Inspirations on Creative Arts (Part 3)

by Amber Bonasso

THE AUDIENCE

They are the most significant factor in any performance or display. If you have no audience, you have no way to share what is created. It takes the audience to make an art form come alive because it only lives when it is experienced. Some art forms don’t necessarily factor in the audience to their presentation. Some artists have as their main focus the telling of their story. They want the people who view their piece to know something about themselves which they have chosen to display. In the Performing Arts, the stories are most successfully told when they are trying to lift their viewers to a group experience. Let’s all root for the hero. Let’s all feel like we are with the hero when they face their extraordinary challenge, and then feel the thrill of victory together when they win. Performing Arts is a shared experience between the artist, the art form, and most importantly the audience. When you are creating a Performing Arts piece, figuring out how to take the audience with you is key. Figuring out how to communicate effectively to the most possible amount of eyes, ears, and hearts is a mountain of a task. The one human that, in my opinion, has been able to do that better than anyone in history is Shakespeare. He was able to pen plays in the early 1600’s that still to this day are being produced all over the world. Generation after generation has been able to sit in the audience of these plays and walk away with an experience that has meaning to them. Besides the Bible, and some other writings that are held to be sacred by different cultures, there aren’t very many pieces of literature and Performing Art that can cross cultures, generations, and peoples. Shakespeare was able to communicate so clearly and concisely his desired goals in his stories that we still enjoy what he presented to us. I have had the privilege of creating some Performing Arts pieces that have so touched people that they still talk to me about them. I find great joy in this. Everytime I sit down to create, or join a project, or put something into motion, the audience is always first on my mind. What do I want them to walk away with? How can I make sure that I take them along this journey with me in such a way that they feel a part of it or feel engulfed in the experience that I am creating for them? That’s the key statement, this is FOR them. It is not for me to express something, but for me to create something FOR THEM.

Here I also feel that one taps into the power and heart of the Creator. Yes, He created everything to tell of His glory, but who is He telling? You and I. All of nature exults Him. When I set foot in nature and behold the beauty and the majesty that He displays in it, I am enraptured by the glory and the praise - I experience His glory. He created all of this so that I might experience His beauty and glory and majesty. I am His audience. You are His audience. He delights in creating experiences for us. He created us to create experiences too. We do that in our daily life when we do things to make others feel appreciated or loved, when we throw birthday parties and showers, when we gather to praise and play. A unique thing happens when we give of ourselves to create something for others - we feel our own cup of joy overflow.

by Amber Bonasso

Photo by Davide Ragusa via Unsplash