Just so someone says it...

(Joe, this one's for you!)

I completely agree with Michelle's post last week, We're More than Just Emerging Artists.  But perhaps one assumed aspect of that post bears a little stating of the obvious.

One of my favorite character descriptions is from Agatha Christie in Death on the Nile: "He was popularly supposed 'to write,' but it was understood among his friends that inquiries as to literary output were not encouraged."

Haven't we all known someone like that?  I know I've been that someone at times.  Someone who loves the idea of being an Artist, and will get down to actually doing something about it just as soon as…. fill in the blank.  Artists are not defined by education, or publication, or paying Union dues.  But we are defined by doing.  Artists make art.

I joined CAUSE for a lot of reasons - Have you ever tried to say no to Emily? - but one of the most important was to stand up and say, "Yes, I'm an artist."  And then to use that statement to hold myself accountable for actually being one.

Courting Problems: Take 2

Op-Ed Columnist

It’s Not About You

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: May 30, 2011

Over the past few weeks, America’s colleges have sent another class of graduates off into the world. These graduates possess something of inestimable value. Nearly every sensible middle-aged person would give away all their money to be able to go back to age 22 and begin adulthood anew.

But, especially this year, one is conscious of the many ways in which this year’s graduating class has been ill served by their elders. They enter a bad job market, the hangover from decades of excessive borrowing. They inherit a ruinous federal debt.

More important, their lives have been perversely structured. This year’s graduates are members of the most supervised generation in American history. Through their childhoods and teenage years, they have been monitored, tutored, coached and honed to an unprecedented degree.

Yet upon graduation they will enter a world that is unprecedentedly wide open and unstructured. Most of them will not quickly get married, buy a home and have kids, as previous generations did. Instead, they will confront amazingly diverse job markets, social landscapes and lifestyle niches. Most will spend a decade wandering from job to job and clique to clique, searching for a role.

No one would design a system of extreme supervision to prepare people for a decade of extreme openness. But this is exactly what has emerged in modern America. College students are raised in an environment that demands one set of navigational skills, and they are then cast out into a different environment requiring a different set of skills, which they have to figure out on their own.

Worst of all, they are sent off into this world with the whole baby-boomer theology ringing in their ears. If you sample some of the commencement addresses being broadcast on C-Span these days, you see that many graduates are told to: Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself. This is the litany of expressive individualism, which is still the dominant note in American culture.

But, of course, this mantra misleads on nearly every front.

College grads are often sent out into the world amid rapturous talk of limitless possibilities. But this talk is of no help to the central business of adulthood, finding serious things to tie yourself down to. The successful young adult is beginning to make sacred commitments — to a spouse, a community and calling — yet mostly hears about freedom and autonomy.

Today’s graduates are also told to find their passion and then pursue their dreams. The implication is that they should find themselves first and then go off and live their quest. But, of course, very few people at age 22 or 24 can take an inward journey and come out having discovered a developed self.

Most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life. A relative suffers from Alzheimer’s and a young woman feels called to help cure that disease. A young man works under a miserable boss and must develop management skills so his department can function. Another young woman finds herself confronted by an opportunity she never thought of in a job category she never imagined. This wasn’t in her plans, but this is where she can make her contribution.

Most people don’t form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling.

The graduates are also told to pursue happiness and joy. But, of course, when you read a biography of someone you admire, it’s rarely the things that made them happy that compel your admiration. It’s the things they did to court unhappiness — the things they did that were arduous and miserable, which sometimes cost them friends and aroused hatred. It’s excellence, not happiness, that we admire most.

Finally, graduates are told to be independent-minded and to express their inner spirit. But, of course, doing your job well often means suppressing yourself. As Atul Gawande mentioned during his countercultural address last week at Harvard Medical School, being a good doctor often means being part of a team, following the rules of an institution, going down a regimented checklist.

Today’s grads enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a life. But, of course, as they age, they’ll discover that the tasks of a life are at the center. Fulfillment is a byproduct of how people engage their tasks, and can’t be pursued directly. Most of us are egotistical and most are self-concerned most of the time, but it’s nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.

Come learn the "Top 40"...of Chants?

Perhaps this upcoming workshop in NYC, would be of interest to all you Sacred Artists (or artists who appreciate the Sacred) out there?!  If you're in or around the area, I have no doubt it will be edifyingly beautiful!

------

A Chant workshop will be held September 7 and 8, 2012, hosted by The Church of St. Catherine of Siena, NYC.

Scott Turkington, choirmaster of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (Charleston, SC) will lead the master workshop. Details to follow as to time, cost and place.

The music education will focus on the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Mass.  This intensive tutorial in Western Plainsong or Gregorian Chant, will offer a brief history of chant, the medieval notational system, a thorough learning of the dozen most commonly used neumes, "top 40" chants, chant resources, a discussion of ways in which chant might be employed in a parish setting, interpretation of controversial neumes, and the form and structure of the eight Gregorian modes. The student will sing a great deal during the workshop. The text (supplied) will be the Parish Book of Chant.

Please mark your calendars.

For inquiries please contact:

The Church of Saint Catherine of Siena

411 East 68th Street

New York NY 10065-6305 USA

------

Peace & Joy,
Michelle

Paul A. Zalonski

sienafaith@gmail.com

212-988-8300, ext 182

Beer and Benediction: Or how CAUSE Began

The beginnings of things are important.

"In the beginning was the Word..."

"Once upon a time..."

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

"It is a truth universally acknowledged..."

"Knock, knock...!"

So, maybe it's time to explain just what caused CAUSE.  Which, in this case, was beer and benediction.

Or, more accurately, adoration.

In Which Our Lord is Very, Very Patient with His Daughter.

On January first, my mother dragged me to adoration.  I'm a very poor adorer: I want to be there, but like a continual first date, I often feel that I don't know what to say.  Oh, I pray a rosary, do my morning prayer, stare at Him like St. Jean Vianney's saintly parishioner...and become hyperactively aware of the time.  Often, the thought that I could pop into my local adoration chapel doesn't even cross my mind: like so many others, I'm terribly busy.  I'll see Him face to face Sunday.  Otherwise, He's infinity old and merciful: surely, He can wait!

All of which is to say that no genius of mine was at work that January 1, 2012, when I was dragged by my mother to adoration.  She suggested it; I felt too (rightfully) guilty to say no; we went.

Once there, since I couldn't sing (my favourite way to adore when I can get Him alone - or rather, when He can cajole me), I finished a rosary, finished my daily prayers, stared at Him, and then began a litany of complaints.  Like you do.

It went something like this:

"Hi, God.  How're you doing?  Y'know, Lord, I was reading the Dramatists Guild list of contests, housing, benefit and charitable groups and associations, and there were tons for women, for various ethnicities, for LGBT, for people from Appalachia, for Muslims, for Jews, for Buddhists...for everyone but Christians!  For everyone but Catholics!  What gives?  Where's my guild that will, I don't know, have temporary cheap housing in major cities for artists who need to move to their disciplines' heart?  Where is the guild that connects me to Catholic entertainment lawyers, or reduced health insurance rates from Catholic insurers, or will help fund Catholic artists' projects or...well, where the heck are we?

"Where are the Catholic artists, and why in the world aren't we working together?  Our world's in crisis, Lord, our nation is on the verge of very much martyrdom, our politics speak through our entertainment...and we aren't even in the conversation!  More, we aren't brave enough to open our mouths, all we secret Catholic artists.  What in the world are we doing?  And why aren't we at least doing it together?  We ought to have a real working guild, God.  You really ought to get on that."

His answer, naturally, was to wait for me to stop grousing.

Then He said, quite calmly, "Well, yes, there ought to be one, oughtn't there?"

"Darn right, Lord!" I mentally shouted back at Him.

He looked at me.

I furrowed my brow at Him.

He quirked His brow and said, "Y'know, it really oughtn't be just for playwrights or theatre folks.  Where are the Catholic curators for Catholic fine artists?  Music producers for musicians?"

"Too right!" I agreed.

He nodded.

I checked my watch.

"Do you know what's interesting?" He offered, since Mum was still on her third decade.

"Mmmm?" I asked.

"If this is something for Catholic Artists in, say, the United States, you're only missing a letter."

I looked up at Him.  "Missing a let...wait, hold on...I'll get this...um...carry the three...CAUS - oh!  Hey!  Guess what, God!  That almost spells a really awesome word!  That would, like, sum up everything that Catholic Artists ought to be doing!  Yeah!  And people could casually say, 'Oh, yeah, I'm working for the CAUSE,' and then they would be awesome because they are...working...for the CAUSE.  In fact, Lord, the only cause.  In fact, the Uncaused Cause.  Nice, nice, nice.  What should the 'E' mean?"

It's a really good thing God is patient.

In Which Our Lord, by Means of Beer, Answers Several Burning Questions.

So the seed was born.  A few weeks later, I took the idea on the road.  For the past several years, I've been contemplating the move to NYC, since my main discipline is theatre.  A fellow Franciscan University of Steubenville Anathan Theatre alumnus, Michelle Kafel, has been based out of NYC for the past ten years or so, and invited anyone in the area down to Storm Theatre's production of The London Merchant which had received glowing reviews from the New York Times.  I decided to trek down, take in the show, check out the city for possibly moving there, and run CAUSE by Michelle.

I admit I made a botch out of talking about CAUSE as we made our way from our dinner to the theatre.  Somehow, though, between all the stutters and reverses and explanations and apologies, Michelle understood what CAUSE was about.  And rather more profoundly, she suggested that the "E" might stand for "Effect."

"Because that's what we're trying to do," she said, as we clung to handrails on the jolting subway trip.  "That's what our nation needs: to be affected by Catholic artists.  To be infused.  And every CAUSE should have an effect."

Michelle then proceeded to ask me whether I'd looked into any of the other Catholic artists guilds.

I had, I replied.  For example:

• The Catholic Writer's Guild has put together a beautiful site and active community of authors, who blog, facebook, tweet, hold virtual conferences, and maintain a lively message board.  An excellent model of how to practically network and support.
• The Fraternity for St. Genesius for theatre artists is a group mostly dedicated to prayer for those working in the theatre.
• The Catholic Artists' Society also based in NYC, gives spiritual, emotional and intellectual support to all Catholic artists, no matter their discipline.

All provide support for the intangible parts of our crafts.  However, what often seemed to be missing in our societies, fraternities, and guilds, was practical support.  Prayer is extremely important; so is access to an entertainment lawyer.  Emotional and intellectual stimulation are crucial to the creation of art; so is someone to curate, publish, produce, or promote once the art is complete. 

In point of fact, the story of the Good Samaritan is applicable here:

The Scribe and the Pharisee who passed by doubtless prayed for the fallen Israelite...but they passed by.  The Samaritan stopped and gave his fellow man patronage: he gave him his health insurance, his money, and what goods the beaten man required.  And, I'm sure, he prayed.

So it is with any artist: what he needs is support both spiritual and practical.  He needs to know how to form a business plan.  How to network.  How to collaborate.  The means to do so and survive.  A platform from which to shout His message.  I come from a Franciscan tradition of poverty...but that doesn't mean I want to starve!

Everything came to a head later in the evening, or should I say morning, when I found myself having an unexpected business meeting with a Catholic financier in a bar in SoHo at 3 in the morning while we attended the birthday part of someone we only slightly knew.  (For those who know "Another Hundred People" from Sondheim's Company, it was very that.)  We spoke about CAUSE (Michelle's the world's most amazing hostess!), and about what it needed to be, and about how we need Catholic artists who make both sacred and secular art.

At length, I asked him, "So, you're an audience member, a patron of the arts.  What do you want?"

And he sighed heavily, put down his beer and said with haunted eyes,

"I just want something beautiful."

Wherein the Paraclete is Both a Dove and an Eagle with a Club.

In 1997, I was blessed to go travel to Lisieux to visit the Bacilica of St. Therese. In the lower church is a gorgeous fresco on the ceiling, depicting the Holy Spirit.  However, in this depiction, I swear He looks like an eagle with a club.  I confess that I laughed out loud in the silence when I saw that - because sometimes He is a breath of wind...and sometimes He moves us with a 2x4.

Holy Spirit Eagle Not Pictured.

I truly believe that the Holy Spirit is a-moving within each of our fraternities, societies and guilds.  I truly believe that He is calling us not to revolution - which my dear friend Gilbert Keith Chesterton rightly pointed out just means revolving back to where we were - but to rebirth.  To Renaissance.

He's moved in you and I and so many others we have not yet met.  Each one of us has answered with Mary's "Fiat," to His new birth in us.

So now I'm asking you - on this Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist - to stand up, wave your hand, declare yourself a Catholic artist, proclaim the coming of the Christ, join in His CAUSE (not ours, never ours), and bring His grace and glory to this suffering nation of ours.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

Courting Problems...

While not specifically referring to "artistry" in any proper sense of the term, this article is applicable to all of us - whether artist, technician or patron.  I very highly approve this message, and because of reading have embarked with renewed vigor on the path of service. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31brooks.html?_r=4

(If you're not able to access the above link please see the additional post: Courting Problems: Take 2)

Now, this may be a tough pill to swallow sometimes, especially when we get in to the mindset that it's "all about me!", but maybe its something we all need to try to do better? (not saying we don't already to some extent. I just think its a good reminder)

From the article:

"When you read a biography of someone you admire, it’s rarely the things that made them happy that compel your admiration. It’s the things they did to court unhappiness — the things they did that were arduous and miserable, which sometimes cost them friends and aroused hatred. It’s excellence, not happiness, that we admire most."

"The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself. "

------
Peace & Joy!
Michelle

We're More Than Just Emerging Artists

Artists friends and collaborators,

I found this article and thought it apropos to share. 

The Myth of the Emerging Artist was written by a woman working on a collaborative Off-Off Broadway theatre production, and reflects on the myth that you're not a "real artist" until you have some sort of recognizable name or pockets full of dough...a down-right lie that we sometimes fall prey to.  Her testament is convicting, I think, and personally comes along at a moment when I really needed to hear it.

If we approach our work with the mindset that we are ALREADY artists, we can achieve excellence, no matter how well "recognized" it may be.  I fall into the trap all-too-often of thinking "I'm not good enough", "I need more education", "I'm not a Union actor yet, therefore I can't...".  They're all pretty ludicrous statements that need to be banished from my brain.  Because...look at what we're doing and what we've done?  CAUSE is something.  And we're going to keep making something excellent.

Why Write?

Hi, everyone!

So, this is blogging.  Having scribbled away by my lonesome for many years, I must now come to terms with a frightening thought: "But somebody might read it."  I guess them's the breaks, so here goes.

When I was in seventh grade, our English teacher assigned us to write poems about what we wanted to be when we grew up.  We then had to read them aloud to the class.  I know mine was about being a writer, but thankfully - for your sakes as well as mine - I don't remember it (one of the many reasons I believe in a merciful Providence).  What I do remember is the comment period afterward.  Someone objected that I hadn't said anything about why I wanted to write.  And I was truly and honestly stumped.

I've thought about that question a lot in the years since, but I can do no better at an answer than my thirteen-year-old self could.  Oh, I can tell you a lot about why I think art is important.  I can tell you what fun writing can be when it's going right.  I can list a lot of people who have influenced me.  But none of that answers the question, not really.  Because the question is, given that all that's true, Why me?  Or more properly, perhaps: Who do I think I am and why do I think I have something to say?

Truth is, sometimes I wish I didn't.  I mean, I've agonized over this first blog post because I really don't want to put myself out there.  And this is a blog, not a book or a script that's taken me months/years to write.  J.R.R. Tolkien wrote on publication of The Lord of the Rings, "I have exposed my heart to be shot at."  And so often, I'd rather not be a target.

But there are these stories.  Usually presenting themselves at the most inconvenient times.  They become, not a choice, but a compulsion.  Bordering (?) on an obsession.  I couldn't answer my classmate's question because I didn't ever choose to write.  I had to.

And maybe that's why I've never seen the idea of a vocation as having much to do with happiness, or with doing what you want to do.  Don't get me wrong: I'm incredibly fortunate.  I love my job and my life.  But happiness is uncertain at best, and impossible to control.  Whereas there is a terrible joy in doing what you are meant to do.

What are YOU doing now?

Hello, my fellow artistes!

John Coleman McNichol, author of the Young Chesterton Chronicles wants to know what project you're working on now!

Are you writing music?  A screenplay?  Illustrating something...or even doodling in the margins of your extra Excel documents?  Let us know!

Leave a comment below.  We can't wait to hear from you.  And remember: sometimes the better part of humility is bragging.

Don't forget to leave your name, and maybe even a website where we can learn more about the exciting work you're doing!

The New Evangelization

May I suggest, if you aren't subscribed already, that you hie thee hither to wordonfire's - that is, Father Robert Barron's YouTube channel.  Check out what he has to say about the New Evangelization below:

Avengers Assemble!

It's no secret that we're in the middle of a culture war.  Almost every day - certainly, every week - seems to bring with it some new catastrophe, some new infringement upon our rights as Catholics and as citizens.

What we hear from every pundit, every apologist, is the same: we need Catholic artists.  We need to enter into the cultural conversation.  In short, the commentators seem to say:

"Where are the Catholic artists today?"

If you're like me, then when you hear this question on the TV or radio, you tend to throw your arms up in the air, shouting: "I'm already here!  I'm already doing what I can!"

Musicians, fine artists, performers, filmmakers, writers, video game designers...we're already in place.  We're already holding the line as best we can with love, respect, arguments, beauty, and the tools of our trade.

But we're fighting individually.

What we as artists need to do, in order to strengthen one another, and in order to respond to our nation's and our Church's cry, is to...well...assemble.

Let's take the Avengers as a model: each hero in that movie (fantastic movie, by the way) retains his or her own individuality.  Thor doesn't suddenly Hulk out, for example.  Unlike the X-Men or Fantastic Four they don't suit up to fall in line.

So it is with Catholic artists.

We can work together, reach out and support one another, help one another in the front line of this cultural clash each in our own disciplines...while working with Catholic artists of other disciplines.  Catholic fine artists need Catholic curators; Catholic actors need Catholic directors who both need Catholic playwrights and - God willing! - Catholic producers.  The arts are inter-dependent.  It's about time we realized that.

So, to all Catholic artists and patrons of the arts, I invite you to assemble - I invite you to effect the world by joining the CAUSE.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for the Catholic Artists of the United States Effect (CAUSE). We're dedicated to connecting Catholic artists across all disciplines with one another in order to respond to the call to action in our current cultural war.

Make sure you join us on Facebook and join in the conversation to let us know how best to serve you!  You can also join us at our temporary website.

Leave a comment below and let us know what sort of artist you are and what you'd like CAUSE to do for you!


In His Heart,
Emily