A Few Angles on Sustainability for Artists & Creatives

What does it mean and what does it look like in our creative practices, businesses and careers?

Many artists and creatives crave sustainability, whether they are visual artists, makers, performing artists, writers, architects, designers, or other types of practitioners. I’ve coached lots who have sought support at different stages of their creative careers and lives as they work toward building a more sustainable practice or business. Consequently, I’ve learned that sustainability means different things to each of us. What is sustainable to us also shifts with our life circumstances, as well as with our evolving experience and growth, and changes in the world around us.

Financial sustainability is a goal (more often, a necessity) for most of us. Few, if any, artists or creatives rely on a single source of income. Most have to figure out and develop multiple ways of making money that make sense and work together. I often coach creatives to strategize and take steps toward developing various income streams or types of paid work that can contribute to financial stability. This includes early-career professionals just starting out, as well as those further along who have realized that certain aspects of their work are not contributing in the ways they had hoped or when prospects have dwindled for sources they had come to rely on.

Some are looking to generate income in new areas and need support thinking through what to let go of and how to manage that transition without jeopardizing financial stability. At the same time, tumultuous global economics, volatile politics, and rapidly developing technologies are creating seismic shifts in the creative and cultural sectors at large. Artists and creatives must continually reassess how to evolve and adapt in order to build careers that are financially sustainable.

All that said, financial concerns are not always at the top of the list when my clients talk about sustainability in relation to their creative work.

A more sustainable sense of balance is something many artists and creatives I work with want to cultivate. This might mean a better balance of time and energy dedicated to creative practice overall, or a more sustainable relationship between personal creative projects and paid work. It can also involve finding equilibrium across the different aspects of a practice—promoting work, developing skills, conducting research, building networks, in tandem with making and creating.

For others, it’s finding a sustainable balance between creative output, nurturing of ideas, as well as rest and rejuvenation. As a late career creative professional myself, I now better understand how these essential elements are what supports creative work to be sustainable and endure over time.

A sustainable mix of creative forms and modalities is another common theme. Many creatives I coach value working across multiple disciplines or balancing independent and collaborative projects, yet struggle with feeling stretched or pulled in too many directions. The challenge becomes not just doing a variety of work, but doing so in a way that remains focused and energizing rather than depleting.

Sometimes, sustainability is about pace. Building a creative career often requires periods of intense effort, but it’s not possible (or healthy) to operate in “hustle mode” indefinitely. Over time, this approach becomes unsustainable and increases the risk of burnout. Developing awareness of what pace best supports our creative process and how many projects or opportunities we have capacity to take on at once is crucial. I often encourage creatives to think about pace over a longer timeframe—not just day-to-day or week-to-week, but across months or even years. What are the natural cycles? What needs to be planned for, seeded, cultivated, or set aside in order to support a more sustainable creative process, peace of mind and career?

In my coaching work, I may focus on one or two of these angles at a time with the artists and creatives I coach. But ultimately, sustainability is not a fixed destination—it’s an ongoing practice of attention, adjustment, and choice. It asks us to regularly check in with ourselves: What is working? What is no longer working? What needs to shift?

Over the course of a creative career, our answers will change. The conditions around us will change. And we will change. Learning to recognize those shifts and respond to them with clarity and intention is what allows sustainability to take root. Ultimately, this is the capacity that I strive to help all of my creative clients develop.

Photo Credit: Michael Evans

Later in the Month — For Paid Subscribers 

We’ll unpack practices and awareness needed to build and sustain a creative career that lasts and continues to feel fulfilling.

Enjoyed this post? Subscribe to Ways To Be A Creative  my newsletter for artists and creative professionals navigating the inner and outer work of building a creative life and career.

As a Free Subscriber, You’ll Receive:

• Monthly articles like this one on building your creative practice, business, or career

• A holistic perspective rooted in the realities of creative work coming from my own lived experience working in the arts and creative industries and from my work coaching other artists and creatives

• Encouragement and inspiration

• Updates on new programs, workshops, and offers

As a Paid Subscriber - $5/month, You'll Receive:

• Exclusive posts delving deeper into topics to support your professional growth and creative career development

• Full archive access

• Bonus resources, tools and more