December 6, 2013

Culture, What Art Means to You

How the Arts Have Impacted Me as an Entrepreneur

by Lo’an Sewer, Marketing & Communications Consultant | Writer | Tourism Expert

Loán getting ready for Washington, DC Caribbean Carnival 2010

The arts have always been a part of my life and they have been expressed in myriad forms – from spoken word to poetry to classical music and cultural dance. I come from a musically talented family and learned to salsa on my father’s feet before I could speak. I’ve always loved to dance and I can never sit still once I hear the thumping rhythms and the bass of island music. In fact, I believe that I inherited it from my parents. That’s the part of my DNA that tells me I’m Caribbean, born of African descent. Growing up in the U.S. Virgin Islands, I was fortunate to have the arts all around me in our culture. From the music — with the sweet sounds of soca, latin and reggae rhythms; to the costumes and revelry of the carnival season; to the cultural dances such as the bamboula and quadrille, and theatrical productions during my youth; to my love of classical music through the piano and clarinet –- all of these outlets helped to shape my love of music and dance that has stayed with me to this day, but more importantly, they helped to draw out my creative side as a writer and poet, and enabled me to excel as a student. No matter the form, the arts are the vehicle through which our spirits spring to life, and for me, if I had to pick the one form of artistic expression that brings out my happiest side, it would be “playing mas” during that last week of April for Virgin Islands Carnival.

View of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands from Ritz Carlton St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Carnival is a cultural celebration that is found throughout the world, but in the Caribbean we celebrate it with a style all our own that varies from island to island– from the harmonious ring of the steel pan played by the Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands to the high stepping stunts of majorettes to the hand-decorated floats that depict a culturally relevant theme.

Throughout my childhood and into adulthood, I would eagerly look forward to the month of April (after Easter) when we would start to prepare for the grand showcase of splendor and artistic expression that is our carnival parade. Truth be told, this is the time of year when you get to “let loose,” leaving all your worries behind for a few days each year and just play! As a self-proclaimed workaholic, Carnival was the time of year when I really played hard; and since it occurs throughout the Caribbean and in several U.S. cities as well, there were opportunities to capture this feeling of euphoria over and over again.

It’s Carnival, Baby! Virgin Islands Carnival 2012, St. Thomas USVI

Before I became an entrepreneur, I could somewhat ignore the void that came from having an all work and no play lifestyle for 11 months of the year because I was networking and interacting with others on a daily basis and taking the equivalent of an adult spring break by taking part in the Carnival festivities either in the Virgin Islands or in Washington, D.C.’s Caribbean Carnival parade each June. But once I became an entrepreneur, complete with home office and seemingly non-stop hours, I realized that something was missing…I’d forgotten how to have FUN! I literally had to force myself to end my workday and go do something else, but it took me a while to realize that although I was now self employed, I still had to set some boundaries around my personal time.

Fortunately, thanks to events like Carnival, West African dance classes, and even opportunities to play clarinet again in the alumni band at my college alma mater, I am making a concerted effort to reintroduce the arts into my routine, either by physically participating in an activity to rekindle that youthful spirit or going to watch a musical or artistic performance. Whenever I take a moment to recharge my batteries in a carnival parade or reignite my senses by writing a feature article, I now realize that I am feeding that part of my soul that reminds me that I am human. As I embark on my mission to LIVE “artfully,” and on purpose, I open the doors to spark unlimited creativity and bring the best of myself to each day.