being an artist is a “real” job

I’m going to be bluntly honest and admit that I was going to write an open letter to the year 2020, but I got halfway through the issues I would have to address and felt a dire need to pop a Xanax (don’t do drugs kids, stay in school and eat your fruit and veggie), so, naturally, I chose to drop that topic like a hot potato. Instead, I am going to talk about something that has bothered me for years and thus has lived rent free in my brain for far too long. You can consider this a sort of eviction notice; you’ve been an awful tenant and I will keep the deposit because you’ve made a mess.

Alright, jobs. Careers. Adulting. Suit and ties and briefcases, stethoscopes and rulers and corporate management human resources services on the 27th floor…This year has been an absolute shitshow, but it has forced us as a society to categorize between essential and non-essential jobs and workers. The jobs that are necessary for our everyday lives to go on as normal as possible, the jobs that are of utmost worth. The jobs we must have people working on. Surprisingly though, most of these essential workers are in fields that have traditionally been low paying, such as cashiers, couriers, and cleaning staff…etc. (we might want to make a mental note about that and remember this when the pandemic is just a fond little memory of the olden days). But perhaps the most highlighted occupations in terms of necessity and importance have understandably stemmed from the healthcare field. Doctors and nurses, lab assistants and researchers have been integral in living through and in a pandemic. Clearly these are essential jobs. There’s no way I’m going to argue against that. Because it’s not wrong to suggest that healthcare workers have been bad-assess and deserve all the respect they are due.

But the thing I’ve been hearing, even before the pandemic put the topic of dividing or ranking jobs and occupations based on necessity or usefulness on the table, is namely, how being an artist isn’t a real job. And this has always bothered me as I personally do tend to gravitate towards artistic endeavors. I am very much drawn to painting, drawing, and music… not to mention writing. But it was always made very clear to me that these endeavors should remain as hobbies and not careers because there was no real monetary worth in those fields. Only one in a million would make it big. You'll never make a living off that. Maybe you could do that on the side, you know as a hobby while you keep your day job. Now, I can’t tell you how many times I've heard those very sentences echoing all around me ever since I was a child. Luckily enough I was also very academically inclined and I had many academic interests, so this didn't put me down too much as I could see myself in a career that would still be enjoyable but, which would be described as a “real” job.

And you know what, all that above, that might be true. There is this stereotype of a starving musician or artist struggling to get by, to get noticed by a big record company or an art gallery. Oh, and let’s not forget about the tortured soul of an author or poet begging to have their works published so that they might make rent for a small overpriced studio apartment they share with three flatmates in the eclectic part of town. These are tropes that are romanticized more often than not to the detriment of the artist community. As a society, I think we have a very strange perception of art and people who make content to be consumed. It's often seen as something that just is, not something that someone puts hours and perhaps years of work into. It is seen as something that is not necessary, something that is simply extra, a pleasure but not imperative. This idea is built directly into us from the very age we start elementary school; arts and music make up for the tiniest parts of our curriculum and this continues up until we graduate high school. Visual arts, music, crafts… these are treated as electives, whereas we would never consider maths or chemistry as such. Even though, I dare suggest, the average person comes into contact with music and arts much more often than with algebra and chemical formulas.

If we really start to think about it most of us have some sort of streaming subscription whether it be Netflix, Amazon prime, or HBO. We use Spotify or iTunes, we listen to podcasts, we watch TV shows, we go to museums, we go to art galleries, we wear designed clothes, we read books and magazines, at the very least we listen to the radio on our way to work. There is no denying it, there is art all around us, embedded into our existence. There is content created all around us. But it didn’t just drop into being from the sky. It's here because someone put the effort and time into honing their skills and crafts to be able to create something for others to enjoy. And I think that is just as necessary of a job as any other. Thus, artists and content creators should obviously be compensated for their work. If people consume what they have created, artists should be able to live off their work. And yet, for many people this reads as an outrageous idea.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen and heard artists get berated because they refuse to work for free or be compensated simply by the “exposure” of their work. You would never go up to lawyer and say “hey, file these papers for me and I’ll pay you by telling everyone what a good job you did with the filing, yea?” It goes so far that creators can be called nitpicky for requesting to be credited as the original artist when their work is reposted across the internet. When we share images or written works of fiction or music on social media or wherever, artists often have to specifically remind people, and ask that they be credited properly, which many people still ignore and then minimalize their actions when they get called out for not giving credit where it is due. To me this is mind boggling, as anyone who's ever written so much as an elementary school book report knows that plagiarism is wrong, and that the creator of a work should always receive credit for what they have done.

Moreover, like I said, as someone who enjoys consuming art movies and literature and, also making art and writing songs and fiction and what not, I have been thinking about this issue of devaluing artistic jobs and careers for years now. But the importance of art and creators has never been clearer for me to see than during this year. It’s really hit home how much I rely on art simply to fill my days in these unprecedented conditions. I would venture to guess that during this year, while social isolating and quarantining, most of us have watched more TV shows, more movies, watched more content on YouTube, listened to more songs or podcasts on Spotify or iTunes, looked at more art on virtual museum tours or simply social media than ever before. Though I in no way whatsoever mean to belittle or devalue the necessity of jobs and workers that keep our hospitals running and our government's working and our grocery stores and pharmacies stocked, there is something to be said about the role of art and music and entertainment content in contributing to the wellbeing and mental landscape of the people. As humans were never meant to isolate like we are now forced to do for the greater good. While we weather this pandemic and the precautions we have got to take in order to stop the spread of Covid—19 , it’s become evident that music, comedy, writing, and the plethora of visual artforms out there, have become a medium which  through we can connect when the traditional routes are blocked.

Perhaps one of the most delightful examples of this is the bursting spark of inspiration on the social media application Tik Tok where multiple creators of different countries, ages, and cultures have come together to envision, compose, write, and pitch ideas for what could be the musical version of Pixar’s  film Ratatouille (Bird and Pinkava, 2007). You can see multiple suggestions for musical numbers, lyrics and choreographed dance clips pop up left and right on daily bases, and they are absolutely superb. Not even a pandemic could stop these creators from coming together and pouring fuel onto what was one person’s flame of an idea and turning it into a worldwide wildfire of a phenomenon. And this is important. Specifically, because the theatre and performing arts industries have suffered disproportionately during the economical breakdown caused by Covid–19 restrictions. Live performers whether they be musicians or actors, or dancers have likely been, if not out of jobs, then certainly had their incomes substantially chopped. The field declared as non-essential. And yet the contributions of artists and performers and creators fill our everyday lives. We derive joy from clever wordings, heart wrenching songs, and breathtaking pictures. We laugh and cry over characters that have been created and written and performed for us. We consume all of this art and creation, yet harbor the mindset that art is not a real job.

So, I suggest it may be worth considering whether we simply want to accept that there is no way to make a living as an artist, unless you happen to get a lucky break and end up as the next Beyoncé, or if we, as a society that consumes created content in massive amounts, perhaps more than has ever been consumed before, would like to start valuing artists and creators based on their contributions to our societies and cultures and not only on material scales. If this proves a hard concept to wrap your mind around, simply imagine if tomorrow all of that art made by those people, who don't have “real jobs” and “real careers”, was gone. No Netflix, no television shows, no movies, no music on radio or Spotify or YouTube, no novels, no comic books, no podcasts, no pictures or drawings or comedy sets. What would you do all day? Well… this is just a stab in the dark, but you might just end up writing a musical about a rat that has a passion for cooking. Because at the end of the day, especially after a year like this, it's what we need.

In the spirit of consuming some great creations, have a look at what our brand-new issue has to offer.

This time BTSB:s newest issue is jam-packed with fantastic fiction by our very own Henna Houttu, Aleksi Jakonen, Annika O’Connor, and Sini Pesonen. There’s nothing like a pandemic to get one’s creative story brain churning, so, choose your topic, be it apocalyptic robots, dystopia and feels for days, or “to-die-for”—skincare, these works of fiction will surely leave you satisfied. And if fiction is not your cup of tea, why not try out Vesper’s article on making your own Glögi! And while you’re at it, check out her thoughts and musings on Christmas tunes to give you the full pre-Christmas experience. And if you think that’s all we’ve got, well, you’re sorely mistaken, as we have Leo’s article on teaching poetry at Helsinki Upper Secondary of Visual Arts for you to enjoy! And since this is a pre-Christmas issue, we shan’t leave you without a couple of surprises…Go, explore, enjoy. Let us entertain you if just for a fleeting moment.

In conclusion, as the wait for the holidays begins, the days grow shorter and the cold chill of winter gains ground, 2020 nears its end, and 2021 seems so close but yet so far, I’d just like to wish everyone a non-eventful last month of the year. And in the spirit of giving credit where it is due, for those of your who celebrate it, I’ll leave you with one of the finest holiday wishes known in cinematic art:

“Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal[s!]” (Columbus, 1990).

Bird, B., Pinkava, J., 2007. Ratatouille. Walt Disney Pictures,  Pixar Animation Studios.

Columbus, C., 1990. Home Alone. Hughes Entertainment,  Twentieth Century Fox.