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Audacity Works
Audacity Works
Amateur vs. Professional: wtf does it actually mean
Instagram post and heartfelt answers from readers
In episode 47 of Audacity Works, we're going to challenge the status quo, examining the loaded implications and the undeserved hierarchy the labels of "professional" and "amateur" have built in our world. Let's shed light on why these labels are less stigmatizing in sectors like sports, and come to our own conclusions. I also wanna take a second to decouple 'professional' from its accrued connotations of moral superiority, technical skill, and commitment.
I'd also like to celebrate the amateur artist, hobbyist and the recreational artist, acknowledging their immense contribution to the arts spectrum. This episode is an invitation for us to redefine these labels autonomously, eroding their oppressive power and recognizing the inherent value in all forms of artistic expression.
Don't go back to sleep.
xoRachel
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Welcome to Audacity Works, a podcast inspired by and dedicated to the working artist, the creative entrepreneur and generally doing the damn thing. This exists on the premise that the world belongs to those who have the audacity to believe that their lives have value. This is for you. Welcome to Audacity Works. I am your host, rachel Strickland, and this is episode number 47, in which we're tackling the question of what separates the amateur from the professional. So I had my ideas on this already, but I was like you know what? What the hell? I'm gonna ask the internet and I posted it on Instagram and I got a lot of answers and I'm gonna. I'll link that in the show notes if you want to read. I got some really beautifully written answers and I encourage you to go and read them.
Speaker 1:It's always interesting to see people's takes on this thing. I suspected that it was a loaded question and spoiler alert. I was right, and I also got a couple of DMs from people like why? Why are you asking this question? Like who cares? They didn't say it like that. That would be rude, but I did get a couple of questions like oh, what's the value in asking for this distinction? And this is my answer to that the value in this distinction between investigating these two words and what we attach to them is because I feel that these words are weaponized and used to invoke a sense of shame, hierarchy and gatekeeping that aren't beneficial. Also because I have a microphone and I don't like it when people make other people feel like shit. This is not directed at anyone, it's just something that I notice the words professional and amateur and I was like, okay, can we just back up and look at this through the lens of another industry? And like, okay, where else are these two words used to be? Like this goes here and this goes here? And I looked at sports ball. That just means sports. I don't know anything about sports, but I know that these two things are clearly delineated.
Speaker 1:So I looked up the definition, I Googled it, and it was very clear and very black and white. And a professional receives money for their participation in a discipline and the amateur does that same discipline but does not receive money for their participation, and there was no other assigned value in that definition. It was very straightforward, it was divorced from emotion and I was like, okay, well, that makes sense, because that is my definition of a distinction between amateur and professional. There is no moral value implied in either of those words to me no superiority, no inferiority. But that's not how they're being used in arts, and particularly in performing arts, and that's why I wanted to talk about it.
Speaker 1:So I went back to Google. I'm like, okay, I've got this very clear black and white definition that I agree with. Now, what if I put the word arts into this, google search? And my God, how the tables turned and suddenly it wasn't about a distinction between two different groups of people of equal value, but it became just so loaded with not only implications of moral value but a social hierarchy, varying levels of dedication and commitment, not to mention technical skill level, and I just don't think it's true. So let's investigate, okay, the reason that I like to frame and want to offer as a perspective, just a very clear black and white delineation professional means receiving money for your discipline, career means not receiving money for your discipline, and that there is no implication of value.
Speaker 1:And I want to talk about this because the word amateur is not a bad word. It should not be used as an insult. It just means someone who does that discipline and doesn't try to get paid for it, doesn't want to Also the words hobbyist and recreational artist not bad words, not insults, but they're used that way and it's not a word, it's covert, it's implied and everyone picks up on that implication. And I want to take a second to say thank you to all of the amateur artists, recreational artists and hobbyists that have given us so many gifts. There are so many resources that we have in this industry that would never have come to be if the only people putting their fingers into the cookie jar were those that wanted to be paid for it, because there are a lot less of those people, but when you include everyone that wants to participate in other ways, that's a lot of people, and that meant more resources and it meant more creators, creating resources for those people that the professionals benefited from as well. It meant resources created for the professionals that the amateurs benefited from as well. We've all benefited from each other and, of course, there's a lot of like in my Google searches and answers that I got on Instagram and in private DMs.
Speaker 1:It is very clear that, because of the way that these words have been used over the I don't know our lifetimes, like I said, the implications are picked up on by everyone and it seems clear that everyone wants to be seen as professional or a professional and no one wants to be seen as an amateur. And that's not true in other industries. If you're an amateur, you're not like ashamed of it, you're just like, yeah well, I'm an amateur Frisbee golf champion, like awesome. I don't know what that means because I don't know what Frisbee golf is, but good on you. But in the arts and in performing arts the implication is that if you're an amateur you have less dedication, less skill, you're less committed, and I don't think that word means that at all. The reason I don't is because I've known many amateur artists that are excellent technicians, better than many professionals that I know their dedication, some of them better than the professionals that I know their. So their skill level, their commitment, how they've dedicated their lives to their discipline. It wasn't dependent on getting paid for it.
Speaker 1:And another little sticky part of the slope within the distinction between these two words is that when people hear professional even though not technically, just means that you're receiving money in return for your participation, it's not taken that way, it's taken as a code of conduct, because that word can also be used to describe a code of conduct, but those distinctions aren't made in speech, so it gets really muddy. You can behave professionally and act in a professional code of conduct and still be a recreational artist. You can throw a temper tantrum on stage or backstage and be a professional who's getting paid for their work even though you're behaving very unprofessionally. I have seen more temper tantrums thrown by professionals than amateurs. So I think it's important to distinguish what we're talking about when we use these words. Which brings me to my next question.
Speaker 1:My good friend, alec, brought this up on the Instagram thread and he was like is there value? Like, is this even useful to use these words Like why do we need to make these distinctions? And I don't think we do. I don't think it's useful. I don't think it's useful at all. The reason that I'm talking about it is because, even though I don't think they're very useful terms, I think they're going to be used. I think they're going to be used about you and on you, and therefore it's worth having the conversation over, because if you've taken the time to come to your own conclusions about what these words mean to you, then it makes it more difficult for you to be harmed if someone tries to use them in a weaponized way against you and it makes it easier for you to neutralize harm that can be done to others under those same circumstances.
Speaker 1:And you may be picking up on the fact that it seems like I resent the word professional and well spotted. I do, and the reason is not from anything that's been done personally to me, but in how that word tends to affect people, because they want to be seen as professional and that they're behaving in a way that is described as professional, professional code of conduct. But the problem is that that word has not been deconstructed well in our industry at all. It's been thrown around with a sense of moral value attached to it, so no one really knows what it means to be professional. For example, as part of the Audacity Project, I make people reach out to scary people and ask for things, to introduce themselves, and if you've never done this before, it is very terrifying.
Speaker 1:And people will compose a draft of this email, they'll send it to me and they'll be like I wanted to sound professional. How does it sound? And I'm like honestly, it's not incorrect, but it doesn't sound like you, because in an effort to appear professional and to be granted that crown of achievement like, hey, you behaved professionally. All the personality was leached out of their communication. And these are people on the other end of these emails. They're just people with buttholes and opinions like everyone else, and it's not really in service of that artist reaching out in this way, deemed, you know quote unquote professional, because it's not going to get a better result. The better result would be to write an email as a human being to incorporate your personality. That gets better responses.
Speaker 1:So it's not in service of a professional career where you want to be, you know, given money in exchange for your participation and your discipline to be quote unquote professional in that way. And the fact that no one has said like you need to be more professional. It was just understood, it was subconsciously understood that to behave in a professional way meant to behave with no personality and using only formal speak, something that could have easily gone into a contract. It was subconsciously understood that that was preferable, even though it isn't going to get a better result. The fact that it's subconsciously understood like that means that it was put there on purpose and it seems to be a really subversive way to control how people are behaving, even though it doesn't work and okay.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I guess there is something personal for me that makes me resent these words, because I've also been told that my materials like here a photo that I had taken and edited by a professional that means I paid them not that they were good, even though he was, and it was a headshot and I was told by a very fancy coach that I was working with that it was unprofessional because you could see like an eighth of an inch of implied breast tissue. I'm talking about cleavage and I don't really have cleavage. It's not like a thing for me. But there was, I don't know, like a shadow that proved that I had boobs and she was like that makes it unprofessional. And it's like so unhappy about that comment, like I didn't even have the presence of mind to unravel that in the moment and I showed it to a couple of my friends and they're like someone told me this was unprofessional and that's really irritating and I can't decide why. And they're like I know why it's not unprofessional to have a body. It's not like you were wearing pasties in the picture, which, by the way, can also be professional depending on your profession.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, the whole thing bugs me, the way that the word professional is used to imply moral value, and the way that amateur is thrown as though an insult, it just bothers me, and I wanted to offer my own perspective, which is to really simplify these terms and to like one receives money for their participation and one doesn't, and that doesn't imply moral value. It's not necessarily desirable to get paid for your participation in your discipline. That's your choice. There are lots of other ways to participate in your culture and if you are a professional, you do receive money for your participation in your discipline. And someone calls you an amateur, that doesn't have to bother you, because you know that it's not accurate. It's just an inaccurate use of the word. So that is my proposed solution. You will come to your own conclusions and you should, because that's why I'm recording this episode so that we can make our own choices about how these words are used and also see the ways that they can be used with intent to harm or subvert or control.
Speaker 1:There may be something else that we can take away from this conversation as a need for more and better words. You know one of the greatest compliments I ever heard a teacher give a student. I was at the Irish Aerial Dance Festival and I was teaching with a master teacher not teaching with them, I was learning from them and English was his second language. And to a friend of mine, a very accomplished aerialist, he just like gestured to her at the end of class because he'd been using her to demonstrate some things that were very difficult and he just wanted to acknowledge her and say thank you for being here, you're very high level. And he said that a couple of times. He was like very high level and I had been so used to people using the term professional instead of anything else and it just stuck in my head. Obviously it was like I don't know 12, 13, 14 years ago, and there was no misunderstanding there and other people in the class didn't feel low level. They just like they clapped for her. We were happy to have her there, to be able to watch her, because it was helpful for us.
Speaker 1:Well, that is what I came here to say today. I just wanted to invite this conversation, invite us to consider how we use those words, in the ways that they have been loaded and loaded not by you, but certainly through your lived experience. They tend to mean things that they don't necessarily mean and when we investigate, that we diffuse them and it becomes easier to neutralize their hold on us that might be there and instigating some negative patterns for us. This is also why I dislike the word perfect and perfection so much. I prefer the word excellent, and the reason that I even have the distinction between perfection and excellence is because I saw the word perfection causing so much harm and only because it hadn't been investigated. So that that's what's on the table today.
Speaker 1:I hope you enjoyed the meal. I want to thank you for sitting with me and thank you to everyone who commented on that Instagram post and who sent me DMs and sent me messages. You gave me a lot to think about and I really appreciate you. If you have more requests for future episodes, you can write to me always on Instagram at Rachel Strickland Creative, or on Patreon at Rachel Strickland Creative. And, of course, I got to give a shout out to my patrons, my amazing patrons, who are giving me the best ideas all the time. You are amazing, you're the best. Thank you so much for being here and for making my work possible, and certainly for making this podcast possible. So thank you. Happy September, everybody. I hope that whatever language you're using, you have claimed it as your own and have taken possession of it. Go on with your bad selves. Don't go back to sleep.