A necessary adventure, in search of artistic acknowledgement

I had a great conversation with playwright Germaine Shames (http://sitekreator.com/germainewrites/main_page.html). It was a pleasure chatting with Germaine about my work and what she is doing, and she was  very generous sharing tactics on getting plays produced. It wasn’t a matter of her revealing a silver bullet approach, as much as reaffirming the sense that getting work out is as much an adventure as writing it, and that this adventure has to be embraced. She shared with me a great David Bowie clip where he talks about making art to please oneself first, which really hit the spot.

I think I’m actually in a kind of advantageous moment where there is really nothing pulling me in a particular direction, so I’m forced to do that thing that Bowie is talking about. Obviously, I’m working on creating demand for me, but the bright side of it is that it’s a wide open situation, mine to define. I think I wish it were otherwise, but in fact need to be here. There’s plenty to bitch about in terms of the challenges of getting one’s art acknowledged, but at the same time, this more or less forces me to keep going in my exploration and creation. Which is a necessary adventure.

Joe Bardin