How much damage has been done by the romantic ideas that successful artists get “discovered” or that genius is instantly recognizable? Like most things in life, succeeding as an artist takes work and perseverance, no matter how brilliant you are. If you’re feeling discouraged, remember that you’re in good company:
Douglas McLennan, editor of ArtsJournal and author of the blog Diacritical, wants to know how the internet is changing the role of middlemen in the arts:
Power in the mass culture model is controlled by gatekeepers - the TV networks, radio stations, record producers, publishers. They had power because they could afford expensive cameras and studios [...]
In March 2008, we conducted a national survey and a series of phone interviews to better understand the professional development needs of artists. I thought you might be interested in what your peers described as their needs, wants, and desires. Sometimes it makes us feel better to know that we are not alone; that others [...]
Among the most important lessons a young artist can learn is to reframe her concept of success and set realistic, attainable, useful goals. And if there’s an industry even more dangerously obsessed with romanticized notions about success, it’s the software business.
I found this talk by David Heinemeier Hansson (creator of the popular Ruby [...]
A while back I wrote an article for the Fractured Atlas Newsletter (RIP) entitled “Defining Success.” In it, I wrote about the need for artists to develop new ways to measure their accomplishment outside the paradigm of “blockbuster” and “hobbiest.”
Kevin Kelly takes a go at developing a practical definition and his conclusions are [...]
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