Made HERE: Season 2

Welcome to the first issue of Season 2! MADE HERE explores the importance of identity in the performing arts. We hear about how many made the decision to be an artist and when they first realized they were one. We hear about how some deal with the labels that are projected onto them and how they address labels in their own work. Finally, we hear about how institutions shape their identity and how artists form their identity either with or without institutional support.

Artist
How does one decide they are an artist? For some, it is a natural progression from a creative and expressive childhood, while for others it is a deliberate decision to pursue one’s passion, regardless of the risks. Identifying as an artist is a personal decision, and what that identity means is unique to each individual.

Labels (this video link is currently broken; please check back later)
Whether related to race, gender, or genre, labels play a strong role in determining an artist’s place in the world. Labels affect an artist’s access to opportunities and funding, and how audiences react to them. Some artists find them to be stifling, damaging, or just irrelevant, while others use labels to their advantage.

Institutions (this video link is currently broken; please check back later)
Arts institutions and artists reflect on and benefit each other. For artists, working with companies, troupes and organizations is a way to gain resources and structure. Institutions form their own identities through their choice of artists and material and through their ability to connect artists and audiences. By developing partnerships, artists and institutions carve out space, funding, and support for the creation of new work.

Welcome to the second issue of Season 2! MADE HERE explores the creative practice of our featured artists. We hear about where artists go to find inspiration and about unexpected sources of inspiration. Then, company members and individual artists offer their opinions on the pluses and minuses of collaborating with others versus working alone. Lastly, we delve into the many different processes and philosophies that artists adopt to develop their work.

Inspiration
Being an artist requires a consistent outpouring of new ideas and images. Inspiration can come from a moment, relationship, object, vision or observation. It is the artist’s job to allow these influences in and to harness them for creative work.

Collaboration (this video link is currently broken; please check back later)
Collaboration opens the door for spontaneous, synthesized work to come into existence. The process allows for artists’ strengths and weaknesses to be shared and embraced. In order to balance the stresses of working in close proximity, artists learn to share leadership, and develop their own specific working language and collaborative ethos.

Process (this video link is currently broken; please check back later)
An artistic process is as individual as the work that is created. It reflects personality, fears, inspiration, rigor and tendencies toward procrastination. Artists develop strategies and rituals to help them make their work. Though the artistic process is usually unseen in the final product, it is a major component of an artist’s life.

Welcome to the third issue of Season 2! MADE HERE explores the impact of $$$ on the lives of performing artists. The first episode explores the concept of the value of artists: are artists recognized as legitimate members of the workforce? Then, we hear about business strategies artists have developed to support their work. Finally, artists share the strange and sometimes hilarious things they have done to raise money for their projects.

Value
Most performing artists would agree: you don’t go into the arts to make money. But are artists exploiting themselves by accepting low pay and undervaluing their own work? The value of art cannot be measured in dollar signs, but at some point, the artist needs to get paid. How they decide what their art is worth is another story.

Strategy (this video link is currently broken; please check back later)
Not only do artists need to be creative with their work – they need to be creative in how they fund it. An artist’s financial strategy is shaped by their personality, preferences, personal philosophies, and by the work itself. Sometimes the strategy is a space – somewhere you can always come back to. And sometimes it is a faith in the bounty of the universe.

Getting It
How to get the money you need to make your work and support yourself is something artists think about a lot. Money-making tactics are sometimes fruitful, sometimes embarrassing, and sometimes funny. In these endeavors, it is the artist’s challenge to meet their financial needs with their artistic vision, and morality, intact.

Welcome to the fourth issue of Season 2! MADE HERE explores the different stages of a performing artist’s career. The first episode looks at how artists got their start in the business. Then, we hear about how they stay in the business and how they define success. Finally, artists who have had long careers share their memories and talk about how they continue to evolve their work.

Breaking In
It takes guts and ingenuity to break into the performing arts, and many artists find their entry points in unexpected places. Everyone’s story is different. What unites the artists in this episode is that they navigate the performing arts world in ways that work for them.

Perseverance
What does it mean to be successful as a performing artist? Is it a show at a particular venue? Respect from your peers? Financial stability? With vision and determination, performing artists struggle to make work that garners recognition. Yet ultimately, success is measured by creating work you believe in.

Staying Power
Working in the performing arts over many years brings a larger perspective on how the field has changed. The artists who remain active and engaged are always imagining new artistic frontiers for themselves. They continue to evolve and push themselves creatively. They also often engage with and pass along their knowledge to the next generation.

Welcome to the fifth and final issue of Season 2! MADE HERE explores the concept of home. In the first episode, we hear about how artists chose to come to New York and what they discovered upon arrival. The second episode looks at how artists create connections with each other and with their communities to define a sense of belonging. Finally, artists talk about why they think New York is the creative cauldron of the world.

Arriving
The majority of New Yorkers (75%) emigrate here. The decision to come may be spurred by a quest for freedom, the desire to live in an artistic community, or from an indefinable magnetic pull. The artists in this episode share their reasons.

Belonging (this video link is currently broken; please check back later)
In this city of shifting populations and constant influx, where housing prices are always going up, and gentrification feels inevitable, “belonging” is a deeply personal, and subjective state-of-mind. In this episode, our artists wrestle with this concept of belonging. To belong here is to have a connection not only to a place, but also to a community of artists that sustain and support each other’s work.

NYC (this video link is currently broken; please check back later)
New York City is not just a place to live, it is a character in our lives. With its energy, chaos, creativity and passion, the city offers endless opportunities to reinvent, create and discover. And for performing artists, living in New York City means being in the center of the action.