While the world hails the return of cooler weather and all things pumpkin spice, singers far and wide are dusting off press kits and brushing up arias for their own special observance: audition season. Subway warm-ups, the despair you feel when another singer offers all your arias, holidays with relatives who think the arts are a waste of time and money—they’re exhausting and overwhelming. These downsides of artistic life aren’t exactly causes for celebration.
But audition season is. Audition season is the time of year when we advocate most fervently for ourselves as artists. And October, the start of audition season, boasts two special reasons to celebrate: World Opera Day, and National Arts and Humanities Month.
Attending to the business of being an artist and fending off questions like “When are you going to get a real job?” can distract us from celebrating art. But being an art ambassador is a big part of an artist’s life. Celebrate arts not only through making art but through advocacy—you’ll do yourself and your industry a favor.
Celebrate the fact that the arts and culture sector accounts for 4.2 % of the gross national product—more than transportation, tourism, or construction. $763.6 billion isn’t small change. That’s a significant contribution to the national economy. (Arts Facts)
Celebrate that there are more than five million workers in thirty-five arts and cultural industries, and 2.5 million artists in eleven different disciplines. That’s not counting the 333,000 who work part-time as artists or the 1.2 million employees in cultural-adjacent jobs. (New Report )
Celebrate the children who make better grades, relate to others better, feel better about themselves, and stay in school when they have access to the arts. (Why Should Government)
Celebrate that the arts improve the health of the sick and injured, the elderly, the traumatized, the depressed, and the medical professionals who care for them. (New Report )
Celebrate that the arts encourage greater civic engagement and community pride, as well as personal development, fulfillment, creativity, and initiative. (Rabkin )
Of course, as artists, we also celebrate the beauty that art brings into the world, the connection it helps us make to other people, the way it helps us share our souls. Artists are wired for creativity. The need and desire to make art are a critical part of our essence. The act of creation is itself a celebration of all that we are and can be.
In 2007, I founded a summer program for singers called Spotlight on Opera. Entering our fourteenth season, we celebrate, honor, and advocate for the arts by providing the best quality education and performance opportunities for our emerging artists. We celebrate by establishing a loving, supportive, and safe environment for our students to explore and grow. We celebrate by coming together--faculty, students, audience—to learn from each other, to hone skills, and to create and share beauty.
We invite you to celebrate with us in our 2020 summer season. Applications are now open. Auditions take place:
December 7, 2019--Austin, TX
December 14, 2019--Shreveport, LA
By video until all roles are cast
For more information and to apply, please visit www.SpotlightOnOpera.com).
