We were lucky to catch up with Levi Franklin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Levi, 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 been able to earn a living based on my work in creative spaces since before I graduated college. It was not easy by any means, and during college I at one point had 5 different jobs. I essentially didn’t sleep a lot for 4 years of college and worked extremely hard. But I also had curated an incredibly strong and supportive community of friends during college that helped see me through some of the hardest moments in my life.

I made it happen by taking advantage of basically every resource possible on my college campus and networked any chance I could. I also developed skills inside and outside of class. But that has led me to where I am now. I worked for the little theatre company I currently work for as an over hire position. Doing manual labor from around 10:00pm in the summer during the pandemic, striking a set outside. After EVERY performance. After I had already worked 8 hours for another one of my non arts jobs that I kept so I could pay rent while in school. Then they kept reaching out since I had done such a good job with my friend, and I kept saying yes for about a year, until they told me to apply to a job that they were adding. Two different people at the company told me I would be great for this position and that I should apply. So, I looked at the description and realized I could totally do it, and that I was qualified!

I applied to this job and got it, and now here I am making art, and producing art at an equity level theatre company since before I graduated college. But don’t get me wrong this was not a job that could originally pay my rent. I live in the Denver area, and it is expensive to live here. Especially, since my parents didn’t help me pay for college or living after I turned 18. Another large step on my journey was saying yes to some teaching artists positions that I got offered. I worked at a children’s theatre for a few years before I graduated and about a year and half after I graduated college. I was teaching about 3 or 4 times a week in addition to producing theatre, before I even graduated! It was awesome I was truthfully living the dream. Teaching also helped me develop my craft and practice what I had been directly learning in school. It fundamentally deepened my understanding of my art form, in a way that deeply prepared me for the professional world.

I honestly don’t know how I could have sped up the process, I am already so ahead of people my age in my field. I often am the youngest person in the rooms I occupy for my job as an arts administrator. The only thing I could have probably done to speed things up was work more arts gigs right after I graduated, but I decided to take a bit of time to rest. Which is something that I am constantly trying to remind myself to do.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a young Gender Queer, Latino, Gay, Artist, who likes making new theatrical works. I mostly spend my time doing art, talking about art, going to art, and when I am not doing that, I play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. I got into the Theatre industry, because I wanted to. It is simply so much fun, I get to do something different every few months. I also deeply care about the community that I am creating art for. I got into arts administration and teaching, because performing wasn’t enough for me. I want to create systemic change and fundamentally make the world a better place, and I truly believe that I can do that by creating art. I love curating a space for artists to do their best work and establishing spaces for the community to meaningfully engage with art in a way that sparks conversations that lead to action.

I specifically work in new play development. Most theatrical works are by playwrights who are dead, and great plays can surpass time, think Romeo and Juliet. Two groups of people who are filled with so much hate for each other, so it leads to their children and bloodlines demise. Most of the time it is directed and produced in a way that doesn’t specifically call out two groups of people, which is fine. But I much prefer the MESSY! I work to produce plays that speak to the NOW. In the Spring of 2024 Local Theater Company produced a play titled 237 Virginia Avenue written by David Myers. It was a play that spoke to gentrification and 400 years of American history on one piece of land. It didn’t shy away from details like scalping for land, slavery, redlining, or gentrification. The point of the play was to point out owning a house is incredibly difficult in America, period. There is also an incredibly long history of blood and greed associated with the land we live on. This is what truthfully sets my work apart from others it is about addressing the hard conversations or untold stories that deserve to be told.

I am most proud of how our work directly impacts our community for this show about land and home ownership we worked with another organization to give a FREE presentation to anyone interested on co-buying homes in our region. I am proud of producing and creating art that strives to challenge and make people think. I believe that art should engage you in a way that makes you become engaged with your community and in turn politics. Mostly because people’s lived experiences are inherently political, so if I do my job correctly a story being told on the stage will help an audience of community members engage.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding part of being a creative is changing someone’s mind. Art is powerful because it speaks to a universal human experience. Great art can impact anyone or everyone. I think it is incredibly powerful when an audience member chats with me after a show, and they have an emotional reaction. Good or bad, but the fact that they felt something was incredible, also an essential part of art. If you don’t feel something what was the point? My favorite part though is when someone feels something that helps them change their mind on something.

My team and I produced three staged readings that were about democracy this last summer. And one of the plays had deeply impacted an audience member who came up to me afterwards and expressed how much she loved it. And how it changed her perspective of how important it was to SEE people and engage with them despite the extra energy and emotional toll it might weigh on her. She stated that she didn’t want to talk to people anymore since their opinions were so different. But it was part of her duty to increase democracy to listen and to also share her opinions. I think what she was trying to get it, is that even though she deeply believes everyone deserves respect and love, she started to dehumanize another group of people for their political beliefs because they caused harm to others. Which I get. It is hard during an election season to engage with politics because it is exhausting. But she said this art made her realize if we don’t engage, if we don’t see them as people, if we just stop connecting it will get worse. Part of the American government is democratic and if we don’t put in the energy into engaging with those around us nothing will get better.

Part of being a creative is having these complicated conversations, and it is difficult at times. But I honestly do believe that it is the most rewarding. Art shouldn’t be consumed alone. Humans are social we should be talking, engaging, and feeling things with other people. Without it we are becoming too individual, which I think makes people less sympathetic to different human experiences. And without that sympathy and understanding, we don’t change, and we become stagnant. Change is one of the most rewarding parts of art.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think non-creatives just have a different sense of values for the arts. I think often as a society we think suffering or hard work will be enough to get us through to our goal. And I think there is something fundamentally wrong with that way of thinking. We should not have to suffer or work ridiculous hours to be a creative. ALL ART HAS VALUE. I don’t think I should have had to work 3-5 jobs for four years to pay for my degree and cost of living as a young artist.

There was a lot of work I did for free in undergrad, or work experience that I even paid for within my degree, so I could be where I am today. I doubt business majors have to pay to get work experience in their field. I think artists are often taken advantage of because they are so passionate about what they do that human societies can convince them that their work isn’t worth being paid, because they aren’t of a “certain caliber”, but I think work is work. People should be paid for their energy and art, and they should be paid a livable wage.

I don’t think non-creatives realize how much hard work, time, and dedication it takes for artists to become exceptional at their craft. I am thinking musical theatre artists on Broadway, because that is what our industry deems as making it as success. (I don’t agree that Broadway is the only level for theatre that means you have made it. Most Broadway level performers are also incredibly privileged.) But what I am trying to get at most Broadway level performers have been dancing since they were 5 years old. Getting private voice lessons since they were 8. And acting for as long as they can remember. They have been honing their craft the majority of their lives. And even then, there aren’t enough jobs or money to go around for performers on the Broadway level for all of them to do it full time.

What I really want people to understand about my journey as a creative is that I worked exceptionally hard. I dedicated years of my life learning and growing as an artist. Over a decade. But my hard work and suffering didn’t equal a job opportunity. It was a vast myriad of things, hard work, dedication, volunteering, improving my resume since I entered college, sleepless nights, networking, knowing the right people, having the right skillset, timing, and so much more. But realistically, I got lucky. I got a job opportunity that has led me to be successful in my artistic field. Many of my peers who are more talented and privileged than me haven’t made it. There simply aren’t enough artistic paid work experiences in my industry. And that is just a truth about how the arts work in America.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: rebelliousartsadmin
• Other: https://www.localtheaterco.org/

Image Credits

Shows: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Identity: An Origin Story, and You Enjoy Myself
Scenic Design: Susan Crabtree & Kevin Nelson
Lighting Desing: Mandy Heath
Companies: MSU Denver Theatre Department & Local Theater Company