The Importance of Artist Support

I live in an artist's community in Los Angeles, and we recently had houseguests. One lady wants to make a career of singing, and plans a move to Austin, TX to pursue that dream. I used to live in Austin, and I think she will do well there. She is interested in bluegrass music and Austin is a great place to develop traditional forms of music like country, bluegrass, folk, etc. I went to the University of Texas and the music scene was always thriving in Austin, and more so now with the SXSW festival every year attracting more attention to the town. (As an aside, I attended some of the very first SXSW - it was held in a hotel downtown, and consisted of only a few panels and no performances that I know of. How things have changed.) I bring this up because we started talking and she told me that she has written a handful of songs. I pulled out my songbook later and looked at it, and I remember the very first song I ever wrote, and how excited I was about it. It's a few years later and I have now filled a notebook with songs, some finished and some in progress. I showed her that songbook to encourage her, and to demonstrate how if you keep after something, you can cultivate it to fruition. More support needs to be given to young artists, and I want to help as much as I can to support all kinds of creativity. I did not get as much support as I needed when I was younger, and I have had to work very hard to make up for that. If I can help someone else blossom into their creativity, too, that makes me very happy. That's one reason I chose the name Fleur D'Amour for my musical activities. More love could help the whole world flower into its full potential.