“If the world is saved, it will not be saved by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all.”
— Daniel Quinn
What is it to be an artist? What is the difference between being a consumer and a citizen? We believe both the citizen and artist must be responsible for creating his and her own sustainable lifestyle--one that feeds a real artistic life, not the idea of one that has been designed by advertising or perpetuated by unhealthy economic models. Texas Performance Labs posits the notion that growth means more than the false illusion of building materially, attempting to define "sustainable" solely as expensive and complicated investment in infrastructure, and is instead a matter of only investing your energy in that which you can build yourself.
We are a collective of writers, musicians, filmmakers, playwrights, farmers, and creative thinkers and we're not alone. We believe there is a schism between making art and making a living and it is sustained by the perpetuation of unworkable modes of living. Work should be meaningful, art should sustain itself through creating its' own lifestyle (which must be fundamentally different from "traditional" lifestyles in this country), and business exist to support and export creativity. We are a hub that facilitates artistic work and the artistic life and makes it happen. We believe it is inappropriate to subject performing artists to board review or control or the instability of the grant structure, and as such do not follow the non-profit model.
Texas Performance Labs functions as a socially minded business and artist living space. We are an artist collective, platform for affiliated performance companies, way of life, and a mindset. We are harnessing our creative energy into a living and arts community that is sustainable financially and environmentally. Right now, we are based out of Central East Austin, and have a network of contacts and collaborators all over the world. Our current resources include a communal organic vegetable garden, studio space for providing music lessons and rehearsing, and the good will of and help from a few general contractors. We are building towards acreage on the Eastern side of Austin, where we can help incubate new work and bring in artists from around the world. This blog is a record of our process exploring new structures in which to create performance. We would love to have a chance to hear your ideas concerning sustainable modes of thriving as artists and creative individuals...
I know. Some of you have managed to make it work and maybe you like it. That’s great and I’m glad it works for you. But there’s a lot of art that’s not getting made or seen because of gatekeepers who control the money, the space, and string people along with the grant structure system that is currently in place. Artists, especially writers and performers, end up living from grant to grant if “lucky” or spend most of their time supporting themselves with jobs that have nothing to do with their interests or training. Oh yes, that’s the romance of being an artist, I know. THIS FORCIBLE POVERTY IS BULLSHIT. I’m not condemning the capitalist structure, because we’re not living in a capitalist structure. We all know corporations receive help from the government in order to become and stay financially sound, and that does not constitute capitalism—neither does the huge amount of federalized government interference and bloated programs that bureaucratically try to run the United States.
One of the problems here is that we’ve been taught a myth, and the myth is so pervasive that most people don’t even realize it to be a myth at all. The myth is that art is the commodity that artists make, that art is a luxury, and that artists are not good with money or practical ideas. The fact is that most money in the world is the result of ideas from creative individuals who in many cases do not call themselves artists. Why are those that DO identify with that term taught to accept the idea that they have chosen to gamble with the possibility of making a living or not, that they must choose between making art and having families or a steady source of income, and that they have a limited set of options or choices in terms of how they will make art?
We chose to come to Texas because it has several important factors for making a healthy artistic economy: affordable land with available water (to BUY, not rent), a growing economy, and an under-saturated creative class. Great art gets made when artists can afford to be artists, instead of trying to pay their rent and eat.
The mega-cities are the brokers of already-made or famous art, but the conditions for experimentation and joy are in more liveable areas. We aim to make Texas the new center of theatrical and musical creation. That’s right, we said Texas.
3 years ago
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