I’m Mad About How Creatives Get Paid

Photo by Liza Summer from Pexels

On a walk a few days ago, I listened to one of my favorite podcasts — Kayte Ferris’ Grow with Soul. In that particular episode, Kayte and her guest co-host, Sasha Glasgow, talked about anger and, more importantly, anger’s effectiveness at spurring action. In the very last minute of the show, Sasha summed it all up with a question to spur further thinking: what am I angry about, and what can I be angry about next so I can do things?

Left to walk my last block in silence with that query in my mind, I thought about the things that really get me riled up.

There’s no shortage, but in the midst of it all, there’s one thing I come back to again and again. I’m angry that the arts are valued less than other fields.

There’s an old joke that asks, “What do you call someone who graduated last in medical school? Doctor.” There’s a corollary. “What do you call someone who graduated first in art school? Unemployed.”

I’m angry that I live in a world where talent in some sectors is more valued than talent in others. (And I’m angry that my skills are the undervalued ones.) I’m angry at how much harder it is to make a living as an artist than as a programmer. Or an accountant. Or a dentist.

I’m angry that, to get paid for entertaining and educating us, content creators have to prove their worth by…