Introduction: Special Objects, Special Subjects

Stream Podcast

Following a discussion of the historical relationship between creativity and mental health, this introduction outlines the aims of the book as a whole. The first of these is to provide an empirical understanding of how contemporary musical artists and professional musicians experience aspiring to build a musical career, and how these musicians feel about their emotional wellbeing and mental health. Secondly, it explains the book’s ambition to reflect the nature of contemporary conditions of creativity and their impact on musicians and their mental wellbeing by drawing on interdisciplinary insights from critical media theory, the psychology of creativity and work, and cultural economics. Finally, the authors explain how they will critically consider how the reality of contemporary musical production and its impact on wellbeing relates to education and professional training, embedded in their own experiences of teaching and managing in a university environment. The introduction discusses the challenges faced by musicians in an environment of abundant musical production in the context of an industry reliant on self-belief and driven by techno-positivism.