What the hell is a dilettante?

This zine was titled to emphasize that, in a society that emphasizes tangible achievements and traditional markers of success, we have all the more reason to engage in creative pursuit motivated by passion and curiosity. Our post-capitalist hellscape has made a career of constructing ceilings that structurally stifle potential and spirit; we revere expertise as the antidote to insecurity, looking to degrees and exhaustive resumés to deem us worthy. While the term “dilettante” has developed a pejorative connotation in the eyes of the cultural zeitgeist, we hold true to its archaic definition: a person with an amateur interest in the arts.

I would consider myself to be someone who has a mess of creative interests without much commitment to any specific craft. I’m not an artist by trade; I studied psychology and sociology in college, have a Master’s of Social Work, and work full-time as a therapist. I have a notebook of songs I’ve written, but I would hesitate to call myself a musician; according to the literal definition, I am a professional photographer, but most days I still feel like a teenager in dress-up with a fancy camera. Imposter syndrome, entangled in an impassioned love affair with productivity culture’s obsession with labels and titles as proof of competency, has kept me hostage in an unexpressed self. My silly little brain found itself riddled by a debilitating anxiety of appearing unskilled or unknowledgeable, or—even worse—presenting my work seriously only to be deemed embarrassingly amateur by “real” artists.

For far too long, my fear of failure has kept me from engaging in the things I desire, creative and otherwise. But, alas, the world is so big, and we have much life to live! Over the past several years, I have learned to nurture my creative spirit, putting aside my reservations and embracing the vulnerability of sharing the things I create. And so, I reclaim the title of dilettante—not as a scarlet letter, but a badge of honor.

My goal for this zine is to platform artists of all concentrations, backgrounds, and levels of experience, and provide a place where others can share the products of their imaginative spirits. While art has become yet another industry, I remain passionate about the importance of passion projects. I believe in artistic expression as a process of personal exploration, divorced from capitalism and consumerism, an expression of our humanity. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut:

What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

The Dilettante is a print and digital publication, created in 2018 by founder and editor-in-chief Victoria (“Vi”) Conway.