Interview with Chris Dunmire for Creativity Portal

Feb 8

Photo of Nu Shooz singer Valerie Day at The Bite Music festival in Portland OR. — Valerie Day Photo by Brent Angelo

What makes for a great interview?

For me, it’s in-depth research and thoughtful questions.

In this recent written conversation, Chris Dunmire, founder of Creativity Portal, nailed both. It was easy to see that she’d spent a lot of time on her research. She asked great questions that prompted me to dive deep for answers about creativity, career, and how to live a sustainable life as a singer.

Here’s a taste of our conversation.

CHRIS: What does success mean to you?

VALERIE: Inner success is all about learning, creating, and growing as an artist. But what I make doesn't live in a vacuum. I also want to share what I've created with an audience. If no one is interested, and I still am, I'll continue creating. But without that dialogue, without a response, it's harder.

There's also financial success, which is what our culture seems to value most. Money has never been my primary motivation for doing anything, but a solid financial footing helps. It makes it easier to carve out time to create.

The tension or dance between inner and outer success is something I've been trying to figure out my entire adult life. And, thanks to a short video by Elizabeth Gilbert, I think I'm almost there. In it, she talks about the difference between hobbies, jobs, careers, and vocations. Her insights are brilliant and helped clarify my struggles between art and commerce. Recently, I wrote a blog piece about that aha moment: How to Look at Your Love For Singing Through The Lens of Career. I hope it helps other creatives who struggle with making a living with their art — which I think is just about everyone!

CHRIS: What about failure? If you are enjoying the process of creating, learning, and growing, is there such a thing?

VALERIE: Great question! Again, it's all about what you're aiming for. If your goal is to make a living out of creativity, then failure is definitely part of the equation. There's a lot of trial and error when it comes to selling art. What you love to make has to be something people want to buy. Timing, market saturation, and pure dumb luck all play a part in financial success — and failure.

If you aim to grow as an artist, failure is essential. Whether it's a high note or a more passionate performance, you aim for something, and then, if you fall short, take what you learned about the gap between what you were aiming for and where you landed, learn from it, and try again.
So yes, failure exists. But if you're enjoying the process, then you're succeeding at it.

You can read the full interview here.