Chicago continues to impress me with its ability to shoot straight from the hip on certain issues. The City of Chicago's Artists at Work Forum was entitled, "Building a Creative Career as a Black Artist" and the panel delivered an informative past and present of Chicago's legacy dance and theater organizations.
Moderated by Meida McNeal and Queen Meccasia Zabriskie, the conversation sought to cover a broad range of topics from Audience Development and Education to Criticism and Funding. As a transplant to the area, I listened respectfully to the histories of ups and downs presented by Joel Hall (Joel Hall Dancers), Nicole Noland (Independent Artist), and Kemati Porter (Producing Director, eta Creative Arts). My interests however, are strongly attached to models of sustainability in these fluctuating times. I found the best examples of the future of arts entrepreneurship in the words of Deeply Rooted's Artistic Director, Kevin Iega Jeff.
My takeaways from his main points:
On Developing Your Audience
- -- Engage in an Authentic Conversation
- -- Value Comes Before Support
- -- It takes a "safe environment to liberate genius."
On Fundraising
- -- Create a process for people to back your work
- -- Commit to reaching out to "our" community
- -- Who is going to advocate for you? (outside of the Black community)
On Criticism
- -- Know the difference between informed and uninformed criticism
- -- What are your driving principles?
- -- If a critic is being other than intelligent and constructive, he or she may have another goal.
The overall discussion was alternately proud of accomplishments and frustrated with some of the obstacles that Black artists face. Towards the end, Iega Jeff offered this gem in response to the new mayor's intentions and initiatives in the cultural sector:
"Diversity is an organic response to Humanity."
I found myself in deep agreement as I, too, believe that the more the arts see, acknowledge, and explore our common connections, the more support we will receive as a whole.
