Jenny Scheinman – HuffPost 5.9.14

Mike Ragogna: What is your advice for new artists?

Jenny Sscheinman: If it isn’t fun, it’s not worth doing. There’s no money in it! It’s following your passion. You’re an artist because you have to do it, you can’t do anything else. Being an amateur musician is the best; to stay home, make money as a doctor and play string quartet music with your friends, that’s a joy. But if you’re being a professional artist, it means you’re extremely passionate about it, so you have to keep the joy of creating as the focus. That’s sort of a personal answer to the question. In terms of people’s careers, say “Yes” to everything you can do, and that opens you up to different possibilities and places you can grow and things you can learn about, and all of that will filter into making you a more expressive and dynamic artist. As Tina Fey said in her book, “‘Yes’ is the doorway into everything.”