The Long Game
There’s a familiar pattern in the creative and cultural world that’s a reflection of society at large these days: big launch, early buzz, slow fade, quiet shutdown. Most of these failures don’t come from bad ideas, but from not planning for longevity.
Sustainable creative work is about more than money and a big following on social media (though both those things can be helpful if properly harnessed). It’s about systems, relationships, and shared knowledge that can survive shifts in staff, funding, and community needs. The projects that go the distance usually have a few things in common: they focus on doing a few things really well instead of trying to do everything, they build real connections with specific communities instead of trying to be for everyone, and they create structures that don’t rely on one person burning themselves out. Admittedly I’ve struggled to avoid some of these pitfalls myself, to mixed degrees of success.
One key variable that sometimes gets neglected? Succession planning. Sustainable orgs document their processes, train multiple people to run things, and build systems that can outlast any single leader. It also helps to be honest about capacity. Trying to do too much at once usually leads to mediocrity across the board. Excellence comes from focus.
For creative individuals, the same rules apply. If you want to stick with this long term, you need more than one income stream, real relationships, new skills, and a healthy body and mind to keep creating over the years, not just when the bursts of energy hit.
Longevity is about showing up consistently, not chasing big breakthrough moments. It’s about knowing which risks are worth it and which ones might shake the foundation.
The real test isn’t whether something makes a splash right away, that’s easy to do if you spend enough money in the right places. It’s whether it meets a real need and can keep doing that as things change. The work that lasts is the work that stays grounded in real value, even as the world evolves.