This is Part 1 of a three-part series on the future of creative careers.
→ Part 2: Creativity is valued. Creatives are not.
→ Part 3: Our common goals, collaboration & what’s next.
The world runs on what creatives produce. So why is it so hard for creative people everywhere to make a real living?
I’ve been struggling to press publish. I haven’t known if it was prefectionism’s usual attacks. Or if if this article “wasn’t quite there”. Turns out, a bit of both.
Writing is one of the hardest things for me. It’s always been a strength, of sorts, and I think that’s why.
Capturing words that sound different in my head than on ‘paper’ is harder than it looks. Anyone writing here regularly will know.
The hardest part this time is the articles are already written; I’ve already recorded a dozen video essays on topics that are drafted here, ready to publish.
But they missed a little extra magic that the written word requires.
So finally, here we are. I’ve decided to extend the essays. Add a short personal note at the beginning (what you’re reading now).
I’ve decided to let my words fall onto the page here, and to hit publish before I edit too closely. There will be errors.
But to kick things off, you’re at the start of a 3-part series on a topic dear to me.
Well dear is the wrong word; that implies that I love the topic. I don’t; I just can’t get away from it.
I wish, in many respects that I didn’t feel compelled to write about this.
But I do feel compelled because of the state of creativity, and more specifically creative careers and the world we’ve built to support them.
The status quo for most creative people is in my opinion, not ok.
The fact is; it is too ridiculously difficult for most creative people to be creative; for most people to build a creative career.
I say ‘most’ knowing how vague that word is. I can’t quantify most, but it’s the best I have right now. Perhaps I mean “most people I know”.
I’ve met a lot of creative people. A lot of very talented creative people.
Plenty have built impressive careers. I have a hunch that not one of them would describe their journey as easy. I also know too many (I include myself in this) that despite giving things a fair crack have found obstacle after obstacle on the journey.
And I’m not here to ask for ease. I’m here to start planting a flag to say that the way we value creativity isn’t working. In a world that benefits so significantly from the work of creative people everywhere; why is it so hard for people like us to build a respectable career on our terms?
And I don’t think this question is going away anytime soon. It’s turning into a bigger one: “how will creative people build careers in the future?”
Well, I have some ideas, so if you’re curious, let’s begin.
In this article:
How the world is changing but support for creative careers are not
A few reasons why things are so difficult today for creative people
A few ways we can start thinking about making change for creative people everywhere.
In search of the ‘right question to ask’
Over the last few years I seriously contemplated undertaking a PhD. I got as far as developing an initial proposal and reaching out to a potential supervisor. I found the process incredibly daunting; partially because of how hard it is to get a clear answer on what’s involved. But also because of the specificity you need in your topic and question.
You’re reading this because I gave up on that idea, at least for now; I decided to channel my next output into a brand. It’s called Futureative. And it exists to help independent creatives build lasting careers.
Turns out, in giving up on that idea of a PhD, I ended up finding the question that I want to research anyway:
“How will creative people build careers in the future?”
It’s the same question I’ve been asking for going on two-decades. I’ve watched the rise and fall and rise of social media platforms change the way artists and audiences connect. Industry organisations and governments change the way they fund and support creative works. Education evolve. So on and so forth; maybe best that I save unpacking the last 20 years of the creative industries for that PhD.
But this question, well it’s kind of been the central obsession that has driven my creative career to date. It’s the question that has at times brought me an overwhelming sense of optimism and excitement. When I feel like I can see the future, I know what to do next.
But when the future looks hazy, well that’s when fear and dread set in.
If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’re a creative person too. And I’m guessing you’ve felt that excitement when things are working well and you know what to do next; you see your path, it’s working. And you know the feeling of being completely lost just as well. Or of course whatever your own version of these is!
My point really is that creative careers will always be competitive and difficult; but they don’t need to be this difficult.
I think we likely share a sort of universal aspiration, us creative folk. We just want to build a life around the things we love making, right?
Space to create. A career to sustain it.
This aspiration isn’t that different across disciplines, too. Whether you write music, make films, write books, design, educate, build brands, podcast, act, dance… Whatever combination of creative pursuits drives you, the dream is the same or at least very similar. whether you do one, two or 5 of these things.
You want to wake up and do work that matters to you and have that work sustain a viable, fulfilling life. You want to feel your creativity valued by the world.
In the world that obsesses over productivity and advanced economies that only grow with sufficient human output, one would think that people being able to use their richest talents and make their best contributions should be more highly sort after.
But we’re lost in a world that is shackled to the past, with new technology and infrastructure that hasn’t effectively replaced the old business models.
In today’s world we have more opportunity than ever for people to follow their talents and turn those talents into a career, yet we somehow have more obstacles, less clear pathways, and what feels like less industry and government support.
The goalposts for what you’re meant to do to be a creative person and build a career from it are changing every day.
The pathways and funding are moving from underneath our feet.
The strategies that have helped other artists to become respected, labels to become cultural icons, festivals to become viable, films to be made about local stories and books to be written, so on and so forth... So much of what has helped them to have that success in the past, is not there anymore.
Every minute, of every day, that the world around us changes, businesses and governments change their initiatives. Consumers of creativity and their perceptions and expectations change.
It’s been a constant battle for creatives everywhere to try to work out how to balance their creative calling whilst navigating a commercial reality.
This article originated from a video essay on our YouTube channel. You might like to check out the video version too:
The world is changing, faster than ever.
That’s obvious. What’s less obvious is how poorly the industry itself is adapting to support and nurture creativity.
I’m not here to complain; I understand, or at least I have a good sense why. There is limited incentive everywhere right now for people, organisations and government to truly value creativity and creative people.
And because of the changing world and a limited incentive, we have a hollowing out of support for creative people everywhere.
Add in that what worked for someone even three years ago is now at least partially becoming obsolete. The fundamentals of creative careers and businesses stay pretty consistent over the decades, centuries even. But the tactical approach on how to make a creative career successful today? That’s changing every few months, days even.
And what works for one person might not work for you; so the variability of options in front of all of us means of course huge amounts of talented people are going to do things that ‘don’t work’ in the end.
The world is changing so rapidly that the steps to take and pathways to follow are getting more diverse and less clear day by day.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; but I don’t think that our society and institutions that benefit from and have a responsibility, to an extent, to support creative people, are adapting fast enough.
Or at least, it feels like there’s more of an adaptation to “look busy” but don’t actually address the structural problems.
That creative people and those that work with creative people, need more support. Guidance. Programs. Insights. Funding. More Funding. Support. Help. Ecosystems.
This is what I mean when I say pathways.
Most industries have pathways. But the pathways in the creative sector are as varied as creativity itself. No wonder people give up.
We’ve left the old world, where companies would form around creatives; record labels, and festivals and production houses etc. would exist to find, nuture, pay for and develop creative works and therefore creative people.
The challenge of course in that world was that very few would get chosen. Many would get left out.
The new reality is a complete 180; where now anybody can create and distribute as much as the next person, as the companies that benefit from creative work can sort of cherry-pick and profit from what’s already becoming a success.
There’s some advantage in this new world; access is improved. But somewhere a long the way we’ve forgotten to question why it’s ok for creative people to so often work for free? Why do creative people need to figure everything out themselves? Why do we need to fund our own education, our own startups and our own teams completely on our own, from scratch?
All of this is not to say that lots of talented and brilliant people haven’t been doing important work on this problem over the last couple of decades. This isn’t overall a criticism of the entire industry. The fact that I can write and publish this is only possible because of the brilliant people I’ve worked with, learned from and been supported by.
This is merely pointing out the status quo is not improving fast enough and its not targeted enough.
I don’t pose these questions lightly. I’m not entering this conversation without a good reason.
I’ve been working on creative projects and businesses since finishing my undergraduate degree around 2011. Aside from one small slip-up and foolishly taking a full-time job for a month, I’ve been a working independent creative ever since.
I have been lecturing in the field of creative business for some 8 years. I have a Master’s Degree in Business, specialising in Arts & Cultural Management.
I’m not trying to grandstand, just pointing out that my ideas in this series, and my views, they are not from thin air. They are not grievances because I found it too hard.
They are observations from working on creative projects, working with creative people, studying the creative industries, teaching in this area. Consulting for 15+ years. Freelancing. Performing. Starting businesses. Having projects flop. Having some be surprisingly successful and then not be able to sustain it because… Well, burnout is a thing.
I have seen too many incredibly talented creative people give up, change course, bend their work, lower their standards, battle for attention, fight for every $.
But we have to ask, at what cost?
Too many creative people leave the sector; let their creativity be an afterthought or a hobby. And creativity as a hobby is wonderful, perhaps the best one on the planet; but when a creative person chooses it as a hobby because they have no other option, that’s not right.
A creative who wants a career and gets a hobby isn’t left with some noble pursuit, they’re left with shame.
And of course, the timing of today; we’re entering another new world before we fixed the one we’re in; enter the age of AI. A revolution where now anybody can be creative with the swipe of a keyboard or a few simple voice commands. Thanks to some egregious and blatant copyright theft, now anyone can be creative and we won’t need people to be creative anymore, right?
A societal problem, not simply a creative’s problem
This isn’t on the creative person to fix on our own, either. It too often ends up as one individuals problem to solve; every creative is out for themselves, charting their own course, sometimes for better, but often for worse.
It reminds me of the Keep America Beautiful organisation founded in the 1950’s to push the responsibility for waste management from the industry to the individual. "People Start Pollution. People Can Stop It." was the slogan in the 70’s. Does that remind you of something?
A simple way to avoid blame is to divert it elsewhere; and what better way to still profit and benefit from creativity and say “once the artist build the career, then we’ll talk”.
If you’re finding it hard to build a creative career; it is not your fault; creative people everywhere have been deserted by the organisations that used to have a mutual interest in funding arts & culture.
It shouldn’t be entirely on us to navigate this on our own, but look, that’s where we are. That’s the reality. And it will come with some benefits.
With the rate of change right now, being able to move at speed is an absolute advantage. Being able to create and release and create and release; shortening the publishing cycle is a strategic advantage in today’s world.
Where algorithms are changing regularly, new tech and distribution options are emerging constantly, of course new AI models drop and change the game every few months.
That’s a lot to navigate, and it’s hopefully something we do less alone.
I know I just spent a while talking about the stuff that you already know and feel on a daily basis. But I do think it’s important that you know that the problems you’re having with building the career you want are not unique to you. I see you. I’ve lived and felt the struggle. If I’m honest, I still do in many ways. And that’s why I’m writing this, and why Futureative now exists.
Even though I know I can’t fix this on my own, I also can’t just sit idly by and do nothing when I do think there are real tangible solutions to the problems that creatives everywhere face. I’m on a mission to find the best insights from the best creative minds in the world. Real-world creatives living a creative life. People that have real insights into the future of creativity that are relevant in today’s world. That’s at least step one and I’ll share more soon.
I know the world is not short of information and information certainly won’t fix this problem. But I do think better and deeper insight is going to be key for all of us. That, and coming together more. That, and pushing for change in the industry. I have more ideas, I don’t have all the answers, but I know that we have to find more ways to come together, wherever we are in the world and do what we can to make sure that a creative career is viable in the future.
Why this matters now more than ever
So, how will creatives build careers in the future?
I hope you want the answer to this as much as me, because right now we are living through a moment of unimaginable change; and nobody knows what’s at the end of this road.
So what do we do? I think step one is organisation and education. The more voices we have coming together to learn from each other, the more opportunity we create for change in a world that changes this fast.
You cannot rely on a textbook from five years ago, let alone an online course from a year ago, let alone a blog post from a month ago. And as more of us turn to AI for answers, we risk devaluing real-world experiences from other creatives and only learning a regurgitated form of what used to work.
More than knowledge, I think we need insight. And the more human that insight, the better. Insight doesn’t just come from a podcast episode, insight comes from shared experiences. We need more shared learning experiences.
More insights, from more sources, at once. More discussions. And my hope is that can be a starting point to find other opportunities.
Because when people come together with a shared goal, companies and organisations have a way of finally showing up.
No one person has all the answers. Myself included. As the world gets more complex day by day, I think we will need more voices more regularly, and to know who to trust. Which means we need a place to come together.
So, whether you write books, produce events, make film, release albums, or anything creatively adjacent, we will be building some sort of a curriculum for the modern creative, the future creative.
Just not the kind you are more used to; one built for tomorrow’s world that invites all creatives to have a seat at the table.
I want us to look back on what we built together, you and me, and see a tangible shift in how creative careers are supported.
Creativity has been battling a devaluation for a long time. Now with AI proliferation, it’s as close to free as it’s ever been on the supply side. On the demand side, it’s up to all of us to ensure that creativity is valued.
A few questions to sit with:
How do you think creative careers are changing and what do you think needs to change over the next decade?
How have you seen industry organisations adapt to our changing world and are they doing what’s best for creative people?
What could we try to solve together if more creatives came together for shared learning experiences more regularly?
Thanks for reading & for reflecting here with me. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas and discuss.
Let’s see what change we can make happen, together.
With optimism,
Steve
Ready for more?
Up next is Part 2 in the series: Creativity is valued. Creatives are not.
Front Row is your backstage pass to everything we’re publishing on creative work, launching projects, and the trends shaping creative careers.
Built by, for and with independent creatives.
We’re also publishing on: Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn | Threads