As we embark on our careers, we often receive conflicting advice: Pursue your passions, but have something to fall back on. Follow your dreams, but make sure you can pay the bills. Do what makes you happy, but you may have to sacrifice that happiness when it’s practical.
Some career paths can lead to those decisions becoming more stark. Take the creative arts. Sure, famous movie stars make a lot of money, but most working actors don’t. Same with music, dance, painting.
According to the Greater Houston Visitors Bureau, the city's nonprofit arts organizations support more than 14,000 full-time jobs annually. Still, there are thousands of artists in Houston who can't sustain themselves solely on their creative pursuits. So they supplement their income with jobs that help them get by, while still pursuing the creative endeavors that drive them.
On this edition of Houston Matters, we talk with three Houston artists about how they make a living and the challenges of pursuing creative careers while making ends meet.
Also this hour: from teen employment figures on the rise to a delayed vote on ride-sharing apps to Gov. Perry’s statement this week about homosexuality, we explore “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” in this week’s news with our rotating panel of “non-experts.” We’re joined by Houston-area comedian Ty Mahany, “Texas Leftist” blogger Wayne Ashley, and Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg.
Plus: The Texas Music Teachers Association is holding its 100th annual state convention here in Houston this weekend. We discuss the state of music education in Greater Houston schools with Wilford Glenn, Band Director and music teacher at HISD’s Burbank Middle School.
