Creative + Career = ?

Alright here we go again with the Ongoing Theme of how Stupid it is to think of Creativity as a. A luxury b. A rarity c. Not "useful" or d. Not the makings of a career.

As I've mentioned before, I've encountered many cues in our society that creativity and art are somehow these exotic, fluffy things that you do only if you have the time or if you aren't smart enough to do other "real" things (i.e. accounting, medicine, etc.)

I was at dinner at someone's house once when the husband stated that art had no value except economic... if it did not have economic value, there was no reason for it to exist. I don't really keep in touch with those guys.

This isn't a discussion about the value of art, it's about the values of our society. A society that is one-dimensional is unhealthy. Our one dimension is capitalism.

Oh, and have you noticed how capitalism rewards creativity? I mean, everyone who has ever invented or innovated anything Important or figured out how to do something New that People Want has done really, really well. Like, mansion- on-the-hill well. The evidence is all around you right this minute, in people's pockets and cars and ears and homes and stores and doctors' offices and movie theatres and, well, Everywhere.

Here's a paper from Harvard that looks interesting on the topic: "It Is Okay for Artists to Make Money…No, Really, It's Okay".

Anyway, I'm not going to go on about "art is valuable, really, let me spell out various reasons why," because that's not the issue. The issue is examining how we get out of a mental rat-hole about how we value things and how we remind ourselves that sometimes, money isn't part of the equation. No, really.

Oh and then when we put our Capitalist hat back on, we can look around and notice how creativity and innovation have a whole stinkin' lot of money associated with them.