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.
When I feel shy or trepidatious about putting myself out there, I think of Alice Munro.
If you’re not familiar, Alice Munro is a Canadian short story writer. Residing, for the most part, in a tiny rural town, her stories were regularly published in the New Yorker, she’s written 14 collections of stories and won umpteen awards including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.
Read MoreWriter, director and facilitator Sidney Belony grew up and is currently based in Luton.
Her writing explores social and political themes and she also enjoys creating work with historical elements/themes. Alongside writing, Sidney regularly works as a director and facilitator, co-creating/devising with community groups, and leading creative workshops.
Read MoreToday I’m going to talk about the benefits of Self-Producing your work and offer you a few practical ideas to help you get started.
I’m a huge proponent of making your own opportunities and not waiting for gatekeepers to grant you permission to create. In industry terms, this DIY propensity has a name, Self-Producing.
Read MoreKiran 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 MoreToday I want to talk about that moment in the life cycle of creative work when, after wanting and yearning and WORKING for it – we get what we want (the money, the studio time, programmed in a venue) – whatever it might be.
And after the briefest moment of celebration, a new shitty feeling sets in.
Kanika 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 MoreA little real-talk from behind the scenes over here at Haley McGee Industries. I am addicted to piling my plate too full.
It felt like I should begin today with the “back to school” energy January brings – for me it’s always a time of beginning again.
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…
Before I moved to the UK I was seriously burnt out. I’d been gigging as a theatre actor almost non-stop for a couple years. Truly, living the dream I’d held for myself while I was in acting school. But I was exhausted.
And (perhaps more disturbingly) it struck me that I didn’t have much juice to bring to my work when the bulk of my time was spent in theatres, rehearsing and performing. I was lacking new outside experiences to draw inspiration from.
Read MoreMarcia 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 MoreYou know that tingly feeling of anticipation upon stepping into a haunted house? Having elected to freak yourself out can give such a delicious jolt.
That's the level of fear I think is useful to take into a project or for a new step in your career.
Read MoreNew year resolutions can often leave us feeling like a loser a few months in, and even more so when another new year rolls around and we realise we completely abandoned our well intentioned litanies of improvements.
I like to spend a little time on early in January meditating on what I want to focus on in the year to come.
Titilola 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.
I want to share some thoughts on something I'm in a constant push/pull relationship with: SILENCE.
My new year’s resolution for 2019 was to NOT put in headphones and listen to podcasts whenever I left the house, but instead to open my ears to the city.
Read MoreWe’ve been through the solstice and — hallelujah! — the days are growing longer.
I’m wishing you a wonderful Yuletide, which is a period of time between 21 Dec – 1 Jan, originally a pagan tradition in celebration of the wild hunt, that was later Christianised.
I like Yule because it begins with solstice and ends when the first day of the new year – a reflective time and a time of rest.
I want to share my fool-proof, pain-free method of building new habits that actually STICK.
First, let’s define what a “habit” is.
For me, a habit is a behaviour pattern or practice, acquired by repetition, that has become nearly or entirely involuntary. In other words, it’s something you do EVERYDAY without thinking about it.
Read MoreKoko 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 MoreIn lieu of being able to build relationships out there IRL, I’ve been meditating on how best to use our current situation to your advantage. I’ve written before about reaching out to your dream collaborators.
Today I want to focus on another method of building your professional contacts in the face of a global pandemic.
That is to FOCUS ON YOUR PEERS.
Read MoreAre you fatigued? The experts are saying, the collective adrenaline has worn off and now we’re all just wiped. I feel it myself.
There is grief happening in the arts community; we are grieving our industry as we knew it. If you’re feeling really sad, you’re not crazy.
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.
