First Aid for the Artist's Soul E-Book

Christina Barandun

• Herausgeber: Alexander Verlag Berlin
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 244

Beschreibung

A practical guide for everyone working in the artistic and cultural sector, to help to focus creativity and energy on the most important thing: art! "It is just the right moment for this guide!" Hubert Eckart, German Theater Technology Society In theatres, operas, orchestras and other cultural institutions, artists are constantly under pressure to deliver artistic excellence – despite adverse working conditions, personal challenges and interpersonal conflicts. In this book, theatre and mental coach Christina Barandun provides "first aid" with tips and practical exercises. She shows how artists in their complex, creative and chaotic workplace can better deal with stress and psychological strain, how they can strengthen their resources, their ability to communicate, and how to handle conflict. "Christina Barandun manages to pass on her well-founded specialist knowledge in a practical, lively and creative way. She sees the needs of the individual and does not lose sight of the 'big picture'." Tanja Krischer, German Theatre and Orchestra Association "An effective toolkit for working on and behind the stage." Katrin Reichardt, Aalto Musiktheater Essen "You learn more about yourself and how to deal responsibly with others." Wolfgang Heuer, German Occupational Health and Safety Insurance

Leseprobe

Photo: © Bettina Fürst-Fastré

Christina Barandun, born in 1974, is a theatre scholar and consultant for organisational and employee development as well as corporate health management in theatres. She lives in Bonn, Germany, and works as a coach for executives and teams. In conjunction with exercises from the Japanese martial arts form Aikido, she also holds workshops on stress management, communication and conflict resolution. (www.barandun.de)

Christina Barandun

FIRST AID FOR THE ARTIST’S SOUL

Stress management, communication and conflict resolution in the cultural sector

A Guide

For Yoshi and Daniela – thank you for your ›yes‹.

C. B.

English edition 2021

Original edition

© by Alexander Verlag Berlin 2018

POB 19 18 24, D-14008 Berlin, Germany

www.alexander-verlag.com | [email protected]

All rights reserved.

Proofreading/editing: Christin Heinrichs-Lauer

Translations: Marc Svetov/Jodi Gray

Graphics/layout/cover design: Antje Wewerka

Illustrations: Bettina von Keitz

ISBN 978-3-89581-553-9 (eBook)

Table of contents

Foreword

Introduction: Why endure when you can create?

First Steps Towards a Theatre of the Future

What I’m aiming for with this book

Chapter 1: The Theatre – Lots of Potential for Your Health

The Dilemma of the Artist

The Challenging Work of an Artist

The Myth of the Suffering Artist

Is Artistic Freedom Really Without Boundaries?

The Daily Theatre Madness

Workplace and work organisation

Social structures and relationships

Health Protection as an Opportunity

What is health?

Work protection – to help and support you

When stresses and strains overburden our psyche

A great opportunity for artists

Mental Training for the High-Performance Sport of Art

There is No Such Thing as Impossible!

Chapter 2: The Power of Self-efficacy

Stop Playing the Victim!

The feeling of artistic powerlessness

Between security and artistic recognition

Taking a Stance: The Philosophy of Martial Arts

Budo – the Japanese martial arts philosophy

“It’s up to me how I react”

Assuming Responsibility for Yourself

In the Flow: The Ideal State for Artistic Creation

Be active in creating

The Art of Influence

From powerlessness to self-determination with meaningful goals

What is “good” art?

From paralysing competitiveness to learning and growing

Creating trust

Intrinsic Motivation as the Main Asset of a Theatre

Motivation from within: a precious gift

Feeding the source

Our built-in change engine

Chapter 3: Our Brain and its Creative Potential

Tapping into our unlimited potential

Long-term changes must be holistic

An eternal exchange

Neuroplasticity: changeability throughout life

When stress blocks my potential

The ideal stress level for every task

The built-in biological alarm system

The individual assessment is what counts

For new things to evolve in theatre…

Chapter 4: Methods for Coping with Stress

The art of mindfulness

What is mindfulness?

Recovery methods: How do I “come down” after a stressful situation?

When you are hyped up…

Active physical activities – bodywork for art

The art of taking a break

Passive relaxation methods

Active relaxation methods

Rest – the anchor in everyday life

Healthy diet

Mental training: How do I rate outer and inner stimuli?

The power of thought

Getting to know our inner critics – and reeducating them

Look for the positives while practising healthy realism

Seeing what’s good in theatre

Dare to fail in order to grow – visions of the future

Seeing strengths

Set yourself achievable goals

Acceptance and courage

Don’t take it personally!

Avoid bitching

Mutual support and appreciation

Planning for the future

Personal superstition

Don’t pursue perfectionism – develop your own thing instead

Keep to and set boundaries

What, no suffering? Discover the pleasure of flow

Maintain a sense of humor

Stimulus management: How do I reduce stimuli that trigger stress right from the outset?

The time stress factor

Where has the time gone?

Clear out

Define priorities

Set up a time window

Say no and set limits

Cultivate your social network

Baby steps

Meaning of life instead of longing for love

Chapter 5: Appreciative Communication

What is Communication?

What comes across?

Do I mean what I say? – the right choice of words

The great importance of the emotional level

Cultivate an awareness of “communicative fallibility”

Every point of view is legitimate

The soliloquy

Non-verbal communication

The language of the stage is body language

Power of body language

Basic Techniques of Verbal Communication

The communication bridge: the sender side

The what and the how · Only talk about what’s relevant · Reasons · Transmit and repeat important information · Choosing the right time and place · Give feedback · Inner attitude · Feedback rules · Eye-opener in difficult situations

The communication bridge: the recipient side

The art of listening · Active listening or understanding others · Bear in mind the value of the message · Assume a positive intention · Just say thanks!

The transforming power of appreciation

Every emotion is right to begin with

Who started it?

Let tolerance grow

Seeing what’s good or Why is it so hard to praise?

Assume responsibility for your own actions

Communication as a daily challenge

Chapter 6: Handling conflicts constructively

Conflict as an opportunity

Conflicts built into the structure of the theatre

Conflicts are good

Three steps towards conflict resolution – strategies of self-control

Step 1: Keep Calm

Stable footing · Body alignment and posture · Slow down · Exhale consciously

Step 2: Develop an understanding of the situation

Our constructions of reality · Important signposts: our emotions · Accepting emotions · The power of empathy · Criticism as constructive feedback · Confidently defend your own point of view · Humour · Building trust

Step 3: Finding win-win solutions

What’s most important: Appreciation on a human level · Mustering patience for finding a common path · Being open to new things · Activating creativity · Accepting change as an everyday occurrence

A question of inner attitude

Setting your own code

Positive, solution-oriented basic attitude

Practise wisdom

An eternal process – patience and calmness

Chapter 7: Mastery of the Self

Forging artistic talent

The Japanese tradition of the arts and crafts

Beyond the visible and beyond perfection – yugen and wabisabi

Art pathways

Art as a craft

Practice as a mindset

Rituals as forms of immersion

The “released” artist – a pathforger?

The art of letting go

Foreword

“I no longer feel so helpless and at the mercy of life’s adversities! It feels good to have ‘tools’ and thus the opportunity to improve something, make life a little easier, a little more joyful!”, a chorister wrote to me after a workshop I had given at a theatre on the subject of “stress management”.

This feedback made me very happy. In my life and in my work as a trainer and coach, I deal with a wide range of people, and experience daily how merely by redirecting our way of thinking and our inner perceptions we can change many things, even though conditions be ever so rigid and adverse. The fact that artists were able to apply this learning successfully within the hierarchical and rigid structures of the theatre reassured and inspired me to focus even more on collaboration with cultural institutions.

If we want to preserve our “German theatre and orchestra landscape”, we must transfer the theatrical structures into the twenty-first century. Although envied and admired by many and nominated by Germany for the international UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage,1 our German theatre system has in actual fact been in a crisis for quite some time now: underfunding, high illness rates and crushing overwork have created the feeling that it may collapse at any moment.

The social change currently taking place is radical and sometimes frightening, but these new perspectives are opening up exciting possibilities for redesigning creative workplaces, for example as self-organising companies. Theatre could even be a pioneer in the cultural sector in this respect.

In the large theatre-related institutions, potential methods of change are being discussed extensively. At individual theatres, initial structural changes are being implemented, but until they actually take effect, co-workers and artists in the theatres continue to suffer.

With this book, I want to offer artists pragmatic help to find greater self-efficacy2 and satisfaction in the here and now, and within the currently difficult structures. At the same time, I hope that this growing self-efficacy of everyone involved in the artistic operations at the theatre will drive the transformation from the inside, preparing a fertile ground for future necessary changes.

_____

1The application for the nomination of the “German theatre and orchestra landscape” as an immaterial cultural heritage was submitted to UNESCO. The decision will be made in 2021. So far, Germany’s theatre and music landscape has only one entry on the German List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. (See https://www.unesco.de/)

2The concept of self-efficacy expectations was developed by the Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura in the 1970s.

Introduction:Why endure when you can create?

Talented young artists,1 fresh from university, usually get a loud wake-up call when they start their first job in theatre. Once confronted with the day-to-day operation of a theatre, the holy aura and utopian visions of collaborative artistic creation fade rapidly: when scenes are reordered just before opening night, when senior members of the ensemble ‘assert their authority’ in subtle and not so subtle ways, when they find their strong, new ideas are ignored or nipped in the bud and first signs of fatigue crop up after months of tightly packed rehearsals and performance dates, having eaten nothing but fast food; when the fear of failure rears its ugly head, blackouts occur and they can’t remember the last time they spoke to their best friend…

The theatre “slowly eats you up”, and you don’t live in a cloud of creative bliss, as you had imagined; instead you “survive” somehow in a permanent state of mental and physical overload. The difficulties of the current situation for artists engaged at theatres cannot be overstated. When choosing our profession and considering its negatives, we might think about the issues that specifically affect theatre artists, e.g. how to deal with stage fright or accepting that you work evenings and nights, something not conducive to a regular family life. What we might not have anticipated are the myriad other, more general grievances, e.g. poorly ventilated, narrow rehearsal spaces, poor leadership behaviour, or unnecessary extra work because internal communication is not working.

Fleeing into self-employment is not a solution either because, firstly, it doesn’t change anything in the theatre system, whose transformation must come from within; and secondly, we are just as likely – if not more so – to push ourselves beyond our limits when working independently.

A society that wants to experience art should not allow artists to exploit themselves for our sake and the sake of art, risking their health. The economic damage would be enormous. Both the theatres as employers and the artists themselves should therefore reach an understanding that they too need working conditions and structures in which they can unfold and sustainably develop their full artistic power.

Fortunately, the people responsible at the theatres are gradually trying to do something about these conditions. Slowly and cautiously, issues are rethought and action is initiated, not least because by now the legal provisions, e.g. in occupational health and safety law, have been tightened. This is quite a challenge for theatres because in many ways a career in the theatre does not lend itself to having a healthy “work-life balance”, as defined in health protection laws. Up to now, this fact was also the reason often proffered for not being able to change anything: “That doesn’t work in the theatre. Everything’s different there.” – Well. Sure.

It is different, but that fact does not have to stand in the way of new developments and positive changes. Where is creative change possible if not at the place where each season numerous new productions are created? In the opera, up to two hundred people work on and behind the stage to achieve a coordinated, accomplished performance in no more than eight weeks. In an environment that is used to creating something as structurally complex as an opera, it should be feasible to optimise the overall structure of operations creatively.

If you look at the current development of work and organisation in the economy, you can easily identify healthy, motivating working practices that could certainly be transferred to the theatre. However, due to the necessary, constant fluctuation of its workforce, it is important that specific solutions are developed for the cultural sector.

First Steps Towards a Theatre of the Future

Theatre draws attention to the increasing dehumanising disconnect in society, but if it wants to remain vital and relevant, it has to be a living vision of a better society. The fixed, hierarchical structures within the theatre industry are insufficient to achieve this, as the process of change demands openness and creativity – qualities that (should) define theatre at its core – on all sides and at all levels. Throughout the world, experiments with progressive organisational structures are being made, with their key facets being self-organising companies and agility.2

Our common long-term goals in theatre should be to improve the institutional conditions, to boost the self-efficacy of individuals, and strengthen communication and conflict-resolution skills in order to create a step-by-step framework in which creativity can unfold to its full potential. We should develop a working structure that actually serves art – theatre as an art forge, in which the “what” is mirrored in the “how” – theatre as a creatively operational work of art in itself.

What I’m aiming for with this book

This book offers ideas about what we, as individuals working in theatre, can contribute to digging out entrenched structures and transforming them into creativity-fostering working conditions. A system as complex as the theatre industry can only be changed with small, active steps, so our individual contributions are incredibly valuable – the more among us who opt to embark on this journey, the greater our power will be. And as an eternal truth puts it so well: Every journey begins with a first step.

In this book, I will give you background information, suggestions and pragmatic tips for how you can take care of yourself in your everyday artistic life, how you can optimise your workplace with your own efforts, and how you might find a new attitude towards your work. The aim is to give the artistic creativity within us a protected space; a space in which we can abandon our fears, vanities, uncertainties, our shying away from conflicts or our combativeness (and other problems when dealing with others), and give free rein again to our inner creative capacity.

In the first chapter, I address the issue of “theatre as a workplace”, and describe where there is valuable potential to make it creative and nourishing for the artist. In order to develop this potential, there is a need for self-efficacy, which is described in the second chapter; the knowledge that often far more depends on us than we think. And in order to support self-efficacy, the next four chapters contain further information, pragmatic tips, advice and exercises about how to make a demanding, communication-packed everyday life more relaxed, healthier and ultimately more effective. I’m going to show what creative (brain) potential is still waiting to be exploited by us in order to deal with stress skillfully, along with techniques for stress and conflict management.

In the final chapter, I want to re-examine the idea of genius, and motivate readers to explore the mindset of an artistic craftwork. A holistic mindset that allows the artist to be as creative, comprehensive, moving, touching and spiritual, but does not demand that ‘the fire of the artist quickly consumes itself’ and instead is characterised by the artist continuously working on himself in a healthy way, appreciating the gift of artistic creativity.

Paths to satisfaction

In addition to specific and practical exercises in Chapters 4, 5 and 6, a summary of tips and advice is included at the end of each chapter. At this point, I’d like to point out that you do not need to try and implement all the exercises and suggestions at once – it won’t work and might only demotivate you!

This leads us on to my first tip: Let your interests guide you. Start with just one exercise from the book and see what changes. Experience teaches us that from the first step there will come a logical second step. Since all things are connected, a positive change in one area will automatically impact all others.

A final note: Ostensibly I’m dealing with “performing artists” and their “art”, so the specific examples I use may not be directly applicable to the equally important technical and administrative fields. But of one thing I’m certain: All employees of an enterprise in the cultural sector are artists. All belong to a large, special community that creates art and makes art happen; all deserve appreciation and recognition in equal measure. As such, these areas not explicitly mentioned will still benefit from the tips and exercises in this book

I wish you much joy on your personal journey of discovery!

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1For reasons of readability, the male form is mainly used in the book; the female form is always also addressed (note of the editor).

2“Agility is the ability of teams and organisations to act in an uncertain, changing and dynamic environment with resilience and flexibility and speed. To this end, agility uses various methods that make it easier for people to behave in such a way.” Svenja Hofert: Agiler führen: Einfache Maßnahmen für bessere Teamarbeit, mehr Leistung und höhere Kreativität, Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler, 2016; Kindle version, Kindle positions 687–689. In addition, I would like to point to the exciting book by Frederic Laloux: Reinventing organisations (Munich: Franz Vahlen Verlag, 2015), which is about new forms of organisation.

Chapter 1:

The Theatre – Lots of Potential for Your Health

Let’s first take a look at the full extent of artistic work behind the scenes, and the challenges we’re confronted with on ‘the other side of the portal’ day after day. Looking at the theatre as a working environment can help us determine with greater accuracy where there is potential for change, and for the design of a healthy and creative workplace.

The Dilemma of the Artist

In the theatre, artists are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. They’re sandwiched between a creative, sensitive work task and the often gruelling working conditions. As the image below shows, an artist must be sensitive and, at the same time, have a “thick skin”; in other words, he must be both sensitive as an artist and strong as a person. It works, no doubt of it. However, a “thick skin” – which in its positive version I interpret as grounded in self-confidence, easygoing poise, a high level of empathy, appreciative, polite conduct with others and sound capacity to deal with conflict – is often less strongly developed than excessive sensitivity.

As the communication expert Friedemann Schulz von Thun describes1 any virtue or quality that is fostered in a one-sided way will turn into a devalued exaggeration if the twin virtue balancing it is not correspondingly fostered.

For artists, this means: If only sensitivity and self-centred delicateness is fostered, a volatile, egocentric lump of emotions will emerge. Conversely, an artist whose skin is too thick will make a rigid, inflexible, uniform and colourless impression, and move the audience little on an emotional level, like an artistic steam roller.

These two twin virtues of the artist – “sensitivity” and “strength as a person” – must be developed in tandem. Since the former is the main focus of the artist’s training, the other side, the “strength as a person”, is our subject.

Dilemma of the artist

The Challenging Work of an Artist

What is the work task of the artist, and what challenges does it entail? The greatest challenge an actor is exposed to is the fact that he is his own work tool; not a work of art made from stone, steel or wood stands on the stage, but a human being with charisma, a personality, a body and a psyche. The character he plays is represented by his own self, so it is hardly surprising that the private personality flows into the role. Experiences from private life are commonly employed on the stage as raw working material.

From a neurobiological point of view, an emotion is an emotion, even if it is only pretended. Embodiment theory (which examines the interaction of body and psyche) has shown that a play-acted good mood, even the artificial grimace of a smile, can trigger corresponding positive feelings; in the same way, the physical presentation of negative thoughts can trigger negative feelings –emotions on the stage and real emotions cannot be separated. In Asian drama traditions, the actor’s body acts as a projection surface for the audience – but even here, with the focus is on physicality, emotions are provoked.2

When an actor is not fully committed to his performance – that is, when his character is feeling something contrary to his own emotions – or is having to display negative emotions repeatedly and accurately during a long run of a play, the work can be both mentally and physically stressful.

This highly emotional use of the psyche is a basic work tool of artists, but a healthy, self-protecting way to deal with the strain this can put on an actor is seldom even discussed at schools or theatres, let alone treated as a subject for study. Quite the contrary: The focus is often on “baring” one’s soul, underpinned by the idea that a transgression of boundaries is necessary for an artist. At this point, I’d like to make a comparison with the Japanese martial arts form Aikido, which I have been practising and teaching for many years now. Many actors likely know Aikido’s physical exercises. In the martial arts, which focus just as much on how to deal with emotions – albeit only with negative ones, e.g. fears, uncertainty and aggression – dealing with the psyche is again and again addressed during training. In my lessons, I attach great importance to a precise self-assessment, as well as the perception of one’s own mental state and how to deal with it. This is because it can be highly dangerous to lose a grip on your own psyche. In no time at all, a shoulder might be broken, an arm dislocated, your neck twisted. In its extreme situation, the training of Aikido has shown me how much we can harm ourselves and others when we don’t deal with our emotions consciously; at the same time, it showed me the enormous energy potential opening up when we have a grip on our emotions, or at least are able to acknowledge them.

While the training of one’s own psyche is one aspect of martial arts, the challenge for an actor is even greater: He has to separate his psyche from the psyche of his role, but keep the barrier between them permeable for cross-fertilisation. If this enormous mental achievement has not been practised and developed over the years, given changing challenges and experience, it’s of no surprise when a wavering and patchy self-esteem ensues. When I internalise the character and it gets me down, I’ll take this negative mood with me into my private life. If the role is successful for one night, I’m euphoric. If it bombs, it depresses me, even if it was probably not the fault of the role but more to do with the subjective attitude of the audience – and if I completely identify with my role, my self-esteem is just as wounded as if it were a slight upon me, myself.

Separating the work tool from the person is difficult in the context of art because the work tool is the person. It is vital, then, for artists to master a skilled way of dealing with their psyche – especially considering the segregated nature of current working structures within theatre.

The Myth of the Suffering Artist

I would like to dispel a myth that haunts the art world and is often cited as an argument for why a certain amount of damaging pressure must be borne: In order to be successful, an artist must suffer.

Anyone who works creatively in any way knows exactly how detrimental existential fears or the worry of not being able to pay the rent can be to creativity. If an artist is able to suppress these fears and still be creative, we find that it is his mental achievement to be successful despite adverse circumstances. There are countless others, though, who perished due to this suffering, who were inhibited to such a degree that they didn’t even have a chance, and were never able to unfurl their inner creativity. These would-be artists are not given much attention in our society.3

Of course, an artist must and should meet challenges, and as long as they are of an invigorating kind in a protected environment, creative people will open up with great pleasure. The idea that our talents and abilities as artists can only unfold when we wallow and suffer in melancholy, despair and gloom is simply wrong, and destroys the artist as a source of creativity rather than bringing him to maturity. This type of experience allows him to mature only if he possesses a great amount of mental fortitude.

Recent research on motivation and creativity shows just how unhelpful anxiety and depression are. Despite its dependence on a flexible, playful way of thinking, creative work still needs to be undertaken with an orderly and structured mindset, which is antithetical to a mindset paralysed by fears, or made sluggish through exhaustion.

When a conductor or director calls out a singer or actor for a lack of commitment using insults and contemptuous remarks, it is not a sign of skill but simply of poor leadership and a lack of insight into human nature. There will, of course, be members of the chorus, ensemble or orchestra who don’t seem to contribute much to the success of the whole production, but behind this lies another structural problem. Each of these artists will have trained as a soloist, so their current position makes them feel unchallenged and unappreciated. Their lack of effort can’t be remedied with pressure and insults on an artistic level, as they already feel they are without dignity. Dealing with a lack of motivation is a typical leadership issue that requires social skills and a basic knowledge of organisational psychology – skills that up to now have been little developed in the artistic area of theatres.

And yes: Watch out when you choose a profession! An artist’s life is a life of extremes. Increasingly it requires techniques of protection, like a mountain climber taking ropes and carabiners with him to protect life and limb. If we want to preserve artistic creativity in society, and safeguard the arts in general, we need to pay attention to this need for protection. Why shouldn’t it be possible to create a balanced artistic working practice, so that the mental health of our artists is maintained without their multifaceted brilliance being lost?

Suffering is no guarantee for success, and if the hoped-for success doesn’t materialise, an artist should at least still have his health.

Is Artistic Freedom Really Without Boundaries?

Another Get Out of Jail Free card that creative executives like to play is the much-touted concept of artistic freedom, according to the maxim: In the name of the artistic freedom, a conductor or director is allowed to get away with just about anything – throwing stands, attacking people verbally, giving free rein to their (usually negative) feelings. These central figures of a stage production can keep an entire establishment and its several hundred employees in suspense, or even in terror. Whether “stars” or not, artistic leaders are given a great deal of power under the banner of artistic freedom. And even if “artistic efforts based on collaboration” is set up as an ideal, in cases of doubt, it’s the star’s own artistic will that ultimately everyone be forced to follow. Because how would you dare to constrain the artistic process of a “genius”?

Two elements are mixed here, though – the stage work and the rehearsals, i. e. the creative process. What’s visible on the stage is one thing: the work itself should be artistically free, even though this freedom is necessarily restricted by various fundamental rights, such as the inviolability of the individual.

The creative process during rehearsals is quite a different matter. Artistic collaboration is clearly subject to the provisions of health and safety at work, and here the stipulation that the mental health of employees must not be put at risk applies. The work process and the protection of the physical and, above all, mental health of workers must not be undermined, even in artistic enterprises.