The Art of Risk

Sometimes I wish I could post anonymously. I mean I probably could look into it if I really wanted to, but then it wouldn’t count towards my grade. Sooo…..

Fear of judgement. The noisy little cloud above me, always.

Risk. Fail. Risk again. A phrase I see used by National Theatre Institute. Its simple enough, right? Risk. Fail. Risk again. In my first year of grad school, I’ve heard phrases like that, encouraging me to fail, to get messy with my art. In thought it’s so incredibly freeing. GET MESSY! They say. FAIL! They say. Risk. Try something new. Play. Throw the spaghetti on the wall. They say. And so I do. I RISK! And then I FAIL! The hard part is the in between of when you’re supposed to get up and risk again.

Too often in our artistic communities we judge each other and ourselves way too harshly. With high bars of expectations. I mean, we’re all struggling with imposter syndrome so let’s just get that out of the way. Did I like it? Does it make sense? Was it GoOoOod?

IF WE’RE SUPPOSED TO RISK… SHOULDN’T OUR QUESTIONS BE DIFFERENT?

Here’s what I see?

I don’t know about you, but in order to risk, I want to feel safe. To risk a public failure takes huge trust in the ones who will be witnessing it. And I’m not talking warm and fuzzy, afternoon back rub safety. I’m talking about the feeling of safety that’s created by a room of individuals who are seeing their fellow artists as human beings with a soul that they are allowing you to critique.

Risk (Be vulnerable). Fail (Expose yourself). Risk again (Be vulnerable again).

When you see a fellow artist risk, don’t judge them, tell them to keep going.