Steven Sparling, Why I Persevere · by Steven Sparling

My heart was racing, my palms sweating and I was fumbling with the pages in my lap. I was about to get up on the stage of Salle Wilfrid-Pelltier and deliver the first ever Valedictorian address at the Concordia Fine Arts Convocation. It was June 1997 and I was finally finished my BFA. On one hand, I felt satisfied and relieved; and on the other, apprehensive. I was $30,000 in debt and had no immediate career prospects. As I sat there in the new suit my parents had bought for me at Eatons, I wondered whether my words would be well received.

Would I ever earn money in my field? How would I ever pay back my student loans? What lay ahead for me and my fellow graduates?

I had taken the day off work from my first job out of school working as a designer’s assistant in a textile factory in East Montreal. This minimum wage job involved punching a time clock and spending eight hours a day cutting three-inch strips of decorative braid and then stapling them to sample cards. Cut, cut, cut - staple, staple, staple - all day long until I thought I would go out of my mind! I had been a top
student, winning several scholarships and awards during my studies, yet I found myself working in a job that I was embarrassed to tell anyone about. Two months later, when they laid me off, I packed up my life and moved to Vancouver.

Ten years on, I find myself living in London, England. I have just finished a major tour of Scrooge- the Musical with a British TV Celebrity, Michael Barrymore. I have acted for the BBC and toured around the UK in various musicals and plays. I have been a featured soloist on a luxury cruise liner in the Mediterranean and last year I was asked to sing in a recording of a new critically-acclaimed musical version of Dracula. In the past year I have paid off my student loans, started a pension, taken out life insurance and put a deposit down on a flat in East London.

A few weeks ago while in a flurry of spring cleaning the Eaton’s suit finally went to the charity shop. I faced the truth that I was never going to be a size 30 waist again. But it wasn’t just the suit which no longer fit. It gave me a moment to take stock on how my life had moved on in the past 10 years.

Am I successful? It depends on how you define it. I enjoy my work and have had a lot of fun working with many fabulous people; however, I am certainly not a house-hold name or even that well know in the industry. My income varies wildly from year to year and sometimes I still do non-career work, such as working as an office temp, to fill the gaps in my schedule and income.

Real education for the real world. I learned how to be tough at Concordia. It taught me to fight for what I wanted and to create opportunities for myself. The seeds of this learning have grown over the past ten years and I am now much more aggressive about pursuing and creating opportunities. I petition directors for parts. I pester casting agents to see me for roles. I network like a Kennedy and plan advertising and self-promotion campaigns. I focus on the art AND the business.

I see it like this: I am a small-business. Statistics suggest that 25% of small businesses fail within one year. Within five years, less than 30% remain. So the fact that I am still in business means success. It never gets any easier, and I still think about quitting and retraining for something else, but I never do. Every year I don’t give up is a successful year.

I have good years, and bad years. I put one foot in front of the other. I get frustrated sometimes, but I write one more letter, make one more phone call, and attend one more audition.

Why do I persevere?

Because sometimes,
when I am lucky,
I get to work at what I love.