Bill Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic who has written a new book. The book warns that the art we all love – music, books, films and much more – is in jeopardy. Based on deep research and interviews with artists and content creators, Bill is worried that the digital economy isn’t supporting that art that sustains our souls, and that we are in the middle of a big transformation.
In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Bill talks about art as a secular religion, “humanities-based spirituality”, the “Darwinian attention derby”, the mythology of the artist as lazy or entitled, the discouragement many creators face against pursuing their art, the small percentage of artists who are making a true living at it, the death of the arts as a harbinger of a larger death, of dignified work and the middle class, how the big tech platforms make money from artists’ creations, how fixing this problem could help address some of our other problems like a lack of diversity and representation, and the idea that we should feel a responsibility to content creators.
