thecreatives.org

for the past two weeks, i have been looking at, thinking about, talking about art. sometimes i’ve been writing about art. i have been thinking about the importance of creation, the importance of understanding the value of creation, the importance of being exposed as a culture to art-whether high or low.

i have been thinking about the people that already value art-the people who spend their lives making it or teaching it or supporting it whole-heartedly. i have been thinking about those people who want everyone to come downtown to be surrounded by art, simply because it is important to be surrounded by art.

i have been thinking about how we need to find a way to get those people to help others see what they do.

help us see why beauty is so damned important.

and then today, steve jobs died. i was eating an apple, surfing the web and listening to music on my macbook, and i read that steve jobs died.

steve, who said

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle…Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart…Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

and i realized something stunningly crystal clear:

i am those people.

i am those people who understand the value of art and beauty in everyone’s lives. i am those people who understand the importance of having patrons of the arts-and all the varying ways that a person can be a patron. i am those people that knows that it’s important to patronize the arts not just so that artists are supported but because of what society gets in return when artists have that space to create. it is just as important for the non-artists that artists are able to sustain a livelihood doing what they were created to do. it is important for all of us. it affects all of our society if art is not valued. it deeply, significantly, life-changingly affects our entire culture when it stops understanding the importance of beauty, expression and creation.

because beauty is so damned important.

i am those people.

and so today, i am going to listen to steve jobs when he tells me to “avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” i am going to start by sharing what it is am supposed to be saying-out loud, in public, and not just in confidence with those i trust. i am going to stand up speak out, and hopefully start a conversation and get some people thinking.

i am going to start by telling you, begging you, urging you with every fiber of my being:

patronize the arts.

it will not be only the artists who benefit.

taken in The Spot, 29 Pearl

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