I’ve been collecting answers from various artists friends (mostly theatre folks) on the question “What does it cost to be an artist.” I’d love to share their insight here. I think the pursuit of art is incredibly difficult – most describe it as a calling, and nearly everyone has sacrificed a great deal to pursue this calling. It’s an entire lifestyle, not just a career. I believe that an artist’s devotion has something to teach Christians, particularly Christians in the United States, about what it looks like to give up your life to find it.

I asked artists to share what it COSTS to pursue their career in the arts. Here’s what they said:

• missing friends’ weddings, baby showers, birthdays due to show schedules. 
• giving up opportunities for career advancement in my day job in favor of flexibility [for artistic work]
• turning down roles (and by extension, career advancement in theatre) in order to show up for my loved ones [read: the dehumanizing cost of losing out on relationships in order to pursue the arts]
• Your friendships; your time
• Art can cost a person aging with dignity (lack of financial security)
• Live performing arts might be the most demanding on your lifestyle, because you are making inflexible high-stakes work commitments during everyone else’s leisure time
• Expect to always be struggling – financially and often emotionally. And don’t expect anyone who isn’t an artist to understand that what you do isn’t a hobby but your life’s work.
• You are a small business. It costs what many people take for granted at their 9-5’s: supplies for making art, specialized equipment, space rental, marketing the product (you), health benefits, 401k, paid leave…

Being an artist costs time. Missed holidays, vacations, and family gatherings like weddings and even funerals. Time spent working menial “day jobs” because too many arts institutions do not pay living wages. Time putting off starting a family because of the same financial restrictions, lack of childcare infrastructure, long days, and irregular hours. Time with family, if you do decide to start one. Time at the doctor’s/therapist’s office because obtaining and maintaining adequate health insurance is a struggle for even moderately successful artists. Time on the planet due to inadequate, irregular sleep, consistently high stress levels, and a high incidence of substance abuse. 

Madeline L’Engle, in her book Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art, shares:

“an artist is someone who cannot rest, who can never rest as long as there is one suffering creature in this world…perhaps the artist longs to sleep well every night, to eat anything without indigestion, to feel no moral qualms, to turn off the television news and make a bologna sandwich after seeing the devastation and death caused by famine and drought and earthquake and flood. But the artist cannot manage this normalcy. Vision keeps breaking through and must find means of expression.”

My own pursuit of the arts has cost me more than sleepless nights. 

There have been times in my life that all I could afford to eat were peanut butter sandwiches. And not the good peanut butter with the oil separated when you open the jar. I’ve worked a lot of jobs I didn’t want to do in order to afford the arts career I wanted. I drove for Lyft until my back was messed up. I taught after school drama to 1st graders – with no qualification of teaching that age group – so that I could act in plays at night…plays that would pay me $350 for 2 months of work (30 hours a week – that’s just over $1 an hour) And one of those shows was Helen Hayes nominated! 

There is a financial, mental, and emotional cost to being an artist. It’s not easy. 

And yet…there’s a deeper joy that I find similar to what the Apostle Paul describes in Philippians 3: “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

I also asked artists to share what they have GAINED because of their life in the arts. Here’s what they said:

• A sense of connection to my true purpose
• A purpose drive life. As long as I have worked in the arts, I have never questioned why I’m doing what I’m doing or whether it was worth it.
• More empathy. Broader imagination. Meeting and working with great people.
• Empathy. I believe acting traing is empathy training.
• Beautiful friends all over the world. More patience.
• Perspective, patience, the community that I was always searching for and joy in collaborative creativity.
• A different benchmark [of success] than the one I was supposed to have. A better example for my children. A desire to never retire. 
• Confidence, a world of friends, a voice that lets me influence the future of our city, freedom, a purpose, joy, accomplishment.
• Purpose and a circle of friends that continues to grow
• Joy. Meaning. Understanding. Great excitement. Such happiness and great friends.
• Knowing that my work makes a difference in immeasurable ways. Creative colleagues that speak my language, fond memories, wild stories, and the best photos.
• A way of living that makes me feel alive, that makes life joyful and deep, that makes me feel like myself, a path through pain and difficult life experiences. 
• Some awesome friends.

Notice how many times they USED the word PURPOSE.

That is a gold you cannot buy. Also note how many times “good friends or people” are mentioned. Aren’t we all looking for a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging? 

What are you willing to give up to find your calling? 

What will it cost you? What will you gain?