An honest review on being an artist during COVID-19: 3 starts, slightly unsatisfied

I know. It’s a higher rating than you were expecting right? You’re probably wondering how a GLOBAL PANDEMIC can be given any rating over 1 star.

Let me explain.

One month before the pandemic I was energized. I was excited. I was planning. I was ready to move forward with creative guns blazing and wow 2020 with all I had to offer! And then COVID-19 happened.

The pandemic hit everyone one way or another, but being an artist during the outbreak is a whole other beast. Performances and events were canceled with no plan for rescheduling, thus contracts were cancelled. People who previously were ready to invest in custom pieces and specialty costumes now had to allot those funds to other areas of their lives. 

On top of that my secondary form of income was temporarily cut off. 

I was forced into a corner, with little if any options. I felt incredibly non-essential and my work meaningless in a world literally just trying to survive. What was I supposed to do? I sure as hell wasn’t just going to sit by and wait for it all to be over (I’ve got issues with manic productivity, I’m working on it guys). That meant my only option was to adapt, but how?

I had a couple things going for me: I had a home office up and running, I'd been sourcing materials virtually for years, I already had a social media plan (even if it was kinda obsolete at this point), I knew a lot of people in the same boat as me.  

So I started creating. 

COVID-19 gave me an excuse to have passion projects again.

Up until this point I was nearly exclusively working on projects for theatres and clients or content creation. To get my creative juices flowing, I created a Sewist Quarantine Challenge with 10 sewing challenges to complete during the time I was stuck at home (see previous blog post). I shared it on my Instagram, and you know what? People liked it. People even started participating! But more importantly it gave me a reason to create and interact with the creative people around me, even if it was only virtually. 

I did not finish the challenge and I am proud to say it is because I became too busy with projects. I started making fabric face masks to donate and then started taking orders as well. This became my main source of income the first month that we were shut down. I gained three NEW CLIENTS the following month, right before the state slowly started to reopen. I booked two contracts with a theatre for their future season. 

I was booking more projects than the three months prior to the outbreak. HOW? WHY? Here are my thoughts….

I forced myself to create and I loved it. For the first time in a long time I could put all (and I mean ALL) my energy into my business as a costume designer and creative entrepreneur. The passion I was putting into my projects, though personal, was visible to those scrolling through their social media. I was creating things that were making me happy and I could create things to make other people happy too. 

So overall, yes COVID-19 was stressful (and still can be). I missed my family and friends. I missed experiences. But it also forced me to grow and expand as an artist. And truth be told, I don’t know that I would be in the same place I am today without it. That’s the funny thing about misfortune, it has the full potential to turn into something unexpected. 

Final rating on being an artist during COVID-19: worth experiencing once, learned a lot, but won’t be returning until management resolves some issues.

I am happy to say that all those passion projects have blossomed into an Etsy Shop, launching August 10th! You can find more details on my Instagram @atrombo.creative.