Personal thread incoming:

If you’re wondering why I haven’t done much reviewing lately, aside from, you know, there not being any performance to review: I just published a book, I am working on the copyedits of another book due out next March, I have a play commission and also I have a new job.

Oh, and there’s another book that I’ve only done research for that I have to write by mid next year

Last year I was working on four books, all at different stages of writing, all for different reasons, plus a libretto commission. Plus I was editing @witnessperform, which is mostly a voluntary job.

I don’t think the quality suffered, and I’m proud of what I’ve written, but in many ways - not just work - it was, personally speaking, a tough year.

If you’re wondering why my life has been characterised by so much compulsive over-production: I have earned my living through writing since 1985. Writing has been my day job: I didn’t *have* any other job. And dinner must be bought and rent be paid.

Back in the 1990s/early 2000s this wasn’t so unrealistic. It was possible to earn a living from writing books. That’s changed: for years now I’ve cobbled together an income from commissions, royalties, freelance work and so on. Not complaining: it’s been great & I’ve been lucky.

But I’m getting older and writing four books at a time is ridiculous. Getting (and hopefully keeping) a stable, part-time job is a major life change for me. I’m still getting used to the idea.

Perhaps because I haven’t had one for so long, and didn’t expect it either, I didn’t really clock the implications until after I got the job. But it’s made me think a lot (more) about the hamster wheel that is art life in Australia.

Every artist I know juggles multiple projects. Mostly this is because of how little artists get paid. Eg a standard commission for a play is $15k, but it can take a year or more to write. The thousands of hours you put in simply to learn the craft, let alone the art, are unpaid.

You get used to doing a lot with very little or nothing. This is a lot of what artmaking is, creating ex nihilo. Artists are self reliant, adaptable, clever at using what’s to hand, and very hardworking. They can be very useful people in a crisis for this reason.

The work of artists is also the reason the so-called arts industry exists. There are jobs in the arts industry. But aside from symphony orchestras, ballet corps and the like, almost none of them are for artists. There’s something wrong with this picture.

Also, if people are wondering why it’s so hard to shift the arts from being white, middle class and mostly male, it’s because to be an artist you have to be a fool like me and never stop working and have no financial security, or you marry or inherit money.

Even being a “successful” artist means that you’re earning well below median wage. And the poorer and more marginalised you are, the harder that is, both to achieve and to justify. Difficulties just cascade with each barrier.

When I dream of possible utopias, I dream that the “arts industry” means stable jobs for artists where the job description is to make art. Where those hard learnt, hard earned skills mean genuine liveable income.

Imagine all the talent, all the richness, that could make possible. We might need never to use the word “diverse” again.