Between 2019-2021, I blogged about the creative process and the business of being an artist. I did my best to cram-jam my posts filled with useful tools, tips and hacks and straight-up honesty from my own point of view.
My focus was figuring out how we can overcome our creative blocks, actually finish our projects and earn money from our art. I also shared the work of Black and Global Majority artists.
Take a look around or see the posts by categories: creative process, self-producing, artist life hacks, artist series. I hope you find something useful here.
Kiran Benawra is a writer and freelance TV producer who grew up in Slough and is now based in London. She studied English with Creative Writing at the University of Nottingham and then did a masters degree in Playwriting and Screenwriting at City University.
Read MoreKanika Ambrose (she/her) is a Toronto-based playwright and librettist. She is the Artistic Producer of Paprika Festival and this year, she is Cahoots Theatre Company's Canada Council Playwright-in-Residence, developing her play our place. Last season, she was Obsidian Theatre Company's Ontario Arts Council Playwright-in-Residence developing her play Reception (2018).
Read MoreMalik Nashad Sharpe, otherwise known Marikiscrycrycry, is a London-based choreographer who often uses choreography in contexts other than dance or performance.
They attended Williams College in Massachusetts, the Laban Institute in London and studied with Martin Hargreaves who they continue to work with in a dramaturgical capacity.
I asked Malik a few questions…
Marcia Johnson is a playwright, librettist and actor, born in Jamaica, who emigrated to Canada when she was six, and is currently based in Toronto, where she’s been working as a theatre artist for over thirty years.
Read MoreTitilola Dawudu is a Nigerian-born British writer, producer and editor. She is a trustee for Theatre Centre and an associate Writer for Beyond Face Theatre. She holds an MA in Dramatic Writing at Central Saint Martins.
As an associate with Tamasha Theatre, she co-created and edited Hear Me Now, Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour, published by Oberon Books.
Koko Brown is a multidisciplinary artist who blends theatre, spoken word and live vocal looping. Her work is unique, electric and brimming with what the world needs to hear right now on race, mental health and gender.
Read MoreAfter growing up on Vancouver Island, Emily Piggford is now an actor for stage and screen, based in Toronto.
You can watch Emily on ‘The Sounds’ (CBC, Amazon) a miniseries thriller set in New Zealand, the digital series ‘Warigami’ (CBC Gem) and web series ‘That’s My DJ’, for which she was a producer on seasons 2-3 and nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress.
Monica Gaga is a London-based, British-born black African queer improviser, facilitator, host and scripted actor and performer.
She’s been seen, heard and staged on BBC Three, ITVBe, London Live, BBC History, BBC Radio London, Global Pillage, The Comedy Store, Hoopla Impro, Boulevard Theatre and more.
Read MoreDavid Ellington is an actor, theatre maker and founder of VS1 productions. He is profoundly deaf and a British Sign language (BSL) user and has been acting since 1997.
Read MoreRosie Elnile is an award winning performance designer, currently responsible for some of the most exciting theatre design in London.
Read MoreMatilda Ibini is a bionic playwright, screenwriter and occasional facilitator from London, and she’s a wheelchair user. She writes for stage, TV, film and radio.
Emma Dennis-Edwards is a writer and actor, who has trained as part of the Old Vic 12, Soho Writers Lab, and The Royal Court and Lyric Hammersmith’s Writers programmes. She is also a current participant at BBC Writersroom Drama Room and Continuing Drama Writer's Academy 2019/2020.
Read MoreNatasha Brown is an actor, writer, theatre maker and facilitator. Initially training at The BRIT School, she went on to study Theatre at the University of Kent and the University of California, Berkely in the US. Part of Soho Writers’ Lab and the Bush Theatre’s Emerging Writers’ Group, her work “interrogates power, identity and community.”
Read MorePaula Varjack is an artist working across performance, video, participation, spoken word, and sometimes all of these areas at once. During the past six years she has created performances, installations, sound and video pieces, utilising training from performance making, technical theatre and filmmaking.
Read MoreJoan Iyiola is an actress, writer, producer and changemaker in the industry.
As an actress, Joan’s credits span film, television and theatre including roles in ENTERPRICE (BBC), BLACK EARTH RISING (BBC/NETFLIX), in TREE (Young Vic,Kwame Kwei-Armah and Idris Elba) and as THE DUCHESS in THE DUCHESS OF MALFI for the RSC.
Ingrid Mackinnon is a dancer, choreographer, movement director and educator. Training in Kinesiology at Western University and then in an MA in Movement: Directing & Teaching at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, her work is critically acclaimed and featured on some of the most prolific stages in the UK.
Read MoreIsabel Adomakoh Young is an actor, writer and activist. She regularly performs at with Pecs, an all-female/non-binary Drag King troupe who create shows for the LGBTQ+ community (I’m a HUGE fan) and Shotgun Carousel, a London-based, female led production company and performance collective.
Read More‘The inspiration is my life… a combination of wanting to fight for dancers, wanting to fight for artists and wanting people to understand how racism works.’ – Valerie Ebuwa, Dance Art Journal
Valerie Ebuwa is a freelance dance artist, activist, writer, mentor and model based in London. Most recently as a maker, she choreographed and created Body Data, a filmed dance piece that provides a fresh perspective on the naked, black, female form.
In my journey to become a better ally and anti-racist, in part I have been learning about the work of BIPOC artists in my communities and sharing their work with my readers.
Today, I’m excited to share the work of Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, a Black play specialist, theatre director, dramaturg, teacher/facilitator, audience development officer and author.
