We recently connected with Frances Li and have shared our conversation below.

Frances, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I’m fortunate to have had the experience of working at a “regular job” in the beginning of my career and I can definitively say for myself that I am indeed happier pursuing the life of an artist.

However, I don’t necessarily believe that working at a full time job means that you aren’t also an artist or creative. I think that for many people having the stability of a job might just be the thing that allows them the freedom to work on their art without worrying about how they’re going to pay rent.

When I lost my full time job, I took it as an opportunity to recenter my life towards pursuing a career as an actor. I think happiness comes from feeling aligned with your purpose in life and that can be done with or without a regular job.

If you’re an artist, an actor, a writer – you’re going to do those things because you feel compelled to do them. It doesn’t matter if you have a regular job, if you want to create, you are going to create.

I think we must relieve ourselves of the burden of needing to be paid in order to validate our conception of ourselves as “artists”. If you are an artist then you are an artist. You get to decide. Not an arbitrary market force that tries to place value on the invaluable.

Frances, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Frances Li and I do MANY things. My list of multi-hyphenates is absurdly long, but here we go anyways: I’m an artist, model, actor, writer and artist residency associate director based in New York City. Phew. It’s a lot.

In front of the camera, I am best known for my role as Vanessa where I acted alongside Adam Brody, Jesse Eisenberg and Lizzy Caplan in the Emmy nominated FX series Fleishman is in Trouble. I have appeared in film and print projects for Glossier, Away, Mara Hoffman, ELLE, Barney’s, Oribe, Marie Claire, and Esquire and have walked the runway for Nike, Kim Shui and Eckhaus Latta in NYFW.

My writing style is satirical, absurd, and just a tad dark. My first short film, A Woman Eats (NoBudge 2020 Audience Award Winner), is an uncomfortable examination of the power dynamics between photographer and model. The Art Assistant (Atlanta Comedy Film Festival 2023 Winner) chronicles the career of a world famous artist, who also happens to be a vacuum cleaner. I am a co-writer and performer on the comedy/horror podcast Friends of the Bone Chariot, which has a new season coming out soon!

I studied acting at the William Esper Studio and can occasionally be found performing sketch comedy at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective.

I am currently alive and well, living in a Brooklyn studio apartment with two coddled cats.

Follow me on instagram @thefrancesli

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Pay artists! Buy their work. Fund their films. We need to remember that art has value to society. It enriches our lives. Artists need to be paid to create art, not just content, but art for arts sake.

Something that I’m incredibly proud of is the work that we do at the Prairie Ronde Artist Residency in Vicksburg, MI. It is our mission to support artists and we do that by giving them time, space and money to be able to work. We are a process-oriented residency, so we really try to allow our artists to take the time to explore and grow their practice. It’s such a luxury for artists to be able to have concentrated, dedicated time to work, and to be able to offer a little bit of that is incredibly rewarding.

Prairie Ronde actually became the backdrop for my latest short film, The Art Assistant, which is a mockumentary about an AI robotic vacuum who attends an artist residency and becomes a world famous artist. When my co-writer, Sophie Worm and I were writing the script, so much of what we were concerned with was AI stealing artists’ work, underpaying artists, and the commodification of art as a whole.

It’s currently out now on Vimeo!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yes. I am a big fan of personal finance, especially for freelancers. The way that I’ve managed the inconsistency of income that comes with an acting career is to get very competent with budgeting and managing my money. One of the most influential books for me was You Need A Budget.

They also have a budgeting app called YNAB. I’m obsessed with it. I am kind of a secret budgeting nerd and I’ve tried out quite a few different budgeting strategies over the years (from excel to literally handwriting every transaction). YNAB is hands down my favorite. You give every dollar a job. You know exactly where and why you are spending money and it helps you make decisions from a place of security and groundedness. I know I sound like I’m being sponsored by them but I swear I’m just a fangirl!!

On the artistic side of things, I have to give credit to the old classic: The Artist’s Way. It changed my life. This book is the reason I am pursuing a life in the arts. It gave me direction, clarity, and purpose. What a gift!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://frances-li.com
• Instagram: @thefrancesli
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesheleneli

Image Credits

All of the images that are not movie posters are credited to Todd Estrin