Integration

The artists I know and love and my life are often creative with how they construct their careers. Playwrights who are administrators, musicians who are entrepreneurs, etc. I find that looking at a career path through a critical and imaginative lens is important.

As I move through my job as a professional fundraiser, I’m constantly thinking about how these skills I’m building can be transferred to other interests and projects. And I’m applying the discoveries I make as a playwright, director, and actor to the full time gig I have at the theatre: What new stories can we tell our donors? What choices should be made to make those stories clearer and more compelling?

As I do that, as I look for the connections between seemingly disparate elements of my career, I also notice how specific projects tie into each other. Since I’m the same person starting these initiatives there’s inevitably going to be some overlap, but my creative brain is especially satisfied when one project benefits the other. I’m working on a new program at the theatre company, for example, that will speak to many aspects of decentre and how I hope to grow this website.

Most excitingly, the integration of creative choices in my career means that I‘m forging a path that is entirely my own. I’m an administrator, yes, but also a theatre artist, and also a… creative director? My goal is to have a career path that’s always a bit in flex and is always challenging me to think outside the box.

How can your primary focus benefit the passion projects you have on a back burner? And how can the things you’ve been thinking about for a while come into play with the tasks you begrudgingly tackle in your day-to-day? Making those connections may make your creative path a smidge more enjoyable. Challenging, absolutely, but enjoyable.