Dr. Jonathan M. Gregoire

On failing systems, fair pay, and what actually comes next for artists. Dear Artist, I can't stop thinking about the systems that are failing. This week, it's another major symphony running out of cash to keep its doors open. The next headline of demise flows right after it. Of course, it’s never just been a music problem, either. The structures we were all trained to aim for are buckling everywhere, for everyone, simultaneously. I'll keep heralding it. But here's the paradox that caught me...

No one talks about how much it hurts to stand up for your rate and still get told no. We've all heard it: Know and charge your worth! Stop undercharging! Good advice. Until you have to actually negotiate it. Because what we don't talk about is what it feels like to name your number and watch someone offer you a fraction of it and call it a compromise, hire someone else, or full-on ghost you. Why they said no to your rate isn't always obvious. Maybe they genuinely wanted you, but budget is too...

"When the environment changes, we have to evolve with it." I have never been so grateful to turn a calendar page. Honestly, what was May? It felt like December, with all the pressure, but none of the holiday magic! And I told myself a beautiful, believable lie for most of it. "Next week it gets better." I genuinely believed it would! Let's just get through Easter. This concert ends next week. Baccalaureate is almost over. Easy. Almost there. And I meant it, right up until about mid-May and I...