When I first moved to Little Rock, I wanted to meet some artists. I was able to sit down with a few Arkansas Arts Council folks, and they recommended a few names to me. That’s how I found Diane Harper and Robert Bean. This week’s interview is with Michael Eubanks.

I’ll be shifting the podcast over the next month or so. I’m easing out of writing a companion article as I take on new projects⁠—not the full story-based one anyway.

Sustaining Craft was always about the artist and their journey. It’s very tempting, as a creative, to look for a blueprint to follow on the path to success. I haven’t found any reliable plan, and I doubt one exists. We’re all figuring out the best we can, because what may work for one person doesn’t work for another.

And Michael is a good example of that. He’s careful and precise, but his first career was in the military, and he never intended to leave. He had to find a new career unexpectedly, and now he’s found two: social work and art.

And what I love about his story the most is that art and music helped him as a kid, struggling to make friends and talk to others. When he sang, his stutter didn’t matter. And although he left his saxophone behind for a few years, it found him again, especially when he was unexpectedly back in the United States after fifteen years in the military, due to a reduction in strength, as they call a military downsizing.

From there, he worked for a year to pay off an alto saxophone he found at a pawn shop. His mother paid off the last $60 as a birthday gift. He had to work at his music again, building the skill back up. In addition, he worked a lifetime of jobs at a radio station, as a firefighter, as a teacher, and as a martial artist. He went back to the University of Arkansas for his degree in social work to work with veterans, and he performs as a saxophonist and vocalist while teaching music to children and adults. 

We had more conversations, afterward and unrecorded. We talked about faith and my sister’s death, which happened in April of 2018. He was willing to have those difficult conversations with me.

The interview happened months ago before some big changes happened in my life. I asked Michael to send me an update recently. He wrote: 

I graduated with honors from the UA Little Rock Masters Social Work program (concentration on community and family therapy). I currently work as an education specialist in a program at UA Little Rock with an office from the Department of Education. I was offered this position prior to graduating. After graduating, I signed a performance contract to play once a month in Hot Springs and I am playing several times a month for veterans with dementia, VA staff, and veterans in the day health care program. 

Michael was recently offered two other positions and is negotiating as he continues to perform music.

On November 12, I’ll share Hannah Allen’s story about Petal to the Metal Floristry in a new format for Sustaining Craft. And two weeks after that comes photographer Jeremy Smith.

There was never any real plan for Sustaining Craft. Podcasting has become a viable career for so many, which is an exciting thing to witness, but I started it because I wanted to be encouraged. I wanted to highlight the stories of creatives who work so hard for so long. It’s possible to have a career from a passion. It’s just really hard.

I’m not sure exactly where Sustaining Craft is going, but I know I enjoy it. I hope you do, too.

If you’d like to participate a bit more, there’s a Facebook group where I post every Wednesday. You can also join the Patreon for behind-the-scenes and episodes before anyone else.

Find Michael at his website, at the Arkansas Arts Council directory, or on Facebook and LinkedIn for his social work. Attend his events or consider booking for public and private events.

Be sure to follow Sustaining Craft on Instagram for free and Patreon for a little bit of money. Even the lowest tier level gets early access to podcast episodes–and helps produce Sustaining Craft more often.