As the world opens, and we all start moving cautiously back towards our touring lives, I would like to offer some thoughts:
1. I have lost my touring callouses!
Over the last almost two years, my commute has been very simple. I've gotten my power cord, my mac, and headed upstairs to what has become my studio.
I plug in my laptop, go into the closet and change into a performance shirt, and take my place in front of a camera. Check to see if I need to touch up my nail polish, and make sure I have any material I need for whatever meeting or presentation I have to attend.
Then, I sign off, put my t-shirt or whatever back on, go downstairs and make a cup of tea. Very simple.
I am no longer as prepared as I once was to leave my house 24 hours ahead of time to be somewhere.
What used to be a pretty easy day trip - eight hours - seems like an extremely long drive!
2 - I have forgotten how to pack efficiently.
I have a go bag. It lives in my closet. When I have to go on tour, I grab it, a few outfits and I'm out the door.
Apparently, over the last almost two years, I have had occasion to go into my go bag, and get things. Mouthwash, toothpaste, melatonin here and there, and all sorts of random things. I've also changed most of my electronics, and I don't have backup cords for most of them.
When I set off to Toledo, I got there and discovered I was woefully underprepared to be anywhere! I need to rethink my travel bag, but my motivation to do so is very low. For starters, I only have a couple more out-of-town shows coming up over the next couple of months. Second, who knows how many I will have over the spring, and there is no telling if we will be in full swing next summer.
So, procrastination has set in.
3 - To mask or not to mask???
I am pretty far from most of my audiences, so I don't mask. When I taught, I was masked in the classroom. I don't know how effective I am as a storyteller with a mask on my face. So much of what I do is expressions.
So far, I've performed without the mas, and sign books and teach with one on. I also bump elbows...but since I've always done that in flu season, that's not all that different.
4 - The idea of touring is both tiring and exciting.
I forgot that when I tour, I am not bothered by dishes, sweeping, and all of the things that require upkeep! I'm also gluten-free. I have forgotten how hard it can be to find food in some communities. Sigh.
5. Oh, and I seem to have forgotten that I am prone to insomnia when I disrupt my sleep cycle, do a lot of driving, or have shows late in the evening!
Note to self! Remember you need to have your routine aromatherapy in your go-bag so you can use them to trigger your sleep cycle...
6. I'm kinda loving all of these virtual and pre-recorded shows!!!!
7. I miss live audiences!!!
8. All of this is so exhausting and STRESSFUL! 💀💀💀💀💀
In other words, it might take some people a little bit of practice to get back into touring, and that's okay.
Some people may be loving it! That's great.
Some people might decide it isn't worth it anymore. That fine.
As we move into the next stage of whatever this is, be kind to yourself. Go at your own pace. Nobody's journey is yours.
1. I don't even know most shows are happening - The David changes the passwords on the pre-recorded shows on Sunday. Everyone who has a show booked that week gets the new password for the link, and they have access for seven days, He turns the links "on" and "off" as needed.
2. I have to edit particular intros or outros. - The David sends me images or video clips for specific venues. I edit them into the pre-existing packaged show, upload the altered show into Vimeo and The David sends the link to the particular venue.
"I think she's frozen!"
3. I have a new show or shows coming on-line, so I have to record, edit, and upload new material - I head upstairs to the studio, record the necessary material, come downstairs to the kitchen table, load the footage into my computer, edit it, compose the set, put a copy on my external drive, upload the content into Vimeo, and interact with it like step 1 or step 2.
4. I have a festival coming up where they want pre-recorded sets - I follow step three, organize the information, and send the sets to a dropbox.
5. I have live/virtual shows - The night before the show, I go upstairs to my studio, check to make sure the background I've got on the frame is the background I want to use, make sure I have my video camera charged because I record me performing for the computer and then I edit the recorded live zoom show and upload it into Vimeo. The school then has access to the recording of me live/virtual telling to them for seven days.
I have a hate/love relationship with Live/Virtual
There are so many things that can go wrong with this set-up!
1. The internet on one end or the other gives up because of Gremlins.
2. The internet slows down because of Gremlins
3. The connection is bad because of Gremlins.
4. People randomly unmute themselves because of people.
5. The sound goes wonky because of Gremlins.
6. The people in their little boxes forget that you can see them and they do something.....because of people.
7. The children in their little boxes totally know they can see you so they do something....because of children.
8. You are totally distracted by the people in the boxes and you lose your concentration.
9. You are totally distracted by yourself looking back at you and you lose your concentration.
10. Your neighbor decides to cut down the tree in his backyard in the middle of your set because of neighbors.
11. Some random dog decides now is the time to express his displeasure at the clouds because of nature.
We are not a quiet bunch!
12. Your son and husband start having a great, loving, loud, silly conversation in the kitchen and you have to leave the set, and remind them you are performing live. They are covered with chagrin because they didn't know they were that loud...family.
13. Pets. Let's just leave it at that.
The Bottom Line?
It is just as exhausting.
I'd rather not have to do it.
I am enjoying it.
Live Zoom is Exhausting!
Yes, I do see the appeal of live telling. The kids can see each other and me and they can interact. There are some things that make it tricky, like when they decide to unmute themselves when they are supposed to be joining me or doing call and response. I love to hear the voices, but they come in at all different speeds and at different times depending on what's happening on their computer.
It makes a cacophony of sounds that I must stop and wait for because kids who either didn't or couldn't unmute also hear it at different times. The pauses are odd and the rhythm of the story gets wonky. Still, it is kind of fun to watch the kids grooving out to storytelling.
They are at home, so nobody is making them sit still. Some kids go full Charleston Boogie. Some kids don't respond at all other than to stare at me unmoving.
I've watched twins fight over the best viewing spot to see the screen while I'm telling. I watched one little girl act out each and every story enthusiastically a second after the narration.
People who are really into stories are the most fascinating, distracting, amazing things to watch. I'm enjoying a show while I'm presenting a show!
There are some wonderful things about this brave new touring world.
This is the easiest touring schedule I've ever had.
I fill up my car about once a month instead of two times a day.
As for the grueling commute...There are about a dozen stairs I have to climb. Think about my FiftyThree-year-old knees!
Yeah, I don't feel sorry for me either.
I have never toured so extensively and to so many countries and still managed to sleep in my own bed every single night!
I actually like The David. I'm glad we get to spend time together!
I live with my business manager. That means that someone else is living inside of my head when it comes to business.
I read him the opening paragraphs of this blog, and he pointed out to me that I am...what is the word...antiquated.
He disagrees that's what he said, but that is an apt description of what I had written - oh, and I've erased it so you will never know how right he was. Trust me. He was very right.
I think of storytelling in a very specific way. I love the way I think about it, and I love the way I have always done it.
I would never have called myself the "old guard" in a million years. And yet, I think I have been living in the past million years.
Why do I say that? Well, I was thinking about storytelling - this business I love - as becoming a hybrid of some kind. Like the Tigon or the Liger, but that is not what has happened.
The David pointed out that we are evolving.
"Take Netflix," he said, "When it began, you rented DVDs and sent them back without a fee - they were competing with the big name in the industry - Blockbuster! Now, you stream their content, and Blockbuster, which had a very successful but static business model, died almost immediately."
"That's true," I said.
"Think of Disneyplus," he continued. "You used to buy their videos one at a time, now, you can watch them all in one place. Technology is evolving everything. It is also evolving storytelling."
hmmm
I can't say I like this idea, but I can see that it is/has happened. We, as storytellers, are evolving. Some of us are doing it kicking and screaming, and as my friend, Caroline Welkin is like to say of me, "whinging".
Evolving???
I don't want to evolve! Can't this new nonsense wait until I am very old and very dead? Who has time for all of this evolving?
What does it even mean???
I think it means Rachel Hedman has been so far ahead of the game that we can't even see her dust. Luckily, she has been dropping breadcrumbs. Check her out.
The David is still complaining about my use of the antiquated. He came into the bedroom as I was typing this. I read him my new opening, and he once again objected.
Then he said, "Well if you are going to be that way about it, I'm going to get all Meta on you."
"Go for it."
"The modality of storytelling has always changed. The first humans probably used the rocks and sticks to sing or share the first stories. They used rock walls to "write" the first stories. They switched to word of mouth for generations before moving to the printed word. Now, you are virtual. You have always been evolving. This isn't new."
I informed him I was going to write that down and he abruptly left the bedroom muttering something about going back to his desk before he got into more trouble for trying to be helpful.
Now I really feel like a dinosaur.
That doesn't mean I'm not trying to face this strange new world.
I have learned a great deal about virtual performance which is why I am pretty dang sure I know next to nothing about it.
Here are some things I think I know.
1. Virtual performance is never going away -
The number of venues that could never afford to transport, house, and feed me that are suddenly able to afford a show is astounding. I have been able to work with venues all over the world that I could never have managed to visit! Post COVID, I imagine that will still be true. Not only that, I have tons of shows available online that will still be there after the pandemic ends, and we intend to keep marketing them.
2. The Pre-recorded shows are doing well -
One of my favorite business ideas is "making money in your sleep". For some kinds of artists, this is tricky. We do our best, but it is not so easy. Selling merch is the only way we do that in the storytelling world. As an author, passive income happens when people buy your books. For the first time, my business has a "storytelling" angle for passive income. Basically, we turn shows "off" and "on" with a password. It requires very little effort on The David, and the shows run for a week. Every single school can decide how they use that material over the course of the week.
3. Live Virtual is not as fundamentally odd to some schools
Since some school districts had already had distance learning as part of their set-up, virtual storytelling is not as odd to them as it was to most of us. I am hearing about teaching artists who are engaging with this format, as well as many other types of performers. Some of you have become masters of this work, playing with cameras and getting effects you could not do without the video. I have created several one-woman shows and hour-long stories that are specifically designed for a camera. It is the first deep character work I've done in years!
4. Despite the vaccine, there is a good chance we won't be able to be in person until the fall.
I think it is reasonable to expect that we won't be in schools until the fall of 2021. So, start planning your summer virtual programs right now.
5. Work and work-flow has changed, and it may not go back to the way it was - I blame Zoom
For all of my storytelling life, arranging shows was pretty standard. Venue calls, they talk to The David, they arrange a time and sometimes a theme, and then we are golden. Now? Now people are realizing that the virtual landscape offers all sorts of options that a single live human being cannot accomplish. The end result is that after an initial phone call, The David is finding himself in Zoom meetings arranging more and more elaborate types of performance schedules for school districts! We just booked nine "live" shows over the course of five months for all different times for multiple aged audiences that will take place at times ranging from 10 am to 7:30 at night! Everyone in the district will have the option of watching any of the shows they'd like, and all of them will be publicized like a tour. The more school districts, library systems, and venues start thinking about what can be done without me having to move from place to place, the more ambitious they are becoming! Brave new world indeed!
6. I am still torn about live virtual shows, but it doesn't matter because I'm doing them
7. Some platforms are terrible, but you just deal
8. We are going to have to really watch the schedule to make sure I don't burn myself out.
Without needing to factor in travel time, you can work every single day and be in different places from Maine to Nevada on the same day! I had a looney day a few weeks ago where I was in Connecticut in the morning, Scotland in the afternoon and California in the evening. That's cool, but that doesn't mean the work isn't still tiring.
Speaking of tiring...
9. It isn't less exhausting to perform for a camera. I'd actually go so far as to say it is more intense.
I find pre-recorded stories hard because I need to focus on nobody, but I can always stop and go back. Live virtual is even harder because there is a live audience! I have to watch myself to make sure I am actually in the little box and not performing outside of it, but I also need to focus on the audience...the real one, not the glorious imaginary one that absolutely loves me!
10. Staring at a green light when I am performing live is annoying.
We have all felt that. I am always tempted to look at the participants when I'm performing live, even knowing that if I do that, then I am looking at nobody!
11. With little kids, it is better to be able to see them...I think. I love watching them participate in their homes. I think they would do it whether I can see them or not, but it is cute to see them. I watched parents who had turned on the computer and left, come back into the room to play with the stories. Of course, the very fact I can tell you that means I wasn't looking at the green dot which means that at times the kids thought I was looking down at...who knows?
This virtual world is wild and strange...but I don't think it is going anywhere.
Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe once we can do in-person storytelling the outside world will eschew virtual telling, but I doubt it.
I, for one, hope I can still sneak away to Ireland for stories on a Saturday afternoon.
I, for one, hope that ASST keeps its platform rolling so that people who could never get to a storytelling event can keep coming to share with us. Maybe they will choose us over television...it could happen!
You've invested, designed, and marketed this beast!
You've defined, discussed, and practiced your approach!
You've uploaded content.
Tonight, you have a live show!
So, let's get ready!
There are any number of things that can go catawampus during a live show. The internet cuts out. The camera does something odd, the computer starts acting strange, you can't hear anybody, they can't hear you, the camera freezes, etc. etc. etc.
Well, there are some things you can do to give yourself the best possible chance of having a successful live show:
1. Make sure you have a good internet connection! If you have been limping by, or you have not invested in a really strong connection or server - do it. If you live in a place with not great connectivity, see if there is a way to get to a safe place that has better connectivity.
2. Close all tabs. Don't make your machine do more work than it has to do. Close your games, your open internet tabs, and anything else that might occupy your computer.
3. Always check everything before you get ready to perform. Check your lights, background, microphone. Use the camera on your device to see how the setting looks so you won't have to scramble around right before the event begins.
4. If you find a place that is ideal for the internet in your space, try to make that your performance space if at all possible. (Hopefully it is not up near the ceiling above your laundry machines or something equally annoying.)
5. Make sure you practice that story for the little box you are going to be in! Make sure you are performing to the camera and that you are comfortable and relaxed.
Even with all of the preparation, the internet gods are not always kind, if something goes awry:
1. Don't panic - You are not the first, nor will you be the last person who has to deal with a technical error. We understand. We will wait.
2. If you get kicked off the internet, take a deep breath, make sure your tabs are closed and that your computer is connected, and get back on.
3. If your audio goes haywire, sometimes you have to stop, disconnect and reconnect. Sometimes if you stop and wait, it will sort itself. Sometimes speaking slower is the answer.
4. Make sure you are muted if you are not speaking. I've been on several live events where technical problems are suspected, but it is actually someone's live mic.
5. Make sure you are not near someone else who is on a different device on the same link. The feedback can get scary!
6. No matter what happens - Don't Panic! You are not the first person to have technical problems, and you will not be the last.
I remember the first time I opened Imovie. Yes, it was six years ago. I was in Canada freezing my tuckus off and I made a video about the freezing weather.
It was the first video I'd ever shot on my computer. I downloaded Imovie because it was free, and I "produced" a little short that ended up on my Facebook page.
I was very proud of myself.
After that, I did a few videos that I uploaded to Youtube. Here is one of those old videos:
I can't tell you where I shot that or anything else about it, but I do know I did it in Imovie.
I was pretty impressed with my new skills but not so enamored of them that I continued to do movies much after that.
No, I didn't have much use for the whole video story connection.
Fast forward to 2020.
I opened Imovie again for the first time in six years and had to start all over. Nothing about it was familiar.
I have no idea what other people have on hand if they are not mac folk.
I sent out an SOS to the internet. Someone suggested I use Adobe.
Adobe? Right. That's why I have children. If I need something in Adobe, I'll just ask them.
Brainstorm! I'll shoot videos and let my kids edit them. If they balk, I'll start talking about how I had hyperemesis with both of them and they owe me.
No, I would never do such a thing. I'm talking about the hyperemesis, not asking them to do things for me.
After letting my son edit my first video series back in March, I decided I should learn the software and do it myself.
Back to Imovie and video tutorials like this one:
So, that's the end of this post...
No, just kidding.
Once I started using Imovie, I discovered it wasn't as flexible as I needed it to be, and besides that, the dang thing kept crashing.
This post, however, is not about the software. Use what you like. This post is about what I've found effective in editing, and what I have found to be ineffective.
My experience with editing has led me to these conclusions:
1. You can edit out every pause, and smack, and slip of the tongue and produce perfect looking videos. Yes, you can, but it is not natural. The humanness of the story is in your humanity. Humanity is not perfect.
2. You can edit in the midst of a story, but be very wary of where you start from and where you end.
Matching your hand gestures, tone, and such is tricky.
3. If you must edit internally, it is more important to match your voice than your hands, gestures, and the tilt of your head. Try this - Close your eyes. Can you hear the edit? If you can "hear" the edit, then you should reconsider that section. (A tip from my son)
4. Listen to your edited footage...more than once. I had some bad edits when I first began and luckily they were caught by people who love me before they were widely distributed!
5. Whenever possible, I do the story in a single take. I perform as if there is an audience present, and I just get through the tale. I can always go back and edit out things if I hate them, but I much prefer the single take to multiple edits in the story.
6. If I get too flustered and can't get through a tale, I stop and move on to a different story, or I stop for an hour or the day.
7. I stop when I get tired. It comes across in the recording
8. I stop when I get frustrated. It comes across in the recording
9. I stop when I am feeling stressed. It comes across in the recording.
10. It is perfectly okay to hate the sound of your own voice. Get another set of ears on it before you erase it in a fit of anger or disgust!
11. Recording yourself and editing the product is incredibly exhausting. Monitor yourself. Keep hydrated, and make sure you take enough breaks to keep the work fresh
A few hints -
1. Before I start speaking, I pause, give the camera a huge smile, and hold it for two seconds. I end the same way. That way, I will have a visual cue as to where the actual recording is starting and ending.
2. I use fades between stories as well as at the beginning and end of clips. I give the audience at least three seconds to reset before the next story. More if it is a particularly heavy one.
3. I offer custom introductions to venues for the videos
4. I offer live Q&A or discussion for an extra charge if you get a pre-recorded show....
Wait!
I've strayed into marketing with the last two statements. Oy. This business of editing and marketing and how you work this all bleeds into each other!
Okay.
Time to edit this post.
Next Week...How to market the Virtual Storyteller!
I didn't plan to write this series so soon or while I was in the middle of it, but I am fielding so many storytelling questions through my email, I thought I'd better give it my best shot.
Unfortunately, I have a number of different things to do that are not strictly in my Thursday model, but that is because the virtual storytelling processes we put in place last March are now beginning to generate work all over the country.
This is a good thing. It means that despite the lockdown and the lack of traveling and the advent of virtual school - the virtual storytelling shows are selling.
Now that we are starting to get work, and the business model we put together seems to be sound, I feel like I can share what we've done and how we mean to work this element of our business now and into the future.
I am going to do this in parts to prevent it from getting too long. My goal with this series is to cover the following elements -
1 - Revamping the thought process on delivering storytelling
2 - Deciding on the direction of your virtual storytelling focus
3 - Performing for a camera
4 - Performing for a virtual audience
5 - Pre-recording material for audiences
6 - Delivering material via a virtual platform
7 - Creating Products vs Services in the Virtual Model
8 - A potential model for virtual residencies
9 - Marketing your virtual performances
Now, to be clear, there are lots of elements I can touch on in this series, but going in-depth would require me to write a manual.
I am encouraging The David to do a series of videos about marketing and business processes. He is reluctant as he hates working with the camera, and he isn't sure he wants to teach a live/virtual workshop. I'll keep trying to convince him because he is way better at explaining the business side of this than me.
I've gotten emails from a number of performers who are just now beginning to grapple with what is going on in terms of the virtual storytelling world.
My goal in this series is to give people a jumping-off place to begin to focus on reshaping their work if they haven't already done so.
I admit upfront that I have so much to learn, so what I'm doing here is offering what I have already learned, and I hope you will have ideas to help me to keep learning.
I only know what we did as a company. If you have thoughts, suggestions, or comments, please leave them below so we can learn from your process if you are willing to share your insights.
You might ask - Why aren't you charging people to take a workshop on this? You are always talking about monetizing your work, and here you are giving things away for free!
I may very well start teaching virtual workshops on this subject too - but the truth is I would be nowhere if so many great storytellers hadn't been kind, caring, and helpful to me as I started my career.
Paying it forward is a necessity if our art form is to survive.
Another caveat here - I mean to go through this slowly and explain it in steps so that it doesn't seem random, or unachievable. Another reason to, at some point, teach a four hour intensive on reshaping your storytelling for the virtual world.
Okay, enough pre-amble - Let's begin -
We live in a world built on the concept of scarcity -
That means, we only pay top dollar for things that are hard to come by. This creates a situation where people who provide services or products need to make it feel as if we don't buy it NOW and for whatever price they set, we will go begging in the future.
In other words - capitalism in all things including our work
Now, this is not a bad thing. Timpanogos and The National Festival only happen once a year, and they are an experience. The same thing is true of all of our wonderful national storytelling events. They have their own character and their own atmosphere. We swear by our favorites because they are all unique. We pay what we pay to be part of that experience.
Well, what about storytelling itself? If people don't have to travel across the world or even across state lines, will they value it?
What if everybody can just click on a link and hear storytelling? Will it be overexposed?
If you can see it virtually, who will want to watch it in person?
We are not the first entertainment industry to be struck by this problem of a changing business model.
Cable television freaked out over Youtube and Hulu.
How can satellite or cable compete if they force people to pay whatever cable television costs (I don't know what that is as we haven't had cable television for almost two decades) when you can watch it on Youtube for free?
Then, Netflix arrived on the scene, rendered Blockbuster obsolete, and allowed people to binge entire seasons instead of waiting from week to week.
Advertisers freaked out - The whole structure broke into pieces and started trying to reform itself into something new.
Well, cable, satellite, and streaming services have embraced a new philosophy - The concept of Plenty
There are plenty of ways to stream material and everyone can get what they want while paying a much smaller fee. People liked the myriad options, and the world of television and movies is still evolving.
New releases of movies are now rentable online instead of us going to the theatre.
My family watched the new Bill and Ted movie with some friends in our living room on one of our kid's giant computer monitors linked to my husband's laptop.
When I first began trying t figure out how I was going to deal with all of this virtual content and whether I wanted to do it at all, there was a hue and cry from some of the people with whom I shared my ideas.
"If you go virtual, your work will be rendered obsolete!"
"Why would anyone hire you if they could just download your work off the internet?"
"You will record yourself right out of a career!"
"Any show you record will make it impossible for you to do it live."
"How will you keep people from "stealing" your shows?"
"This is a terrible idea!"
Those are words from the philosophy of Scarcity - If they can get you anywhere, why would anybody hire you? Your presence will become useless. Don't do it!
Well, over the course of the pandemic, we have seen something very different happen. We have seen that many storytellers have embraced the Philosophy of Plenty
The philosophy of Plenty sounds like this:
There are seven billion people in the world -
Who knows how many of them would love storytelling if they had any idea what it was -
Let us make sure that lots of people are sharing stories -
People will find us if there are lots of places they could encounter stories -
Let's grow our audience by using storytelling as a powerful tool during this global pandemic -
Storytellers need to tell, and people need stories. We got lots. Let's share -
How sweet. How naive. How silly. What about that whole overexposed thing!
In fact, you can watch hours of bootleg shows, ghost stories, badly shot footage, professional footage and heaven knows what else of me doin' my thing. I will bet the same is true of you.
You know what else you can find? Music.
Trust me when I tell you that if Tina was coming to town and I could get tickets...I would go, despite watching the above clip.
And despite having hours of storytelling online - I still get asked to show up in person for multiple hundreds of gigs per year.
When this pandemic is over, I hope to have been in even more homes, classrooms, and living rooms than I have up to now. I hope more people are trying to figure out how to get me to show up in person and perform. I think they will.
Why?
Because there is nothing like live performance. There is nothing like sitting in an audience with five, or twenty-five, or five hundred or more and experiencing a shared event.
Nothing.
In fact, I use my youtube virtual storytelling stuff in my marketing. I send schools and supporters to that stuff all of the time. They love it, and it has encouraged more than one group to hire me.
Lots of people find me by running across those videos.
Watching a storyteller online whets the appetite for a "real" experience. People want to see it live. They. Just. Do.
So, Don't let anyone dissuade you from doing this.
Virtual content is a way to use storytelling and the many opportunities we have right now to expand our business and reach new audiences who will come look for us live when the opportunity comes around once more.
So, strap in, and let's begin this journey into virtual telling.
There is more than plenty.
We have nothing to lose!
Part 1 - The Virtual Storyteller - The Philosophy of Plenty - Don't Let People Talk You Out Of It!
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Back in March, when the world was struck with "The Rona" as my twenty-year-olds call it, I was hit with what would eventually come out to a thirty-two thousand dollar deficit in my budget.
I knew I wasn't the only one.
I put it out there. I needed to say that out loud. That surprised some of my non-artist friends. They were not sure why I would admit such a thing in public.
Simply put, we are independent artists. Many of our small businesses consist of us and possibly one other person. Rarely are there more than just two and maybe even three. We are islands in the midst of this raging storm. I hoped that my simply laying it out would help anyone who was feeling adrift find some morsel of commonality, someplace where they could begin to talk about a devastating thing that we were sharing communally.
The message I wanted to share as loudly as I could as quickly as I could, was, "Is anyone out there? If you are, then we are sharing a common thing. You are not alone! We could be better together! We could support each other!"
The response from other artists was quick. People started connecting with me to say they felt the same way. We kept reassuring each other that we would get through this somehow.
The more I connected with my friends and colleagues, the more worried I became. I was worried about the misinformation that was going to start spouting everywhere about COVID. I was worried about the isolation that was coming. I was worried that many of my friends didn't have the funds to weather this crisis. I was worried about how to restart work in a world where storytellers couldn't see live audiences. I was worried about lots of things.
The amount of angst and helplessness I was starting to feel about the future was overwhelming.
Control Freaks don't do well when they can't control at least basic things. The David jumped into the mix within the first two days, suggesting a new business model, and we decided to run with it. We started reshaping our business before the weekend arrived.
That was great for me, but it didn't change my concern for the storytelling community and itinerate artists in general. I was still doing what I could through my various social media outlets to listen and respond to people.
I wished I had more to offer other than my written support.
Sheila Arnold, a person who has been an acquaintance of mine for many years, started responding on one of the threads I had going with a group of artists, and I could feel she was having the same thoughts I was.
We carved out twenty minutes to sit and share our ideas. The end result of that was the need for a fund that would grant emergency cash to storytellers who needed immediate help to cover expenses.
As a card-carrying introvert and knowing that the way The David and I were going to have to work to transform our business, I was upfront about not being able to run such an endeavor.
There were other reasons as well: My hyper-focused, often abrasive, hyper controlling, hyper obsessive personality is not a good look when it is running something.
I know my limitations.
Luckily, Sheila really likes people, is happy doing the public upfront thing, is a very caring person, and enjoys organizing. Within two days we had a name.
Sheila gathered some friends and they began to put the fund together -
We formed a grant committee - They started reviewing applications
NSN agreed to host the fund -
ASST started paying out cash grants
Sheila started running online storytelling events
My brain exploded - I thought - This has legs. This probably is going to need to become its own entity at some point. I started thinking about what that should look like. It needed a person to organize it. It needed someone to spend all of their time championing the bits of it. It needed someone to write copy, grants, find funders, reach out to various segments of society, bring people together. It needed to be a place for all artists, and possibly a place that might even attract younger storytellers. It needed to be an actual company as well as an artist conglomerate!
I suggested this to Sheila. She said, "I can't think about that right now."
That was true. She was really busy with the group that we'd started calling ASST - Assist
Sheila kept running Monday meetings. She single-handedly made ASST the gold standard for online performing.
Storytellers from all over the world stepped up to be a part of this growing thing
It was amazing what was pouring out of a quick conversation and Sheila's tenacity.
I promised Sheila that I would be whatever back-up the group needed. If she came to a wall, didn't have
Claudia Elizabeth Aldred
enough of something, or wanted some kind of writing or anything, I would help.
I donated to the fund, set up a blog spot where information about grants and other things could be found, and stepped in when asked.
I came to see almost immediately that Sheila was perfect as our front lady. I was happy to be in the shadows. I brought up the idea of becoming an organized body again. Sheila informed me that it was a good thought, but not right now!
Then, we had what might be called and an inciting event - no need to discuss what it was - let's just say that I was planning to head to a Monday meeting when I got a chat query from a friend of mine in New Zealand.
Yes, Caroline, I am blaming this on you.
I called her to see what was up, and we ended up spending an hour video conferencing. It was productive, I was invigorated.
Sheila is a big proponent of really long meetings, so I figured I'd pop in for what I assumed was going to be the last half hour.
The Zoom Room was empty.
I panicked. I know that may sound odd, but I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what it was, but I figured it was bad.
I tried to contact Sheila immediately, but she was not responding. It took about half an hour before she got back to me. She was livid. Because of this incident, she told me that she'd announced in the Monday meeting that we were going to form our own 501c3. Now.
Okay.
That was less than a month ago. Since then...
We filed papers of incorporation
I took down the blog because it had become an ungainly mess.
Then, this morning, I got an email from the North Carolina Secretary of State informing me that Artists Standing Strong Together is now officially incorporated.
We are a legal, official, free-standing thing.
What does that mean?
Well, as far as people who are connecting with ASST are concerned, not much will change.
Internally, it means there will be lots of change. All of it will revolve around putting a structure in place so that after COVID and all of the touring artists go back to touring, and the volunteers are pooped, ASST will still be able to carry out its mission in our community.
"What," you might ask, "is Artists Standing Strong Together's mission?"
Our Mission Statement:
Connecting Itinerate Artists With Resources
That's it.
That is what we were formed to do.
That will be the work of Artists Standing Strong Together
We will be a group that houses and administers the Storyteller Relief Fund
We will be a group that listens to the needs of the itinerate performing community and responds
We will be a group that offers practical advice on how to run a successful independent artist business
We will be a group that continues to offer online storytelling and performing venues
We will continue to be a group that welcomes and facilitates the conversations artists want to have about race, gender, cultural misappropriation, taxes, mentoring, crafting material, personal narrative, virtual storytelling, how to use Zoom or anything else independent artist want to talk about!
I know that many people are waiting for their lives to get back to normal. I know that they are worried about how long the current disruption is going to last.
There is a thing we need to address as artists.
Going back to normal may not be a reasonable thing.
We aren't going back to whatever was happening before. That time is now a past time. What we need to do is think about how we keep going forward from where we are.
Have you thought about different ways to market your art?
Have you thought about different ways to share your art?
Have you considered how you might make a living as an artist who works with live audiences?
What are you doing now for what comes next?
Now, I am not saying that you need to rush into something, or change what you do, or completely restructure your life. What I am suggesting is that you start thinking about some next steps and possibly different ways to share your art.
I work in schools. If they don't reopen in the Fall, I will have to have another plan in place.
The time to make that plan is not on September 18th. It is now.
I like plans.
Plans give shape to the darkness.
Plans give hope to the void.
Plans are the first step in the longest journey.
Your plan doesn't need to be elaborate or even fully-fledged.
The point of it is to start making your thoughts run down a particular path. It prepares you to try something you might not have considered trying.
It encourages you to explore an idea that you hadn't thought to explore.
It might make you try a thing that leads you somewhere else.
Either way, come up with a plan.
1 - What are some optional ways of presenting your art form?
2 - How can you monetize that thing?
3 - Who would be interested in that product?
4 - How would I market it?
5 - How would I sell/distribute it?
Luckily, there are all sorts of systems out there! Finding them will be the key.
Research, consider, talk to other artists or people who make content like what you are offering.
Look for tutorials on Youtube.
Call your friends.
You are not alone.
You are surrounded by resources.
A friend of mine recently asked about how I was recording videos. He wanted to know what kind of studio situation I had. So, I showed him.
This is my recording studio
Here is the corner studio where I do my work.
So. High. Tech.
I am thankful for the friends who have given me guidance on recording, sound quality, setting the scene and potential ways to perform to a camera.
