Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joshua Morgan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joshua, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have prioritized sustaining myself through my creative work since the beginning. I didn’t and still don’t have space for distraction. I’ve never had a “normal job” and couldn’t see myself ever taking one on. We all know how hard this business is and it requires our whole body, mind and spirit. We certainly were not well off when I was growing up and my mother, who is very entrepreneurial, was always navigating how to grow her own career. She didn’t have a college degree but was thriving in so many different industries and through her I learned how to develop myself as a business. When I turned 18 and went to acting conservatory in North Carolina there was a moment where all of this was put into perspective. I wasn’t medically covered at the time and it was made clear that I was going to be on my own when it came to school, clothing, pretty much all expenses. I was standing in the dentist’s office with a pretty bad tooth infection when I called my mom and told her that I was going to have to have it removed. Her response was “well, what would you like for me to do about that?”. That may sound cruel but it wasn’t, it was simply fact; we didn’t have the resources. And I had this moment of realizing that if I was going to build a sustainable creative career, I was going to have to look beyond what school was spoon feeding us (go to a good program, get an agent, audition, do some theater and then end up on a hit TV show) about how to grow a successful acting career. Over the next few years I started to develop a plan for post graduation, whereupon I pretty immediately founded a theater company that I ran for seven years. As it is, I have little patience for waiting on others to tell me when I get to be creative and, again, I knew that the idea of heading out as an actor and waiting around for auditions was not the move. Founding my theater company, and two other smaller efforts simultaneously (one a for-profit and another not-for-profit), taught me so much about basic business principles and how I could potentially apply them to a freelance career as an artist. This included everything from marketing to relationship building to fundraising to how to prioritize and manage my time effectively, all against the backdrop of my esoteric, creative mind. These tools and experiences have allowed me to sustain myself as an artist since the beginning.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I moved to New York from Los Angeles when I was about 11 years old. I saw Bernadette Peters in the last revival of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and I knew I was going to be in this business for the rest of my life. Those 2.5 hours changed my life. No bullshit. From that point on, it was my priority. Still to this day, after my partner, my creative work is the most important element of my life. It’s how I communicate with the world. It’s how I communicate with myself. I just directed a production of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF and there are a few lines that hit me every time…

“Truth or illusion, George; you don’t know the difference.”

“No, but we must carry on as though we did.”

“Amen.”

Amen, indeed. I get it. I get them.
Fast forward to running my theater company post graduation, I started to realize that most artists are pretty out to sea when it comes to navigating the growth of their creative businesses. Shortly after stepping away from my company I founded Artist’s Strategy as a means to support creatives on the path to growing their own sustainable careers. I created a curriculum that explores what I believe are the primary tenets of an artist’s career:

Professional Growth (or Goal Setting)
Community Cultivation (or Networking)
Financial Management
Self-Producing
Craft Improvement
Method (or Business Infrastructure)
Marketing

In many ways the work is a giant experiment. It’s one thing to provide tools and processes to creatives to help them build sustainable careers but not everyone is a natural entrepreneur. Therefore, without getting too bogged down in the work, it all begins by understanding your WHY. This is true, by the way, for any successful business. WHY are you doing this and WHAT problem do you solve? Some artists love it and some are terrified of those questions…

While there are many offerings for artists to grow elements of their careers, no one has curated a model based on other successful freelance businesses designed to serve a customer’s need, which is what businesses do, of course, and also what most artists have a tendency to forget…
Recently, we created the Creative Risk podcast where we explore all things art and entrepreneurialism. I’m proud of the podcast because we are exploring some hard but important topics. Everything from what it means to build a creative career in 2024 at a time where the monolithic “star” is practically non-existent, late stage capitalism is crushing artists financially and your relevancy is dependent on how big your owned audience is.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I’ve spent a lot of my time in survival mode. As a kid, I had to grow up quickly and found a good deal of independence early on in order to take care of myself. Subsequently, I’ve found myself in leadership positions over and over again, be it as a producer, a director, running my companies, teaching or now consulting artists every day. My work as an artist is a “home” where I can be “weak”. Where I can be “wrong”. Where it’s my job to be fully present and worry about nothing other than the story I’m telling in that moment. My work as an artist requires me to ask questions, to learn about the world and myself and to listen. It’s the most challenging gift I could ask for…

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

In the beginning of most of our educational journeys, we learn through art. We learn by painting, by singing, by collaborating, all as a form of expression and taking in information. Then, for whatever reason, the art begins to go away, we begin to follow rules, sit behind desks and “work”. Arts education at every level is not only how we can promote a more vibrant creative future but also helps us learn more effectively. Look at the effects of us getting stuck behind our phones. We’re losing our ability to communicate, to take in information, to live… The more society can lift up the value of arts education, the more I think we can fight the ongoing “deadening”.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joshuamorganofficial.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jmorganarts
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/jmorganarts
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jmorganarts
• Other: www.artists-strategy.com