Land Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge the land on which I live, work, and create art. The area of Lexington, Kentucky was lived on and cared for by the ancient Adena and Hopewell cultures for several centuries over three thousand years ago. Additionally, this land is the homeland of the Yuchi, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Osage peoples before they were unjustly and forcefully moved westward due to white encroachment. Today, the sovereign nation of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians resides in the Qualla Boundary, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. There are seven other federally recognized Cherokee counties in the United states, three recognized Shawnee tribes, and the recognized Osage Nation. There are no federally-recognized Indigenous tribes currently residing in Kentucky, and I acknowledge that this is because of the cruel actions performed by the US government in the 19th century to Indigenous peoples in the Eastern United States, and I hope to bring awareness to this and to honor those who lost their lives by preserving and celebrating their descendants and cultures.
Artistic World Collaboration by six different European artists who share their work through social media (jojoesart, elia_pelle, scandy_girl, vexx_art, pavneetsembhi, and dinotomic)
Collaboration and Vulnerability in the Arts
Before I got to college, I was not the biggest fan of group projects. It was frustrating to be placed in a group with other students who didn’t care about the work as much as I did, and I often found myself doing more work than my fair share. Why must I be forced to complete an assignment or project with other people, if I can complete the work myself in the same time or shorter, and save myself the headache of managing my group members?
You can imagine my mixed feelings when I got to college and it occurred to me that as an Arts Administration major, I was signing up to work on group projects for the rest of my life. However, my view on collaborative work has vastly changed over my first couple of years of college. Now, instead of working with students with widely different interests and work ethics than mine like I did in high school, I now get to learn and collaborate with fellow art lovers who are as passionate about our future industry as I am.
The arts industry, and all of its many disciplines, are collaborative by nature. Every exhibition, artwork, and performance, even if it is technically a solo work, has a team of people that worked together to connect the artist’s vision with a wider audience. For anyone who plans on someday working in the arts, prioritizing our communication and collaboration skills is key in being able to create good work while simultaneously fostering human connection and positive mental health in our workspaces.
I was heavily inspired to write about this topic by the Ted Talk “The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown. Brown states that we, as humans, are naturally wired to crave connection with others, and that many of the negative emotions we feel, such as loneliness and isolation, stem from a place of fear of losing that connection. Shame itself is the fear of disconnection, the fear that if others knew about our flaws and mistakes, they would not want to be close to us. Because of that fear of being rejected or lonely, we tend to build up barriers around ourselves, but that is actually anti-productive to our desire for human connection. In order for us to form those important and meaningful connections, we must allow ourselves to be seen.
Something that Brown said in her Ted Talk that has greatly affected me since hearing it is that “people who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they’re worthy of love and belonging.” It takes courage to embrace our imperfections so much that we’re willing to let other people see them, but the connections formed from being vulnerable are incomparable. In working to be more vulnerable, it’s important to show compassion first to yourself. Remind yourself that you are worthy of the connection you seek, and be content with the learning and growing process. It takes a lot of time to build up the courage and ability to be vulnerable, so setting boundaries for yourself is key to making sure that you are prioritizing your mental health.
Vulnerability is incredibly important to collaboration, because without that openness in the workplace, there is a lack of trust among colleagues. If you want your team to trust you, both with work tasks and with their personal lives, you need to show that you trust them in that same way. Being open about yourself and your strengths, weaknesses, skills, and goals makes it easier for you to be open and communicative about expectations in the workplace. This allows for work to be completed more efficiently, since everyone is able to assess where each person’s unique skill set would be best-suited for which tasks. Additionally it allows people to feel more comfortable to ask for help when issues arise. A big part of vulnerability, both inside and outside the workplace, is humility. In an interview with Simon Sinek about leadership, he mentions that humility is the ability to be open to the ideas of others. However, humility is not to be confused with meekness. You can be strong and confident in your vision, while at the same time understanding and admitting that you’re not always going to be right all the time.
Not only is it important for you to be vulnerable about yourself, but to actively listen when others are vulnerable. Often, we get caught up in planning out what we want to say next in a conversation, and we stop paying attention to what the person in front of us is saying. Rather than listening to come up with a good reply, we must work on listening to understand the other person, so that we know how we can further support them. This active listening helps create a space where people feel safe to share ideas, ask questions, challenge each other, and be authentic. Our next step should be to congratulate the other person for being vulnerable and to accept them as they are. Antonio C. Cuyler defines creative justice as “the manifestation of all people living creative and expressive lives on their own terms,” and this should be the goal in all artistic collaborations. Not only should we strive to create art that encourages audiences to be authentically themselves and to express themselves in any way they choose, but we must create safe team spaces and form connections with our collaborators so that creative justice can be achieved behind the scenes, as well.
The arts are a set of emotionally-engaging disciplines. Artists and arts workers are often very attached to our works – an acting role takes a lot of emotional introspection to prepare for, painters often create works inspired by their personal experiences and feelings, etc. Additionally, the mark of a successful creative work is the ability to get an emotional response from viewers/visitors. The arts are also a great outlet for getting out and working through complicated emotions, both for the artist and the audience member. I believe that because creating art is already quite emotional and vulnerable, artists have a special opportunity and necessity to bring that vulnerability from onstage to behind the scenes, to create spaces for healthy collaboration, and to inspire that same vulnerability and humility in their audiences.
Sources
Brené Brown: “The Power of Vulnerability”
Simon Sinek: “The best leaders are the best followers”
Antonio C. Cuyler: “The Role of Foundations in Achieving Creative Justice”
Kristin Earnest
She/her/hers
DSF Digital Internship Participant
University of Kentucky
BA Arts Administration, 2023