We recently connected with Brooke Procida and have shared our conversation below.

Brooke, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

I was born a creative. I have always felt in me what people refer to as ‘flow state’ and I have been building, making, creating, collaborating, producing and performing since as far back as I can remember. My very first memories involve some form of storytelling, provoking emotion, invention or exhibition. Unlike many of my peers growing up, I have never doubted what I’m here for and have always felt a calling to the stage, the screen and airwaves in general. And then, suddenly in my late teens, I got deathly and progressively ill. From age 17 when I arrived at the University of Southern California up until very recently in my adult life- I was getting mysteriously and debilitatingly ill. Looking back, symptoms and clues had been there all along during my childhood, only to be written-off or gotten over and left behind. But as an adult whose health was declining and whose ‘flow state’ was suddenly being compromised, I became acutely aware of the fact that something was not right. I was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease and various other co-infections and syndromes at age 38.

Spending nearly 2 decades fighting something that could not be identified or seen took its toll on me in ways that I am only now, at age 50, beginning to understand. An artist’s life is already filled with ups and downs, unexpected twists, high highs and low lows- it’s the nature of the beast. Add to that a “chronic illness” (I’m not so fond of the terminology but for now we’ll use it) and the fight or flight lifestyle takes on an identity and power of its own until you are so far away from flow state, relaxation and creative peace, that you don’t even know it ever existed and even worse- seems totally wrong and unhealthy! I had no idea that what was happening to me was a massive unravelling of my nervous system and the consistent, persistent deterioration of mind-body function; all brought on the by the need to survive and fight a pathogen. I was spinning and dying.

Each of us has our own version of adversity, pain, triumph. I have learned over the course of my life and career that if you let them, even the greatest, most seemingly insurmoutable challenges will serve as your ultimate guides to the most pure, most unique, most needed version of you. Being brought down so ferociously by something that was impossible at the time to diagnose, very minimally studied, not even always believed-in and extremely difficult to treat gave me a choice; keep fighting in the same way I’d always fought and WIN against all odds (which was the road I took to beat Lyme) or, let go of the life you’ve always had, the picture in your mind, the needs, wants, shoulds and shouldn’t’s, and let “chronic illness” (which now I will refer to as “the accumulation of built up energy based upon years of needing to be right, blocking communication and misplacing emotion”) guide you back toward flow state which has no past and no future. Only now- which is where creativity happens. The rest is commerce or trickery.

Do I have dreams? Yes. Goals? Yes. Visions of the things I am building toward? Yes. The difference now, only after having lived with and through such an unexpected obstacle, is that I am unattached to outcomes and grateful every single second for merely being alive. Creativity cannot be killed by illness or struggle. And letting go of the outcome does not kill your dreams. On the contrary, it actually allows you to glide gently and easily toward them. Effortlessness can feel so foreign to us as artists.

I wish creatives could take the pressure off of themselves and enjoy the ride. Be in the moment. Release the need to struggle. I dont think we need to be starving to be artists. I think we need to stay hungry. There’s a huge difference.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Im Brooke- impossible to define :-) The best I can do in our ever-changing creative landscape is call myself a multi-hyphenate creative. I began as a singer, actress and dancer in the Broadway world, gigged as a musician and singer-songwriter in New York City and Los Angeles, began creating musicals and shows from scratch. Once illness took over my life and I struggled to diagnose myself, I found that a lot of my peers and other creatives were going through similar struggles staying healthy and consequently, struggling to pay their rent or even eat! It prompted me to pursue a Masters Degree in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship with a focus on Holistic Arts Education (Goldsmith’s University of London) where I studied what it actually means to be happy and successful and how to develop and implement your own personal process for this as a creative. This led me to create STUDIO PCI, which I have owned and operated for 15 years this year; creating space for youth and adults to cultivate their voices, create original work, network and perform. I have since moved into Creative Direction/Production and have plans to develop the Procida Foundation in the next 5 years, helping underserved communities and struggling individuals to find their creative outlets, flourish and give back.

www.studiopci.com
www.brookeprocida.com
www.lymelightjourney.org

IG: @studiopci
Facebook: Procida Creative International

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

For me, this is an ever-evolving case of “video killed the radio star”. MTV came out and people suddenly became visible TV and video stars and if you didn’t have a video as an artist, your music was less likely to be heard and hummed. Time marched on….DVD’s killed VHS, streaming platforms beat down TV networks, Youtube is now the preferred place for youth to watch things and social media has all but entirely replaced the news, sales, dating and literally being human. So….my opinion is that the wisest thing we can do as artists, producers, creators and consumers is to keep the focus on integration. To welcome digital advancements, because they are inevitable and unstoppable, but to DEMAND humanization and a hybrid experience. I don’t think art itself, the creative process, benefits from AI at all, whatsoever in any way. I in fact think the opposite. The more I am on my computer and phone, the less I experience flow state and the more I feel physically and spiritually unable to create. EMPTY. But I do think artists, myself included, can benefit from technology and social media when it comes to being able to share work and seek resources. The problem, as with all things in this life, is balance. And I think we have an extreme responsibility now to demand, of ourselves and others, integrity. People are too ready to let go of that in exchange for attention these days. This will end us. PAY ATTENTION EVERYONE! BRING JOY AND CONNECT N PERSON.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I love this question because I have been SO helped by Fractured Atlas over the years, an incredible company based in NY whose mission is “…to create a world where all artists have the tools they need to make their creative dreams a reality.” They are a massive resource for education, awareness and funding for artists and I have benefitted enormously by being able to receive tax-deductible donations from individuals as well as organizations over the years. I am currently looking into taking advantage of all of the information and training they offer on the grant writing front. It’s a GREAT organization and I’m thrilled to support them and be supported by them.

www.fracturedatlas.org

Contact Info:

• Website: www.studiopci.comwww.brookeprocida.comwww.lymelightjourney.org
• Instagram: @studiopci
• Facebook: Brooke Procida / STUDIO PCI
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/brookeprocida
• Youtube: @brookemariemusic
• Soundcloud: brookemariemusic