Your Art, What's Really at Stake?

"Music is pretty low stakes for you, I mean it's not like you're trying to make it," a friend observed over dinner.

This statement beautifully captures the status quo attitude towards creative projects: play small, be safe, don't be a tall poppy.

When somebody says your art is low stakes, they're saying it's nice to make your art but it doesn't really matter because you have another career.

When an artist hears this statement it really hits a nerve. For people who make art, regardless of the medium, it's not just a nice thing to do in their spare time. It's the lifeblood that makes everything else they do possible.

It's the system that allows them to digest life and alchemise their experience.

It's the window to their heart, an invitation to let others see who they truly are.

It may not pay the bills but art is the work we find most satisfying.

An artist doesn't lie on their deathbed regretting the hours they didn't spend at a day job they never loved.

An artist will regret not making and sharing the song, the painting, the book, the play, the photo. Because at least for a little while, art lives on. It's the gift we keep giving even when we can't be there to give it.

To me, making my art is high stakes and if that's not clear to people around me, perhaps I need to change the way I do things.