Lies Artists Believe: Worthiness One of the devastating lies artists believe is the lie of unworthiness. Many artists feel unworthy to pursue serious success. Many feel unworthy to spend time and money on their creative life. Sound familiar? Are these struggles you or your colleagues face? Anchor If you don’t anchor your worthiness in the […]
Lies Artists Believe: Self Expression As we continue our series on lies artists believe, we arrive now at “Self-Expression.” Unlike most of history, art today is not about representing the world as it is, or depicting an objective reality, but about self-expression. The lie we are tempted to believe is that all we need to […]
Lies Artists Believe: Age One of the lies artists believe today is, “If only I was the right age, then I would be successful.” Surprisingly this can go both directions. Some people wish they had started younger and think if they were just younger and cooler, they would be embraced and get the gigs they […]
Lies Artists Believe: Location One of the lies artists believe today is, “If only I lived in the right city like Los Angeles, New York or London, then I would make the right connections or get ‘discovered’.” What’s holding me back from success is where I live. Big markets have big challenges. While it is […]
When the church hurts artists, both the church and the artist lose. Here at AEM we wish we didn’t continue to hear these stories of artists wounded and hurt by the church, but we do. The church should be the place you are encouraged and nurtured in your creativity, but when that doesn’t happen, the […]
Don’t Wait to Be Discovered If you want to succeed, don’t wait to be discovered! In the world where YouTubers get TV deals, bloggers get book deals, and social media moguls make money from 140 character tweets, the old rules come crumbling down. The gatekeepers have lost much of their power in the wake of […]
A Way Forward In moments of cultural crisis, it can be hard to find a way forward. Emotions have been at a sweltering high. This week as my son graduates high school, I am reminded of the Rodney King riots during my graduation from college here in Southern California. We all hoped things would be […]
We continue with the next video in our vlog series called Christianity & Creativity: The Audience. You need more than great ideas and craftsmanship to become a great artist. You also need a great audience of patrons, fans, or online customers. But your relationship with your audience should be driven by one key passion if […]
The Artist’s Achilles’ Heel As artists and creative professionals, we have killer instincts in the creative process but often have the artist’s Achilles’ heel. Most of us creatives are really quite disciplined, and some would say aggressive when it comes to creating, iterating, and finishing our creations, regardless of what they are: paintings, sculptures, choreography, […]
When Artists Stop Creating There is a time when artists stop creating. It is not a new struggle but a struggle we find over 2,000 years ago in Babylon. The reasons are many. It may be a long stretch between gigs. It may be a weariness of the soul. Maybe you even achieved your goals […]