Why is professional a dirty word for creatives?

It is shocking to me that so many creative people wince when the word professional is mentioned, and I’d be interested to know what it is about the word and what it signifies that is so appalling! Having studied Fine Art and having worked in a number of arts venues and organisations in Nottingham, it is amusing to observe that this is such a widely proliferated phenomenon: perhaps this has something to do with my own interpretation of what it means to be professional.

I think of the word professional as denoting a standard that all working people should reach in order to foster a level of trust and reliability between individuals and organisations – no man is an island, and in the working world it is almost impossible to work in complete isolation, meaning that most people have to rely on others at times. When you develop working relationships with others, a certain level of professionalism is assumed. Like good grammar, a professional attitude ought to be invisible: it is only when it is lacking that it is noticeable. It seems to me that it has become remarkable to meet someone professional, just as it is remarkable to find text without grammatical mistakes!

A friend of mine, whom I greatly admire, is an advocate for amateurism in the arts.
She once wrote to me, remarking on a quote from artist John Coplans (if memory serves) who said that he always wanted to remain an amateur, because that would mean everything he did, he did out of love..
http://dictionary.reference.com/ (which provides RSS feeds – perfect for those wanting to expand their vocabulary and improve their English) gives this definition of amateur:

1. a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons. Compare professional.
2. an athlete who has never competed for payment or for a monetary prize.
3. a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity: Hunting lions is not for amateurs.
4. a person who admires something; devotee; fan: an amateur of the cinema. –adjective
5. characteristic of or engaged in by an amateur; nonprofessional: an amateur painter; amateur tennis.

Perhaps it is this love and devotion to their work that means creatives think ill of professionalism – there is almost a sense that genuine creative work is created out of love, that it contains a human touch. Do creative people think that becoming professional means falling out of love with their work?

The Beatles told us money can’t buy love, though many people investing in creativity might contest that. A genuine devotion to work can be very valuable in marketing and selling work. One thing that is sure, though, is that love can’t provide an income and perhaps it is time to challenge those ideas that make professionalism so unappealing. After all, a professional attitude might just improve your chances of continuing to do what you love.

Welcome to the first Creative Launchpad (creativelaunchpad.co.uk) blog.

We have finally decided to take our own advice about blogging and get one started, mainly thanks to Antonio Gould (antoniogould.com) who delivered an excellent session for us on blogging and podcasting for your business recently.

Antonio made a convincing case for the fact that no one working in the creative industries in 2007 can afford to ignore the developments that have taken place in recent years, making the liveweb an effective international shop window for all types of businesses – and there are loads of ways to do that for free.

In the coming weeks you can expect blogs from all the members of the Creative Launchpad team about issues that we think are important to creative individuals – not necessarily what we are funded for, or what our targets are – but what we think you want to hear about.

Each team member has their own specialism and interests as well as their own individual pet hates and loves, so this will be an opportunity for us to share them.

So the next time that one of us goes off on an office rant about the lack of dirty workspace, or funding or why creative people don’t like to make money, we’ll tell them to get blogging!