Why bother making art?
Variations on this question are coming up a lot in my coaching sessions recently. Because no matter what level you’re working at, it’s tough being a creative professional right now.
Our work has rarely been so undervalued. Many of the traditional ways of making money from our creativity no longer work. Creative industries such as TV and film, music and fashion are running scared, second-guessing themselves and often reverting to safe but tired formulas.
Meanwhile, the world feels like it’s falling apart in a way that makes our own struggles feel trivial.
So why do it at all? I’ve written a longer manifesto for a creative life elsewhere. But here are a few reasons why we need creativity, now more than ever.
We create for our own well-being.
I believe that humans are meant to create, not just consume. And that even the most ‘uncreative’ of us need some sort of outlet.
For me, writing is self-care. I don’t write to tell people what I think. I write to find out what I think. The act of writing gives me clarity.
When I’m not writing, my mind feels dull, tangled, foggy. I lose my sense of purpose, direction. Even if no one ever read it, I’d still write.
“Creativity is on the side of health,” writes Jeanette Winterson in her brilliant memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? “It isn’t the thing that drives us mad; it is the capacity in us that tries to save us from madness.”
We create to pay the bills.
Making money from creative work has never been easy. But now we have AI stealing our ideas, the streamers paying derisory amounts to share our work, and big tech constantly finding new and exciting ways to replicate and appropriate our skills.
The gatekeepers are terrified, so they fall back on what feels safe and commercial. Even well-established names are sometimes struggling to place new projects.
And yet.. there is still money to be made. Many of my clients are thriving.
Besides, there are very few alternative jobs that offer any degree of security. The creative industries aren’t the only ones being disrupted at an ever-increasing speed.
In this brave new world, you need to be flexible, creative, resilient, persistent, brave, innovative and willing to explore, experiment – and fail. You also need to be good at building relationships, and telling a beguiling story.
You might recognise these qualities. In fact, I’ve rarely met a creative without them!
We create to tell our stories.
The ability to tell stories, to believe in abstract concepts (money, religion, countries) is what separates humans from the rest of life on earth.
Stories are powerful. We love, hate, fight, create, work, strive, vote, protest, panic because of the stories we believe.
AI can tell stories. But Large Language Models like ChatGPT are simply text prediction machines on a massive scale. They’re tools, helpers. But they not creators.
They can’t express anything new. They can only regurgitate probabilities based on what has already been fed in.
They can’t feel emotion, and any emotion they try to convey is therefore an empty approximation. A copy. As authentic as a plastic doll.
It’s true that every story has already been told. Every image created. Every song already sung. But not by you.
Your culture, your unique experiences, your filters, your taste, your viewpoint: this is what makes them feel fresh and new. It’s also the one thing AI can never reproduce.
We create to change the narrative.
In a world that seems to be rushing inexorably in a direction few of us really want, our vision is important.
Words, music, pictures can inspire, inform, bring people together. They can bring beauty, joy, laughter. They can help people understand each other better, or imagine – then desire – a better world.
Why make art when the world is burning?
To show us how to fight those fires. And how to rebuild something better from the ashes.
We create to bring beauty.
The first waves are here already, but we are about to be submerged in a tsunami of AI-generated slop: words, music, images.
All of this will make bespoke, hand-made items more valuable. Original ideas more precious. Craft more treasured.
We will want and need beautiful things, made with love and care. And only you can do that.
We create to build connection.
We are tribal animals, and communal experience is a vital part of being human. Art, music, cinema, performance brings us together. It makes us sing and dance and laugh and feel something. Together.
Intimate gatherings in which we share music, stories, poetry, jokes, art are already springing up everywhere, fostering community and providing a platform to creatives.
The young especially are beginning to value and crave interesting experiences far more than.. stuff. This gives me hope.
We create because it’s hard.
We humans thrive on challenge. It’s what brings us alive.
Sure, technology is convenient. But the cost of convenience is often fulfilment, vitality, the satisfaction of tussling with hard problems, and eventually finding solutions.
We all hate that frustrating part when you’re labouring on a creative project and it just won’t come right. When your fourth draft seems as shitty as the first, when your experiment fails, when your art doesn’t express what you were trying to explore, when that song just won’t flow, it’s easy to fantasise about doing something easier.
But that feeling when you finally resolve these problems and create something satisfying? There’s nothing like it.
And we create because it’s inspiring.
Every time you make something, you’re affirming what it is to be human and alive. You’re showing that it’s possible to face down fear and resistance, to do difficult things, to express yourself fully and authentically.
By giving yourself permission to create, you’re also quietly inspiring others. And who knows what they might do or make?
So that’s why we bother making art.
And why we keep on, even when it feels too hard. Perhaps especially when it feels too hard.
It’s what we do. It’s who we are.
What you make matters.
And if I can help in any way – you know where I am!
What do you think?