Today we’d like to introduce you to Dannie Snyder.
Hi Dannie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am an interdisciplinary artivist and artivist matchmaker.
I just recently turned 35, so let me try to give the spark notes summary for each 5-year chapter of my journey. Age five, I’m experimenting on our piano and banging on our pots and pans. Age ten, I have a piano teacher, a drum set, and my very own book that I wrote all by myself – golly – and that my librarian was swell enough to put on the shelf. Age 15, I’m competing in percussion every weekend, having anxiety attacks every weekend, arguing with my band director to allow me to also do theatre (particularly playwriting). Age 20, I’m changing from a music major to a music minor in order to focus more on theatre (kind of ridiculous after spending 20 years convincing my dad to let me be a professional musician). Oh and I decided to add a second film major because what the hell at this point. Age 25, I’m making and teaching a lot of music, theatre, film, and now poetry, focusing on how to use art for social change, like REAL, tangible, physical change. Age 30, I am hiking the tallest point in Indochina and suddenly deciding to move to Germany to write another book, but like a real book! Age 35, I am moving from Mexico to California, looking to expand my work in prison abolition, access to medicine, public school education reform, sustainable funding for the arts, and more.
Today… I love Kumeyaay land and San Diego. I love the vibe here. I would love to meet more and more vibey artists and activists.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Is it ever a smooth road? For any artist? I can imagine even the artists who have rich daddies still have it rough.
I want to say the greatest struggle was recognizing that I fit the white woman savior complex, but it actually wasn’t. Doing the antiracist work and verbalizing my racist history has not been AS challenging as I think it has been for some of my white colleagues. It’s still definitely hard, but not my greatest struggle. And I think it’s because, for a long time now, I’ve believed that the best art is vulnerable art, that the best people are vulnerable people. Even the decision of closing down my own theatre & film production company in order to focus less on producing my own stories and rather focus more on uplifting the voices of BIOPOC and LGBTQ2+ artists… was a no brainer. Sure, also a hard process, but not like other processes…
That leads me to the actual greatest struggle: Overcoming my anxiety. It was the monster under my bed. And in my closet. And in the dark. And in everything… It came from my perfectionism, like the air I breathed. Perfectionism all atom-ed up with insecurity. Breathe in hope for perfectionism and breathe out every fear attached to every insecurity and feel like you’re never actually breathing. Without having taken therapy, completely rewiring my brain, accepting I am flawed, accepting I will fail again, accepting I am human (and that the most interesting humans are imperfect), and overcoming my anxiety, I never would have become the vulnerable person I am today. And I can’t pretend here like I’ve totally overcome my anxiety. She still creeps up from under the bed and sometimes the air is heavy, hot, and so thick I just want to run away and change my name… Even after 20+ years of performing, I still get stage fright and fight down vomit every time someone hands me a microphone and spotlight. But generally, I feel very comfortable with where I am, with all my current answers to all the existential questions.
I imagine a lot of artists answer this question of obstacles and challenges with “the pandemic”. I have to say that I have been very blessed during the pandemic. My family and communities have been hurting and I have been helping the best I can, but in the process I have managed to keep a roof over my head, food in the fridge, doing the work I love, and #NoCovid. That being said, I’d like to mention that I work for the Artist Relief Project where I offer free professional development webinars and consultations to artists who have been struggling during the pandemic. So if you’re an artist that needs help with grant writing, budgeting, social media, you name it, check out our free resources at artistreliefproject.org.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an interdisciplinary artivist. I’m a filmmaker, theatre practitioner, spoken word artist, percussionist, activist… I have produced, written, directed, shot, acted, drummed, traveled around the world, lived abroad… I have taught visual & performing arts classes for all ages as well as professional development classes for all types of artists… I have fought for social and political change for a variety of causes… This includes prison abolition, which taps into many different arenas of activism such as racial justice and immigration. You can check out my book, ARTIVISM OF RETURNING CITIZENS: Artist Activists of the Nation’s Capital Impacting the Prison Abolition Movement and other publications, along with all of my films, stage productions, bands and more on my website, DannieSnyder.com. I’m also advocating for access to medicine; improving our public education system; sustainable funding for the arts; and much more. I am always learning, experimenting, trying, failing, growing, and sharing the theories and methodologies behind my work, ranging from Theatre of the Oppressed to intersectional feminism. For example, I am the co-host of a podcast on artivism called RE – FLECT / CALIBRATE where artivists will find lots of free resources! As an interdisciplinary artivist, my aim is to foster dialogues and foster communities, to humbly serve as an artist matchmaker, fostering devised experimental collaborations between artists of every background. I am always creating and everything I do is creative, such as producing music videos and doing one-woman shows at conferences. But my work focuses mostly on uplifting the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQ2+ artists, decentering whiteness and straight/cisgender stories.
From press to testimonies, I think most people know me as like the conference speaker type, even though I am more comfortable behind a drum set, behind other musicians, in the dark, listening to them, vibing off their energies… Additionally, in my mission to be an ally, my instinct is to give the microphone and spotlight to others, but sometimes I have to accept the call to the stage. While I was living in Europe, I was “called” to two different conferences in Lisbon, Portugal and Venice, Italy; opportunities of a lifetime, right? I am so proud of myself for not only earning these opportunities but mostly for facing my fears of presenting alone for a whole friggin’ hour for a whole lecture hall of friggin’ scholarly academic types! I ultimately fashioned two different one-woman FUN, interactive shows that broke conference norms and audience’s expectations. I was so proud of myself for being MYSELF and now my secret goal is to one day lead a TED Talk!
What matters most to you? Why?
Happiness. My happiness. The happiness of others. Generally feeling like I’m living and not like I’m surviving… Are you living or are you surviving…? Happiness is what matters most, or what’s the point in living this one life? I wonder how the art or activism or anything matters at all if I’m depressed… Especially if I believe positive energy invites positive energy. Like I don’t believe in shaming as a tactic. Beyond meeting our basic needs, practicing contentment helps. Finding the joys. Making everything feel sexy! Listening, observing the breath, and being present. I’ll be honest, lately I have struggled with taking my own advice, making happiness feel even more important than anything else I do, like finding a new car or job applications. Along these lines, I like to encourage the activists I work with to explore FUN strategies because it helps prevent burnout. It’s not easy caring so much about the planet… How can we care, do our part, have fun in the process, feel we have a purpose, feel satisfied?
Pricing:
- Artivist Merch Available on My Website (ranging from $2.50 – $100)
Contact Info:
- Email: danniesnyder@gmail.com
- Website: http://danniesnyder.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danniesnyder/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danniesnyder/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DannieSnyder
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXmAFJNJSuzipTsj2lLSnwg
