Faith Over Fear in Pursuing the Arts

By Juliana DiCesare

Creatives constantly struggle with the fear of rejection. As a society, we’ve come to observe creative fields from an all-or-nothing viewpoint. If you aren’t winning an Oscar, Grammy, or have your art hanging in MoMA, your “success” can be deemed invalid.

The message is loud and clear: the arts are for hobbies, not a career.

But actors, musicians, and artists still exist and continue to enrich our lives. A study led by Indiana University found that in a sample of creative alumni from more than 150 institutions, 92% were working at least one job. Collectively, 74% reported working as a professional artist at some point in their career.

So, how do creatives get past this misconception society created? That what they love is too big of a risk to make their life’s work?

Four Temple students and one professor from creative majors shared their thoughts on rejection in the arts with REFINE.

The Interviewees:

Marley Schiman: freshman, undecided fine arts major

Lonnie Davis: freshman, music education major with a concentration in percussion

Melanie Smith: freshman, dance major

Caleb Breidenbaugh: senior, music performance major with a concentration in percussion

Professor Simona Josan: assistant professor of instruction at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture

Editor’s note: This interview has been condensed and edited for style and length.

Why did you pursue the major or field that you’re in?

Marley: My passion makes me create art that means a lot to me. What I particularly love about the art school here is the sense of community. We all support each other and advance each other’s art by offering our perspectives.

Lonnie: I’ve always known that I wanted to do music. My degree allows me to focus on my craft 100% of the time. I’m loving doing that. I auditioned [at Temple] and I love that everyone is so into what they’re doing. There’s nothing that can replace that experience.

Melanie: Honestly, I can’t see my life without dance. It’s my passion. Even with the painful blisters and late-night rehearsals, I love everything about it.

Caleb: I chose this career when I realized that if I didn’t do music, I didn’t know what else I would do. There was no grand epiphany where I realized my life’s purpose was music. What I love most about this career is that, while there’s always a call to a higher level of execution and technical facility, it always remains art.

Professor Josan: I went to school for painting and printmaking and then I went back to graduate school later on because I wasn't quite sure what to do with my degree. I went back to school when I realized it wasn't medium related, but that art appeared in all aspects of my life. It’s much more freeing in that way.

Society often tells us that pursuing the arts is a “risky” choice. Do you have any personal experience with this? Did it ever feel like a burden?

Marley: I’ve definitely experienced the stigma. At Thanksgiving, a member of my extended family mocked my choice to pursue art in college. I think the largest source of stigma comes from myself. I still get down on myself pretty frequently.

Lonnie: I have this uncle who was a lawyer and then a judge. He’d always tell me “Lonnie, music is a hobby.” I’m definitely not certain about anything right now, but I know I’ll be able to figure it out.

Melanie: I waited so long to decide I wanted to pursue dance because I knew it was a financially unstable job. My mom and my dance teachers warned me to have a backup. It’s scary to think about the future. You don’t know if you’ll get that ‘big break’ or not.

Caleb: I’ve, of course, heard the chatter about the arts not being the field you should go into, but my philosophy is this: as long as I make enough money to survive, I’m already doing what I love, so what else is there?

Professor Josan: My family immigrated from Romania when I was a teenager. From a socio-political perspective having grown up there, you were very limited in what you could do. I had a very supportive family. My sisters and I went into the arts because we had the luxury of having that option. It didn’t make it any easier economically, but this is what I loved to do.

What has helped you accept that what you are pursuing is not traditional and therefore not seen as “safe?”

Marley: My sister has really been a huge source of encouragement. She would give me advice, but mainly she just was an artist––she always pursued her passion. She told me that I shouldn’t give up on drawing even if I thought it was bad.

Lonnie: One of my professors, Christopher Deviney, has a list in his studio of every time an orchestra has rejected him: 18 times in total. Now, he’s the principal percussion of the Philadelphia Orchestra. At the end of the day, you just have to be extremely persistent.

Melanie: My mom told me, “Do what you love, because you shouldn’t have to learn to love what you do,” and that’s something I stick by.

Caleb: Honestly, since I’ve never experienced anything else, the thought of my career field being “non-traditional” is strange to me. To see how little competition there is in most other career fields is sometimes astounding. For me, my approach to this competition is that I am going to make music more effectively and more expressively than ever. I am going to work harder, be more prepared, and be more persistent than anyone else.

Professor Josan: Risk is how you advance no matter what field. The hardest thing for my students to do is move past what they already know they are good at. It’s important to do new things, even if you’re bad at it, and that’s how you move forward and advance.

How do you put your passion above the fear of possible rejection?

Marley: It’s been hard to deal with the fear of rejection, and I’m definitely not over it. But I think the fear may be what makes me bring work that I’m proud of to my critiques. I’ve also begun to make art commissions for others. I get to hone my skills and the confidence I get from it carries over into my craft.

Lonnie: I think that if I just go and do the thing, whatever that looks like, I’ll be able to create the network to do what I want to do. It all comes down to this drive and the ability to network. That’s where you can make it work for yourself.

Melanie: The dance world is super picky and you get rejected a lot. It’s hard, but I’m trying to learn to not take it personally. Instead, I remind myself that I’m here because I love to dance. It’s a part of who I am.

Caleb: Putting my passion above the fear of possible rejection is easy. There is no possible rejection. There is guaranteed rejection. In this field, especially with the goals that I have, only a fool would expect to be successful right out of college. It comes down to taking adversity and growing from it.

Professor Josan: That fear never goes away. It never feels good to be rejected in the things that define you and it’s hard not to take it personally. When you put yourself out there, the more you’re calloused to it.

Cover image courtesy of Caleb Breidenbaugh