We were lucky to catch up with Tim Falvey recently and have shared our conversation below.
Tim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?
Leaving traditional work to pursue a passion and develop my craft as a performing artist has been an immense emotional and material risk. I left a steady, 40-hr/week career-track government career to pursue music as my career in 2017 and I have devotedly worked an average of 60-hours/week as an artist since then. My primary work involves live performance, studying, networking, bookkeeping, and promotion. Secondary and tertiary work functions include social media management, musical practice, writing, business training, traveling, etc. Although I have been a full-time musician for almost 6 years, I have hardly been able to make ends meet from my creative work without public assistance. My professional efforts have turned a profit for most of the last six years, but I have not been able to bridge the gap between my financial needs and financial wherewithal for most of this time. In leaving a safe career with all-but-guaranteed security, my emotional posture has been to achieve great things as a creator — including financial stability. I’ve mitigated a lot of the financial risk involved in decision through a feverish work ethic, but up to this point, work ethic alone has not made ends meet.
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?
I’m a full-time musician whose roots are firmly planted in street-performance. I’ve cut my teeth as songwriter and performer on sidewalk squares, subway tiles, street corners, and park benches throughout the country. My music project is a tribute to these roots — primarily, to the countless hours of music I’ve performed on a particular park bench at Waterfront Park in my home of Charleston, South Carolina.
In my tenure, I’ve performed alone to empty city parks, I’ve performed for thousands of passersby at a city market, I’ve played for free at untold dozens of open mic nights in the US and Europe, and I’ve performed for private clients at $500/hr.
Regardless of the crowd or the pay, I’ve always relished live performance.
My years of development as a folk storyteller have been geared toward reestablishing my solo acoustic guitar & harmonica act into a full rock band. The band Uncle Tim’s Bench is poised to release our first single at the end of this year and we’re posturing to record our first album starting in early 2023. Imagine Cat Stevens singing Counting Crows with the energy of Third Eye Blind as the backing band.
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’ve been offered every financial reason to quit as a full-time artist. I’ve lived in mathematical poverty for much of my tenure as a full-time artist. I have zero guarantee of professional success for both the long- and near-term. I am qualified, educated, and experienced in several traditional career tracks that offer predictability and security.
But I’m not seeking immediate financial fortune — rather, I aspire to create a sustainable social framework for proliferating my stories through song (and in ultimately proliferating my music, financial fortune may be viable). And I’m not seeking a guarantee from my career regarding success — rather, I aspire to challenge the odds stacked against me by resourcefully, creatively, and voraciously applying myself as an entrepreneur. I’m not seeking the safety of a traditional career track — I aspire to leverage every skill and lesson I’ve acquired outside of my artistic work to create my own empire.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I don’t have an expectation for society to develop my art as a sustainable component of commercial industry. But my craft as an original storyteller who dreams of performing my poetry through song with a rock band has shown signs of market viability. I care for audiences to consume my music — so my focus in the genesis of my career has been to perfect my skill as an engaging performer and to sculpt my stories into palatable songs. As I pivot and redevelop my brand into a full band, my responsibility will be in catalyzing relationships with music industry professionals and market experts to entice consumers with my offerings. It’s my responsibility as a creator to hone my craft and build relationships — not society’s responsibility. There’s a magic to art as I know it that probably wouldn’t thrive if it success was granted to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.UncleTimsBench.com
- Instagram: UncleTimsBench
- Facebook: UncleTimsBench
- Twitter: UncleTimsBench
- Youtube: Uncle Tim’s Bench
Image Credits
Kenneth Fleetwood Josh Benser Ken Pao