AWAKENING THE ARTIST (May 2011)

A 2011 release of Manny Otto’s first book titled Awakening the Artist is scheduled through Michael Wiese Productions (MWP), an industry leading film arts publisher with a line of over 130 books on all aspects of filmmaking, including many bestsellers. MWP is known for creating highly-accessible books that guide filmmakers in all aspects of their craft including writing, directing, storyboarding, camera, producing, financing, marketing, distributing, new media, and more.

MWP is also quite focused on the power of art and media to influence widespread global healing and cohesion …that art can serve to shift the consciousness of humanity in a direction where a greater quality of life may be shared by all. Several of their titles are offered in this spirit: The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler; Deep Cinema: Film as Shamanic Initiation by Mary Trainor-Brigham; Producing with Passion: Making Films That Change the World by Dorothy Fadiman and Tony Levelle; and more.

In this vein of inquiry, the Introduction to Awakening the Artist asserts:

Visionary, creative, and innovative people of all types bind human society and spirit together in a web of cultural influence that impacts every aspect of our lives. In this context, the power to serve as the architects of our future civilization lies clearly in the hands of these “artists”: filmmakers, writers, musicians, dancers, painters, poets, electronic music producers & DJs, social artists, scientists, futurists, and the list goes on…

...it's purpose:

Your creative contributions are needed more than ever. If we are to survive and thrive throughout the monumental cultural and environmental transition in which our planet is currently engaged, humanity must become aware of—and act out of—the deeper dimensions of interconnectedness that fuels and drives our greatest potentials; our inherent spiritual nature. Artists can activate this in our species en masse.

In the pages to follow, I intend to provide a compelling context that awakens within you a knowing of your purpose as an artist within the larger systems that support our lives: human society, the planet, the solar system, and beyond. The goal following is to provide you with the empowering information, experience, and tools needed to fulfill that purpose intentionally and skillfully . . . ultimately facing the challenges of your life and creative expression with a conditioned response that has its roots in unlimited potential.

For publisher Michael Wiese, Awakening the Artist has been a long time coming: “…this is the book I've been waiting to publish for years. It's content and objectives are near and dear to my heart and my own exploration.”