My colleagues and I are, rightly, concerned about progress and momentum. Eight Snow Days in two weeks has left every West Michigan choir program–not to mention the musicals, Variety Shows, and AP Classes–in a fairly frightening state of not knowing how to get back on track.
And yet. And yet.
We are in a place of distinct crisis, and we need to look back to the foundational work of Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs, so often referenced and too little considered.
The arts are vital to our society, and to each of us individually, but they sit at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy. When, as now, we face crises, it doesn’t matter how important our work is – it is less important than the physiological and safety needs of our students, colleagues, and selves.
By all means, we can worry about our opening night, about our Festival performance, about our World Premiere in a few weeks. But it’s worth stepping back and remembering that we all–we all–need to meet our basic human needs first before we can even attempt to make the art we seek to make.
As we dig out from an unprecedented weather event in West Michigan – two feet of snow, polar vortex, high-speed thaw, ice storm, 40MPH winds, and on and on – we do well to become comfortable with managing the multilevel concerns of caring for foundational needs and for the artistic goals of our ensembles. Both, at once.