Day 1 of FEEcon

My trip to Atlanta was no doubt painfully long but definitely worth the process. Being someone who hardly travels (and when I do, it’s never by plane) I wasn’t quite sure what to expect traveling across the country. However, my experience so far at FEEcon has been a great adventure both literally and educationally. Getting up at 4:00 in the morning Pacific Time wasn’t ideal, but, who am I to complain when I’m greeted with an amazing performance by a professional cellist, followed by a speech from the President of FEE? 

My first session was a creative pursuit session about getting a career as a an artist. I think it’s interesting that even at an economics conference there’s options for exploring careers within the creative arts - it shows that economics can be useful in any area of life.

Walking into this session I was expecting typical advice about fighting internal battles as a creative and how to handle roadblocks along the way. There’s nothing wrong with this kind of advice, all I’m trying to say is that it’s very common when with a community of creatives to speak on such topics - at least from my experience.

Surprisingly, the topic was on luck. (Yes, luck.) At first I was skeptical because I would never tell someone that getting into a creative industry (or any industry for that matter) requires no hard work and you just have to be in the right place at the right time. When they said a huge part of getting an artistic career is being “lucky” - I was immediately questioning what they had to say. Eventually, I figured out they weren’t using that term in the typical sense. When they said “luck”, they meant putting yourself in a good position to gain opportunities. (Or, possibly creating your own opportunities.) Essentially, finding a way to make professionals recognize your hard work.

This way of thinking perfectly tied into the next session with Praxis. Obviously, anyone that knows anything about Praxis knows that it’s all about taking action and creating value by gaining experience - much like the topic of the last session. (Coincidence? Not sure.)

I often receive negative remarks from other artists about not going to college and doing Praxis instead. I myself hesitated to apply for Praxis because I wasn’t sure if it would coincide with my long-term music goals. I wasn’t sure that getting into a startup company was “the right fit” for me.
It seems strange to be pursuing music by getting into a program like Praxis, in fact, the two paths appear to be heading in completely opposite directions. In the eyes of most, I’m sure I appear to be nothing more than a confused teenager with no direction in life. (I totally understand why they would think that but I completely disagree.)

Overall, the main theme of what I’ve re-learned today is the importance of staying on track. Every opportunity I may receive might not be glamorous, but it’s all about the process.