These last few months have been a nightmare of waayyyyyy too much stuff to do for my wife and I. It is sort of the freelance curse, where work comes in waves... you get swamped for a while, and then there is very little... and in true musician style, we complain about both!
I'm closer to the end now... after getting our taxes done and finding an Certified Accountant... I don't have such vicious deadlines. Concerts are no problem... I can do those. But administrative ones are much much more annoying...
So, the deadline for the taxes in Australia is the end of October (unless you have an accountant doing your taxes... we don't). And each year, it is a bit of a slog... thankfully, I had a week on tour during the concert phase where I just go heads down and slog away at taxes for the complete whole day before jumping on stage and playing a concert!
... and sometimes treating myself to playing and learning some music that I would need for the incoming other concerts! Freelancing means having to triage and prepare all that stuff ahead of time in good order! Otherwise, public humiliation is on the cards... something that I think we shield our students from a bit too easily...
... anyway, old man gripe aside... we also had to find a Certified Accountant who could audit and review our ensemble finances so that we could apply for a large grant round. It is sort of hilarious... as the audits/reviews tend to financially cripple most arts organisations that aren't dripping in money already... and those organisations don't need more money! It is the classic rich feeding the rich incentive game.
But we finally had a reply from a connection who offered to do it for us as a gift... amazing! And just beforehand, we were already wondering if it would be at all worth it to do the grant... we didn't need the money, and the administrative and governance overhead would just be very annoying. But now... we figure, we can put in an application at least... and be adamant that we DON'T change anything with the way we run. If they don't like it... then we don't need the money!
That said a large grant injection over multiple years would be awesome! But my wife and I agreed that that would be the line that we would NOT cross... too many arts organisations get trapped in that position where they just get taken over by MBAs and CEOs... well meaning, but clueless.
... my wife is a week further out from her light at the end of the tunnel. Lots of university exams to play for... and for some reason, most of the students are not really taught how to play music. Weird...
... oh right, and I forgot that I have to do a recording this week with the symphony orchestra. Very different approach to music making... but I try to be a good chameleon! First thing, switch out the strings to the weird metal things...
We do have a run of concerts and a recording for our ensemble coming up soon, and both of us are looking forward to playing together. It is a different style of music making, and one that we feel completely at home with... lots left unsaid, and just full trust in each other's abilities!
Both of us have come to the conclusion this year... that we would pull our heads in a bit, and stop playing so much for things that we don't really like doing. Preservation of our mental coolness and stress levels. Sometimes the jobs aren't worth the money... especially if we have to play music differently to the way that our hearts desire!
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