In the creative industries a steady career path working nine-to-five for the same company your whole life has long been far from the norm. Behold the newly dubbed ‘Slashie’ generation, who freelance several different jobs, making money from their hobbies and applying their skill set to multiple roles. Yes, this trend is partly a product of hard economic times, but slashies are hardworking, dynamic thinkers who, ultimately, are having a lot of fun enjoying what they do. In the world of arts celebrity the plot thickens still. A practitioner reputed within one discipline and turning to another is often accused of riding the fame of their previous venture or belittled as ‘a dabbler’. Those who are equally adept across all of their endeavours, are surely worth you tipping your cap to. Here’s our pick of the bunch:

Leonardo De Vinci (inspiration for Dreamthinkspeak’s current production at Somerset House): The original multi-tasker, Leonardo certainly sets the bar. Immortalised by Mona Lisa’s elusive smile, his artistic talents extended into sculpture, architecture, writing and music but didn't stop there. The left side of his brain functioned pretty well to, making discoveries and inventions streaks ahead of his time, in the realms of mathematics, engineering, anatomy, geology, cartography and botany.

Jonathan Miller (The Barber of Seville has just been revived by ENO at the Coliseum): Starting out as a doctor Miller has returned to science throughout his lifetime with research fellowships in neuropsychology and the history of medicine. After stumbling into life in the arts, his cultural accolades are far reaching – theatre director, sculptor, actor, television personality and public intellectual. His two highest achievements however, are in the worlds of comedy and opera. He set up Beyond the Fringe, with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett and then went on to become one of the most world’s leading opera directors.

James Franco (Spring Breakers is out on April 5th, but Franco is also working on a ludicrous number of projects inc. directing and starring in a film adaptation of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying): This mega-babe sure does get a hard time from mainstream media. Franco has come a long way since nineties teen series Freaks and Geeks now directing, acting, teaching, poetry, visual and performance art. His persona is certainly elusive and material often leftfield and intellectual. As a result he has been labelled pretentious and ridiculed both for taking himself too seriously and taking the piss out of the rest of us. Interrogating his own celebrity, persona and the nature of art, some see Franco as a talentless wacko but for a man so bursting with ideas, they can hardly all be expected to be winners.  As Leonardo would have said of his 1493 helicopter design, just because an idea doesn’t fly first time, doesn’t mean it’s not worth pursuing. 

Would you consider yourself a slashie? Is the trend an expression of creativity or an economic necessity? Why is there sometimes such a negative response to modern renaissance men? Which renaissance women spring to mind?

Why have one career, when you can have several?

New research reveals that increasing numbers of young people are becoming ‘hustlers’ – exploiting their talents and juggling more than one job at the same time. Also called the rise of the ‘slashies’ or ‘sidepreneurism’, this phenomenon is already huge in the States.

** Are you doing more than one job, or do you have a creative sideline you do alongside your day job or outside of school? Is it out of necessity, or because you want to keep your options open? **