the business of artistry

Greetings. Summer in the southern hemisphere is really starting to kick in with the short skirts, shirts, and the like being pulled out from the back of wardrobes. It's a beautiful thing, but sadly, haven't been part of the process up till now. Living in two extremes trying to find balance between living life (with all its luxuries) and being an artist. This weekend has been spent working on a presentation - I'm off to Cape Town for the day tomorrow to pitch for a project. I have often been asked how I find balance between management consulting and creative writing - I still search for the answer. I took a job in attempt to create a solid foundation, which I wasn't getting when I was freelancing as a writer, and have found that, while it provides me with the funds to promote and develop my art, it also takes time away from that. Guess we all have to live with the consequences of the choices we make.

Anyway, in a twist, on Tuesday morning I am giving a talk at a business school in Joburg to a group of suits on 'The Role of Art in Empowering the Nation'. Great opportunity to hustle some funding from those with the funds but I am having difficulty laying out my thoughts. One of the things I have always believed is that, as artists, we are great at being artists and totally hopeless at the 'business of being an artist'. The quest for purity and 'realness' in the Arts has resulted in a never-ending cycle of artists constantly getting screwed. For decades, we have heard stories of artists dying in poverty while their managers, etc, reap the financial benefit. Well, the way I see it, this generation of artists has been exposed to these stories so much, the only reason you get screwed is out of your neglect.

Isn't it time that we learned the business to ensure that we are never hoodwinked by those in the 'know'? It is about time we learned from history and took the necessary steps to ensure that it does not repeat itself. If we don't, we will continue to exist as society's martyrs, tapping into the suffering of humanity, while lining the pockets of those with the foresight and skills required to turn those insights into money.

So what am I going to talk about on Tuesday? How artists must learn the language of corporates and how corporates must learn the language of artists to ensure that we can find a middle ground that will benefit all. It touches us all in different ways and it is important that we all honour those who create.

more words, scribbled ..... i share my notes because, while they may not be well-written (pre-edit), they do carry my truth before logic comes in to mold it grammatically, sequentially, logically ..... before they are prepped for page or stage ....

i am, you are, we are

i am, you are, we are

distant souls trapped in a mindless cage

our humanity cloaked by the surreal bars

we are plural, yet live a singular distortion

i am, you are, we are

i am, you are, we are

i, you, we breathe lies

and bury our truth in fiction

how strange!

comfort is an umcomfortable reminder of what we see

in moments of silence

i am, you are, we are

i am, you are, we are

drifting, floating, dreaming, hoping, drowning

but never living

empty inanimate vessels

dressed in the emperor's clothes

crying wolf when it is ourselves

we should fear most

i am, you are, we are

i am, you are, we are

robotic, automated, mechanical

androids

zombies manacled by a past

wiped clean by history

hobbled by legs that don't bend at the knees

shackled by the lumps in our throats

our voices rendered mute

by broken and forgotten dreams

i am, you are, we are

i am, you are, we are

tired, lifeless, lethargic, inert

and still believe the future is in our hands

our aged, crooked hands

destiny supposedly lies in these hands

we are too blind to see

that the path to that destiny

is overcoming this reality

i am, you are, we are

i am, you are, we are

Copyright © Kojo Baffoe 2005

Let me get back to the grind. easy runnings