Storytellers are learning how to make art, share our work, and find audiences that are just as hungry for us as we are for them.
Artists Standing Strong Together and other online groups found their feet and started connecting people from various parts of the storytelling world with each other.
What did all of this wild change mean?
We suddenly had access to international performers we could never see live!
I know I have not done much blogging during these crazy times, but I have been trying to reform my own business model. Now that I have a little more knowledge in me about how to make this work, I have some information to offer.
I will be blogging more about the business of storytelling in the time of COVID. In fact, that is what my next series is going to be dedicated to doing.
I am going to answer the questions I have been fielding, explain how I transformed residencies into online products, and go into detail about how we marketed this product, how we figured out what we wanted to do, and offer as much information as I can about this new world of work.
I am of the opinion it will be at least 2 years before we are back up to capacity in a safe way. Even after that, I don't think virtual telling will ever go away.
Let us march forward with both of these great skills under our belt.
You can't stop storytellers when stories are on the line.
“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 spent two summers of high school building, painting, maintaining, and producing props with a cast. I helped construct backdrops and frames.
I was part of erecting those frames, putting up backdrops, and breaking the whole thing down, stowing them, and preparing for the next travel show.
I also did traveling theatre at university.
I even did a couple of shows after graduating. I looked around at the life of being in a small, traveling theatre company and said, "You know, this is not how I want to live my life."
So, I bid adieu to that part of my life and moved on to other things.
Storytelling is light on the gear.
I don't have puppets, a set, props, or costumes.
I don't have backdrops or lights, or anything like that to cart from place to place.
In fact, I have my mat - which is made from recycled coca-cola bottles that I bought in Australia, and my sound system when needed.
That was in the before time.
I have been performing in a little nook in my living room. It took me months to figure out how to light it so I didn't have crazy shadows and I could be seen.
That required lighting that I did not have.
Ultimately, I figured it out.
The David was polite enough about the situation as the summer went on, and then he started making these comments.
TD: "Have you considered a backdrop?
Me: "No."
TD: "You should think about it."
A few weeks later.
TD: "Have you looked at backdrops?"
Me: "No."
TD: I thought you would have looked at some backdrops."
A few days later
TD: "Backdrops?"
Me: Oh, yeah. I'm going to order some."
Every single day after that.
TD: "Backdrops?"
Me: "I'm doing it!"
It took me a lot of searching to find backdrops I liked. I finally settled on these two from an outfit called GladsBuy.
Bookcase from GladsBuy
Brick Wall from GladsBuy
These are not virtual backgrounds, they are actual backdrops made from vinyl. They have grommets in the top of them to hang on a frame. I've used them on a couple of occasions already, and they look great.
After buying these things, I related the whole annoying process to my daughter. She sat down, pulled out a pen, and designed a backdrop for me that incorporated the themes of my business.
Then, a friend of mine who was watching all of this play out online, called me and offered to make me a custom backdrop. I said yes. So, I went from having no backdrops to having three and one on the way in a matter of days.
Well, if you have a backdrop, you have to have something on which to hang it.
Luckily, I know all about backdrops.
So, more gear.
I headed to efavormart, and ordered a frame for my new backdrops.
I put it together a couple of days ago.
It is lightweight, designed to be put together and taken apart. It takes less than five minutes to put it up or stow it. It comes in its own little pouch and fits in a closet. What more could I ask for?
Oh, I know what I could ask for.
I have to figure out how to light this new situation without huge shadows on the canvas.
I've been waiting for my artist card for years. I'm sure there has to be one. There must be.
How do I know this?
I imagine it is sort of like this but with artist stuff on it
Because negotiating a fee for storytelling, or any art, is tricky. For some organizations or people, when they get into the process of hiring an artist, they are flabbergasted at how much it can cost.
Some organizations want an artist to come, but they are annoyed that they have to pay you at all aside from covering dinner.
Some organizations are shocked to find out that you won't come for free or work for a pittance.
Some organizations think they've offered you plenty of compensation and they don't get why one hundred dollars is not sufficient for your time. You are only going to be telling for an hour!
Some people complain that they are hiring you to do something you love, so why are you charging so much?
Clearly, there is a formula on the artist card that must look something like this -
Artists love their work. + They are only banging on drums/telling stories/singing for x amount of time. + They are only working with families/children. + They are not traveling far. + They really are having fun. + I am offering them exposure. = They really should be paying me for giving them this opportunity.
I suppose that is why some people approach fee negotiations with an artist like, "I guess I'll toss them a bone. I'm sure that will be sufficient."
Luckily for me, I don't negotiate fees. I leave that to The David. I let him wrangle with people over dollars and cents.
Yes, in the best of times, it is hard to negotiate a fee.
Throw in a global pandemic and you make things even harder.
In the before time -
"We have fifteen libraries. We have this much money, how many of them will you visit if we pay you x amount?"
In the now -
Client: "We want a virtual show and we want to stream it to all fifteen of the libraries for two weeks, and we want to pay you as if you have only visited one branch on one afternoon because you are recording the show. That seems fair.
Artist: "Umm. No. I'm sorry. I can't afford to do it like that. Let's talk about a fee for each library in your system. Certainly not as high as if I was there in person. That way, I am in every library, you have programming for your entire system, and I am compensated for the work I am putting into preparing this program for you.
Client: "What? You want us to compensate you for essentially working every one of our libraries this summer even though your show is pre-recorded? That is unreasonable. The formula on your artist card says that creating pre-recorded virtual programming is much easier and less expensive to produce!"
Since it is being used against me on a regular basis, there must be a way for me to use it to help my situation.
I could take it to my mortgage broker. She'd say, "Wow, I didn't know you had an artist card. Considering this formula, I am going to drop your mortgage payments by forty percent!"
How about grocery shopping? I could present my artist card right before my credit card. "Wow! You're an artist who loves what she does. Your groceries are going to cost fifty percent less than everyone else who has to work for a living!"
Oh, at the bookstore! "Wait! You're an artist? Well, here are all of your books at ten percent of what everyone else has to pay for books!"
Yes! My artist card, the card that makes people assume they don't need to pay me, should also alert the people that I have to pay that I shouldn't be charged full price for anything!
Sadly, my artist card has not come, so, I am still in the position of negotiating a fee.
I've purchased lights, backdrops, frames on which to hang the backdrop, editing software, upgraded the internet to the fastest speeds allowable in my area, and spent hours rehearsing, recording, re-recording in various parts of my house to find the best place to make solid sound without echoing or feedback. I've invested hours and hours in educating myself about how all of this works. We are combining years of education, brand new skills, and our knowledge of our craft to make art in a new way with an unfamiliar tech world.
What a client is getting on the other end of this process is a high quality, well put together, specifically crafted piece that is designed for this particular medium that displays our artform to the best of our ability.
That is no small accomplishment.
That is not cheap.
That is not easy.
That is not thrown together.
That is not an afterthought.
If we charged what our work and dedication is actually worth every single time we stepped into a venue, nobody could afford it.
The price we quoted is already a steep discount unless it is in the six figures.
You are more than worth the fee you charge.
If we do not fight for the right to be properly compensated for our work, we won't be, and nobody will have any idea we should be.
For my entire adult life, aside from a few years when I was either gestating, giving birth to or using my body to feed and nurture developing human beings, I have been on tour.
I visit my home for periods of time, but most of the time I am engaging in the rough and ready life of hotel rooms, staying with friends, thousands of strangers, new places, language barriers, avoiding gluten, and generally being a public-facing introvert. Ambivert. Donna Marie Todd assures me I am an ambivert.
I have been home for four months. That's right - FOUR MONTHS, and I'm not recovering from anything or distracted with babies.
I was suddenly at the end of the planning and whirlwind prep. I looked up into a sea of days with nothing too much to accomplish.
If I wasn't doing anything, it had nothing to do with procrastination. I really didn't have anything to do.
I like procrastination. It means you have duties you are ignoring. What happens when you really don't have anything to do? What does that even mean?
Yes, I could rehearse or write, but I don't actually have any "real" deadlines.
NO DEADLINES!!!
HOW DO YOU SURVIVE WITHOUT DEADLINES???
I am not a self-regulator. I rely on my touring schedule to help me remember what day it is!
I started freaking out a little. A type-A personality without a feeling of impending doom in the pit of my stomach because I've agreed to something that is slightly out of my wheelhouse is a dangerous thing. How can anybody live like that???
No. I was very freaked.
Then, The David took me in hand and told me that it was not healthy for me to be so unfocused.
That's when it happened.
I bought a planner.
I haven't had one since The David took over my touring schedule almost two decades ago.
I started writing in it almost immediately.
I suddenly realized that counter to what I thought, I am really busy. I mean, really really busy!
Apparently, I have board meetings, group meetings, artist meetings, work meetings, programs to write and develop, and things that I need to accomplish.
There is so much more to my life than just touring!
Who knew?
With my days spread before me like an uninked sea, it occurred to me that this would be a good time to start some good, achievable habits.
I've always had Non-fiction Thursday, but, I thought, what if I expanded this out so that I accomplished different things every single day?
So, I have a new way forward.
Monday - Check-In. This is when I will call people, spend the day on social media. maybe watch some storytelling. maybe work on my projects, maybe not! Ha
Tuesday - Recordings! - If there is something to record from intros to story sets to new stories, or education modules - this is the day I will get that done!
Wednesday - Free Day! Clean the House! Possibly do some reading for fun. Date Night!
Thursday - Non-Fiction Thursday. Blogging, admin, the stuff I won't do unless I'm forced.
Friday - My new day! Fiction Fridays! woohoo! I get to work on fiction all day! That's it! Just fiction!!!!
Saturday - 3 - 5 in Liz Weir's Barn I need that. Otherwise, work on projects Family Game Night!
Sunday - Work in the garden, sit outside, make sure you enjoy the outside...that's all I'm sayin'
I am looking forward to my new schedule.
I better be.
I doubt I'll be touring again for the next year!
Keep your spirits up!
Wash your hands!
Wear a mask!
Social Distance!
Choose your life!
You've got to live it anyway, you might as well live it on your own terms!
There could be five, or five hundred people in the audience, and I cannot see them. Even if they are on the screen I cannot see them. I have to focus like a laser on the camera. If I don't, it will look like I"m not looking at anybody.
2. I cannot hear my audience.
So many of my stories are about creating communal sounds, chants, calls, and expressions, that without them, the space around me isn't full of anything. It is very odd.
3. I cannot interact with my audience.
I cannot take a quick poll of a raise of hands, point to someone who is having a particularly good time, laugh with someone, share a quick look with a particular person, or identify someone who is lost or looking confused and bring them back into the fold. In fact, I can't do anything at all when it comes to making individual personal connections.
4. I do not have a cohesive audience.
I am at my home, and every other person is somewhere in their own spaces. They cannot hear or feel or sometimes even see other people listening. They are having their own private little show, and they are not drawn in or carried along by the energy of anyone else in the audience.
I don't have one audience I have twenty or more. Each one encased in their own little room.
5. I am a floating head in a box.
I do not have the full use of my whole body. My movements have to be curtailed, I have to be aware of what the camera sees, blurring effects, my background, and anything that comes into camera view becomes immediately distracting because everything else has been carefully eliminated so as not to be distracting!
Luckily, I am not yet dead. This means I can still learn some new things. Actually, it means I must!
We are all on a learning curve.
Nobody knows what this looks like.
I have been recording stories since the second week of March. I finally got the hang of it in the last two weeks of May.
I have done more reading about lights, and movement, and the camera, and microphones, and Zoom, and Vimeo, and who knows what else in the last three months.
I have joined groups, asked for help, left groups, asked for help, started groups, asked for help, cocooned, reached out, gone into despair, recovered from despair, shouted my defiance, sheepishly apologized for being a jerk, learned programs I never knew existed, spent money I didn't know I would ever need to spend, worked through fear, anxiety, worry, and frustration.
Then, days ago, the world turned itself right-side up.
Everything started humming. I have found peace in the storytelling work.
1. I imagine the person or the audience. I imagine how they are reacting, and I tell as if they are right there with me.
2. I make space for the reactions that I feel belong there.
3. I interact with them anyway, and anyone watching can play or not
4. Every single audience is having their own personal experience, and that is lovely
5. I am engaging in a form of media that more people have seen than storytelling. If this is a way to introduce them to my art form, then so be it.
Most of my shows are pre-recorded.
I started uploading shows to our Vimeo with password-protected content. The client can access the content and share it, but nobody else can. When their time ends, we change the password, and the show goes back under lock and key.
I felt like I was starting to get the hang of it. Then, on Tuesday, a pop quiz arrived.
One of the services I offer to libraries is a customized intro. They give a shout out to the Friends of the library or something like that. It is a promo that's just for them.
One of the things I figured out how to do was detach the audio from a clip and replaced the image. So, I got this idea. I recorded the shout out, took out the video, and replaced it with the sponsor's logo.
I was feeling all clever.
Apparently, the sponsor saw it and decided that they wanted something better. They have their own studio department, and they whipped up a smooth commercial for summer reading, sent it to the library, and said they wanted to replace my "commercial" with theirs.
The library sent me the sponsor's spot, said they could do the substitution. All I had to do was give them the footage of the show.
Our new business model does not allow for people who are "renting" the material to download it.
Two months ago, I would have had to wake up my son and ask him if he could do this. Six months ago I would have taken it to my daughter and asked her if she could do it.
This morning?
This morning I downloaded the commercial.
Went into my back up disc, found the original show, put it back on my laptop
Loaded the new commercial and the old footage into my editing software
Replaced the old commercial with the new one
Downloaded the new show onto my laptop
Went to Vimeo and isolated the video that needed updating
Replaced the old show with the new one without needing to change the link, and finished my breakfast.
My old skills are not much use right now, but my new ones?
