Is Community an Enemy of Creativity? Ask your Parents.

In response to Adam Huttler's: http://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/blogs/post/adamthehutt/6621507214327300834

I believe this goes to the root of the problem which is: Can you be active in a community and retain your full-blooded individuality at the same time? Kierkegaard touched upon this again and again in The Present Age, but he never really answered the question.

I don't know either. But I'm seeking to figure it out. And I don't think it's place that causes any of this, it's people who make up the place. The larger cities attract more people due to their largeness, and therefore there is more competition, even in the arts, and therefore there are more losers, and therefore there are more unhappy, potentially lonely people.

In Des Moines there is a population of roughly 200,000 and growing. There is little to no competition here, unless you consider the fact that this is the Insurance capital of the world (sorry Hartford). Not surprisingly, among the arts, there is a sort of harmonious community, albeit small, but it does exist - mostly live music. There is great support for fellow artists here, unlike NYC. In NYC it's not as if we don't want to support each other (well, sometimes, I mean, it is NYC and you have to be cutthroat which is disgusting but true) but we don't have TIME to support each other. We're all working 2 or 3 jobs in order to keep making art and paying rent.

In Des Moines that is not the case. Once I get my theatre going it will be self-sufficient, and I won't have to work at another job. Now I could go the route of charging for theatre, but again, I don't believe art should cost money. And I don't want anyone to give their money either through grant or personal donation (at the beginning this is necessary, but once my startup is over, no more handouts - there's my disclaimer).

But to answer Mr. Huttler's existential question - no. Community is not the enemy of Creativity. The problem is seeking out the CORRECT community in order to inspire creativity. Some communities just aren't cut out for this and die off - like the 1960's, for instance. That grand community served its purpose, and died. Should it have lasted? I don't know. Ask your parents.