Quitting your job to be an artist sounds like a bohemian dream, but for many people of color, owning a business based on a tangible skill set, like art, is our only option for survival.
I always intended to create personal art projects while holding down traditional, outside employment. These projects were intended as self expression and art related opportunities could be extra income. I completed degrees in art history and dance and began what I hoped to be a lifelong career working in museums and specialist libraries.
However, the more I advanced in my career, the more push-back and resistance I received from co-workers and managers. I experienced cement-ceilings, racism, etc. born out of woman-to-woman strife, resentment, and jealousy in predominately white, female environments. Sexual harassment was rampant and inescapable from all kinds of men…the boss, homeless men outside the building, janitors, security guards, even visitors. People of color in predominately white environments behaved with an ‘every man for himself’ mentality and I experienced frequent backstabbing.
When it came to completing tasks and projects , my hard work, enthusiasm, intelligence, and innovation were not met with excitement, accolade, respect, or higher pay. Instead, my professional attributes and contributions were ignored, or worse vilified, and I was met with petty tactics to sabotage and stifle my advancing success. Historically Black museums and libraries, or other arts institutions, were usually more efficiently run, but hardly ever hiring because the staff and funds were smaller. I decided to leave the field of museums and libraries because it was beneath me to cat fight about someone else’s ‘art history’. I decided to make my own art and my own personal history.
I tried career transitioning to retail and then I tried legal support. It was the same story, different act. Vicious workplace politics in offices or shops filled with white women were abusive and no longer worth my time or energy. I left my legal receptionist job in May 2018. I started an LLC to professionalize the projects I had been doing independently since 2011. From 2018 to 2020, I was a full-time artist. I felt like a fully free and respected adult for the first time. I have experienced setbacks from the employees at institutions I have partnered with, but as an independent artist and business owner, I now have the authority to dismiss or sue them. After COVID, my business stalled, so I dipped my toe back in the waters of external employment and I got bit every time.
One day, I may go back to working an external job, part-time or full-time, because I love going to work, being part of a team, having a routine, and giving it my all! Until then, I will put that same energy into myself, my art, and my business. What I’m saying is, I didn’t WANT to ‘quit my day job’ to ‘chase a dream’ of being an artist. I felt that being an entrepreneur was my only chance at survival.
To read about my surreal career journey in museums, libraries, and more, please read my Medium.com/@pleasant.folk blog. 100 dedicated readers on Medium allows me to earn income for my writing on the platform.
Have a Pleasant Day!
-Rae