A Performer in a Pandemic: How I’ve managed to survive 2020 as an artist.

2020 has given us a run for our money. In quite a literal sense. From the beginning of the year there were high hopes of doing away with the stain of 2019 and moving to a better, more prolific year especially being 2020. As we have all experienced…things did not turn out that way. But has it been a bad thing?

A question many would quickly answer with a resounding “HELL YES!” Because the world, for the most part has stopped. Those of us that work in the entertainment industry hit a hard stop and had to face the very hard reality of life without the “business.” I for one took it as a sign to slow down and reaccess what was actually important for myself and for my career. In recent years I shifted my focus, once again, to helping others and keep myself as less of a priority. Something I’ve been known to do quite a lot in my life. Seeing both positive and negative results; I would tell (and lie) to myself that I was doing the right thing by putting myself last. But was I?

Well that ended up being a resounding “HELL NO” once the pandemic hit. I had soon realized I had worked very hard on getting many to the promised land but keeping myself in the wilderness. Not to get too biblical but I had really taken on the Moses persona that my mother had given me so long ago. And it was time I let it go. That is when I decided to make sure that in order to help others I would need to first help myself. Not needing to forsake all others but make sure that I am also a priority in my own life.

Enter Motion Capture and Indie Content. Through the last 5 years motion capture and creating my own content had been my focus and saving grace in the industry. Finding those two mediums reignited my passion for creating in a way I felt more free than I had before…but there’s still a pandemic. Oh shit. What was I to do? Studios were closed or working with skeleton crews, projects were mostly remote and only needing 1 or 2 people. How could I make this work? I then started to look at the resources I already had. $40k+ in camera equipment. My own motion capture suits. The ability to work from home. And the access to help Studios stay active with my background in the medical field. So I got to work.

At first there were questions, concerns, and doubts. But those were expected. Being surrounded by people who had the same mindset of creating opportunities made things more possible than ever before. And even though this was to help myself; I ended up still helping others. The pandemic had given me a sense of clarity and made me slow down to focus on where I can be effective.

The place we are all in right now is not an easy one. Some would say it sucks. And in many ways, it does. But it is also an opportunity to look at what you have and how you can use it. And even if you do not have; you have time to create, build, develop. We are creatives. We create. And it is our responsibility to both ourselves and the world to do just that.