less business as usual

I spent nearly 2 decades  working in performance and nightlife as a curator, producer, promoter and artist manager. I had a messianic fervor – a passion for the work and the community of artists making it – that allowed me to look past the  the personal toll the lifestyle took. (I was also having A LOT of fun.) With the election of Donald Trump, the escalation of the climate crisis and other “existential threats” I began to question what I was doing. Unlike REM, I did not feel fine with what seemed like the plausible coming end of the world. My mantra became “less business as usual,” and I became a self-proclaimed fagabond.

When Trump was elected I moved to Montreal for a year and a half and marveled at friends who could go 24 hours without returning a text! (“Oh, I left my phone at home, went to the park for a picnic..” Say what?!?!)  I volunteered for a month at Omega Institute, and I traveled to Uruguay for a month-long earthship building academy. I worked as a concierge for a glamping outfit in Moab, Utah., and when COVID hit I moved to Kauai where I worked on a series of organic farms. When Omega reopened after as the pandemic waned I returned to a full time position in the Production Department, working for 3 summers and traveling and volunteering during the winters.