Average Joe Films hits home with this emotionally-engaging reflection on the social value of the arts and the changing state of play for creative professionals everywhere. 

It obviously goes without saying, but the world has never been weirder than it currently is. Even before this virus reared its head, we as a society were heading down a funny path, and now we seem to be stuck in this purgatorial slump of fear and uncertainty. Economies crashed, jobs were lost, riots started, protests were held, hate was thrown and fear was mongered, but here we are now, about eight months down the line. We’re on our way to the ‘new normal’, and we’re all doing our bit to stay sane, some taking what they deem necessary risks whilst others remain just as vigilant as ever.

As we trudge toward this new presumably sustainable way of life, we are seeing sectors of the economy attempt to recover. Probably worst hit was the arts, and for inexplicably obvious reasons. Films are shown in cinemas, musicians perform on stages, art is shown in galleries. You see where I’m going with this, I’m sure.

But as the arts now try to claw their way back into economic stability, I can’t help but wonder how the creativity of so many artists were affected, or even influenced, by this particularly strange period in our lifetimes. I believe that many have done the best they can and some have even gone over and above, but I’d like to take the time to reflect, as an artist myself, on how the situation affected me personally and also the art world as a whole. You may start to roll your eyes at a bit of this, but I guarantee there are creatives and artists out there who will sympathize with this, and I beg the naysayers to read and be open to changing their tune.

Being a filmmaker and a writer, I first thought that the idea of lock-down could be something to aid my creativity in a strange way. Being a professional procrastinator myself, I thought that being forced to stay indoors would provide me with less distractions, and I’d finally get to live up to my personal promise of being locked in my room and not leaving until I’ve written a script. All well and good in my head, but the reality could not be more different. I tried starting slowly, somehow convincing myself that I didn’t want to exhaust all of my ideas too soon as no one knew how long a lock-down would last. I’d jot ideas in my notebook or on my blackboard, fully intending to sit down and write a script; or film something in one location in order to remove distractions and force myself to utilize what I had readily in front of me.

Days. Weeks. Now months. I haven’t been absolutely useless I’d say, and I have really tried to produce work, I am after all writing this article. However, I came to realise something very interesting about myself. I’d look at the work of others, of musicians performing live stream performances every week, filmmakers setting themselves a challenge of producing a short film whilst in lock-down or quarantine, and I’d marvel at their ability to do so. As what I came to realise, and this is going to sound like an excuse, is that the so called ‘mundanity’ of my very normal life is actually what sparked my creativity, and I had lost that. I couldn’t observe the lives of others and take inspiration from that, and an increasing sense of despair surrounding the arts seemed to hang over me like a rain cloud, constantly dousing my fire.
This is where you’re probably rolling your eyes. Poor regular guy who can’t be creative in his comfortable house in his still comfortable life. Let me say that this is not me feeling sorry for myself, but it is an admiration for those who are able to persevere through it, and with that we come to the point of this article.

We as a society take the arts completely for granted, and artists are united in the notion that we do is not a hobby, it is our life. The gall of some people to ask an artist to work for free and they will be rewarded in exposure is something that probably every artist has been subjected to, and have felt like they have had to do in order just to get their work out there, no matter the medium. Now we have Covid-19 to deal with.

We were all forced to stay indoors, and everyone suffered, not just the artists. But now I’m going to fire a few questions your way. When you spent two weeks, or however long it was inside your house, how did you entertain yourself? Maybe you watched a few films or TV series, or your favourite band or musician put on a live stream on Facebook. Maybe you scrolled aimlessly through your phone at times, scouring the news and other sources of information. All those things you did, you have as a result of the arts. Filmmakers, writers, designers, musicians. They all fall under the banner.

This is not an article to shame anyone, far from it in fact. I do think though, that we need to sit back and applaud those that made the most of the situation. To the musicians that played to ten people over Facebook or ten thousand, your work is valued. To the filmmakers that made movies from the confines of their houses, your work is valued. To the designers, art directors, writers, painters, and everyone in between, your work is valued. Creativity is like a war, constantly fought and seldom won, and I’m here writing for the winners.

As we approach this ‘new normal’, I do hope that a different perspective on the arts will be drawn. It’s already starting to happen with trending topics like #wemakeevents, but I think that that is still only scratching the surface on what can be done to help the arts. I don’t know where I would be without it, and I fear to think what society would be like were it to be deprived of it. The attitude of seeing an individual’s creative passion as a mere hobby and not a way of life needs to be re-adjusted, as the fact of the matter is solely this; some sell, some buy, some create, and all are equally important.

To those who are like me and struggled to find their spark, just keep going and try to do a little bit every day. To those who pushed through it and continue to deliver, I do not have enough gratitude and envy to bestow upon you all. You got us through one of the toughest years of our lives, and you continue to do so, and we should never understate your importance.