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.
What to do when the blush is off the rose & you no longer care for the thing you’re creating?
Today I want to discuss that moment in our creative lives when we fall out of love with a project. I think of creative projects as entities unto themselves, and as a result, we are in relationships with them.
Read MoreAs lockdown is eased, it’s fun to think about what things you’d like to shed so you can move into this next period a little lighter, a little freer.
What clunk (physical, mental or relational) can you clear out?
A great, but sometimes easier said than done, way to make space, is to begin saying NO.
Paula 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 MoreFirst of all, I need you to know that I believe the GRANT MONEY IS YOUR MONEY.
You deserve to be supported and fairly compensated for the work you do.
This week however, I want to address what I call, The Application Booby Trap, and when NOT to apply for funding but instead, INVEST IN YOURSELF.
Joan 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.
A year ago, with the advent of my newsletter, I reluctantly and skeptically began taking myself more seriously as an entrepreneur.
In early 2020, I formed a Mastermind with two friends who run small business. Carlyn runs Tiny Ritual the Talia runs Primer.
Read MoreHave you ever felt the maddening frustration of banging at a door and not being let in?
Maybe it’s the door of an agent, a sector of your industry, particular company you want to work with, a festival where you want to present your work or an artist you wish would bring you onto their team, etc…
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 MoreGiven our social distancing and the forecasted economic future, I want to stay on my soap box, singing the virtues of creating a solo show.
In my last post on this topic, I wrote about how solo shows give us agency, allow us total creative control and freedom and are a cheap conduit to international touring.
This week, I want to touch on three more ways going solo can benefit you as an artist and business person.
Isabel 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 MoreBased on what I learned working on my book, I’m offering you 5 hot tips for editing your writing.
Maybe you've just completed my 14-Day Creative Quarantine Challenge and you want to begin shaping your raw material? Maybe you’re about to start a second pass on a script or a story?
Or maybe you’ve got to write a funding application? Or you’re refreshing all the copy on your website?
These tips can be applied to creative or professional writing.
Over the last decade I have toured my various solo shows to 36 venues in 11 countries around the world. My solos have led to international collaborations, new opportunities as an actor and writer, including a book deal (!!), and expanded my artistic practice exponentially.
Although making a one-person show can be a lonely process, involving quite a lot of admin and self-producing work, there are some awesome payoffs that can make all that worth it.
I could wax on and on about their virtues of solos, but today I offer you 3 reasons to embark on your own thrilling solo show journey.
why & how I became a solo show creator & performer
In the autumn of 2007, I returned to Toronto from my first ever professional acting job (outdoor theatre on the farm theatre). I’d landed an agent but I was not having a good time. I was frustrated by my lack of creative control:
• I was bombing my auditions to play high school students in poorly written TV series or to sell toothpaste in commercials.
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.
This week I’m doing my first ever Workshop via ZOOM.
My long-time collaborator, Mitchell Cushman, and I are working on my solo show about my hometown, Kitchener-Waterloo.
It’s is a storytelling show created through loads of research and interviews. In the show about 8-10 stories (from 1 min - 20 min) are told to the audience, but there are 5 options for each story ’slot’.
Autobiographical work is on my mind these days. I’m in the middle of writing a book based on my autobiographical solo show, The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale.
I’ve also taught many artists through my Solo Show Creation Lab who were creating their own autobiographical work. These artists often express fear that their autobiographical work is self-indulgent — That it’s not worthy of a platform. They worry that it’s therapy not art, or a diary rather than a show and therefore won’t have relevance or value.*
Read MoreThis week I'm digging into the idea that YOUR ART IS A BUSINESS.
… Gross, I know. It gave me the creeps for a long time. I didn't want my creative expression corrupted by capitalism!
However, after years of panic and anxiety about money, I now wish I'd accepted this idea, rather than run from it, early in my career.
Read MoreAs a recovering self-critical perfectionist — also a Virgo Ox — I work hard, I pride myself on my attention to detail and I find making mistakes really embarrassing.
While I was chastising myself about a mistake I’d made with my mailing list, I realised this might be a useful thing to talk about.
How do we acknowledge our mistakes, take responsibility and move on?
Read MoreIn 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.
