Fun advice full of love for our artist and entertainer clients and friends

Don’t lose hope. This will not go on forever. I’m hoping this John Lennon quote will help you as opposed to make you want to bang your head against the wall: “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

1. It’s a tough time and you are not expected to be “OK.” Being not OK is always OK especially during a fuckin’ pandemic.

2. Continue to make your art or music. It’s how you express yourself. It’s always been valuable (to you and to us) but is even more so valuable and needed right meow (yes that’s a cat pun).

3. Protect your intellectual property. Your art is valuable and special. You are valuable and special. And don’t let me forget: “You is kind, You is smart, You is important.” -The Help (2011).

4. Remember that if your art is your business/you want it to be, then you must treat it like one. Is your art business protected by a formed business entity (LLC or corporation)? Does it have it’s own business bank account?

5. Do you have a website with terms and conditions and a privacy policy? Do people who make a purchase have to agree that they’ve read and agree to your terms?

6. Do you have contracts? Do you have a client service agreement with policies on returns or refunds? Do you have a licensing agreement you can use with people who want to use your art for something that sets forth not only how much they will pay you to use it but specifies limits on how they use it?

7. People are still appreciating art (purchasing it online to make their apartment look pretty as Fuck, virtual tours (some good and some not so good), social enterprise art shows that raise money for the artist with a percentage to a good cause, etc.). Have you asked yourself—How can I adapt my skills to the time? How can I be virtual? Just while typing this I thought—what if you made paintings that were perfect to hang behind webinar calls? More specifically, a painting of a client feeding tigers or swimming with dolphins. Or, what about recording a fly ass company song that gets played every webinar that Nancy and Becky love so much they ask, “How much?” Feel free to steal these brilliant ideas, but remember me when you’re invited to a future MET Gala or awards show.

8. Take a walk. Get fresh air. Nature is free. It’s also the most artistic/Godly/scientific thing we have. It will inspire not only creativity, but certainty of furtherance. Hate/resistance/angst and yearning for competent leadership are historically good at inspiring brilliant art. Be like Jim Carrey, wear your pandemic mask, and paint Don the Con in a prison jumpsuit or next to a dumpster fire.

9. This is a perfect time to reflect on you and all of you-your essence. Reflect on not only the you who carries the past, guilt, blame, parental shame or trauma (those are all real) but also reflect on the you who is brilliant, vibrant, and full of more zest than a citrus fruit. This is the you who is a fuckin’ resilient and resourceful and who is going to tell COVID-19 it can COFUCK itself. You’ll get through this. I know you will.

   I/we (our community that loves and cares about you to the nth degree) can’t wait to listen to or see your art now and in the future. Keep creating and keep being you!