S. Yes. You can share this. No need for crediting. The revolution belongs to everyone.