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.
I’ve been working on a new project about climate change (sounds awful but I think it’s going to be good 🤞). The research I’ve done, and the research I’m poised to do, is jet fuel for my creative process.
Today I wanted to share the beauty of research with you. Where it’s been a part of my work, how I conduct it, what the pitfalls are and why I recommend it so highly.
Read MoreCharity Muiruri is an actor, filmmaker, freelance creative and Co-founder of The Basement Bunch (with Adeyinka Akinrinade and Hannah Kelly), based in Luton.
I asked Charity some questions!
I’m back in the fray with my new solo show, Age is a Feeling. I got a commission from Soho Theatre – such a dream, especially after literally trying to get them to notice me since 2016.
Every couple weeks I meet with their associate director Adam. He’s a great dramaturge and director and he’s working with me as an outside eye and frankly, accountability buddy. I share the material I’ve been working on and we talk about what I should focus before our next meeting.
I think SM is a slippery fish. It can be a great way to promote your work, connect with audiences or fellow creators, but it is also the source of MUCH suffering!
The suffering takes many forms…
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 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 MoreI 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 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 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.
How can I deal with constant comparison getting in my way?
How can I overcome professional jealousies?
If you've been struggling with those questions, you're not alone. Theodore Roosevelt famously said:
"Comparison is the thief of joy."
Read MoreWhat 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 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…
As 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 MoreTips for combating self-doubt, fear & unworthiness ... so you can get down to your ART
The inner-critic is that voice in your head, telling you what you're creating is garbage, that it'll never be good enough, that no one cares about what you have to say and/or you should give up before you start.
The voice of the inner-critic comes in may be loud, nagging and persistent. But it appears in many different tones, volumes and frequencies.
However it pops up, this voice can wreak havoc on your creative work.
Read MoreIf you’re an artist who creates your own projects and takes on the lion’s share of the tasks when it comes to raising the funds, writing the funding applications, promoting and sharing your projects with audiences…
… you’re like me. And admin is bane of your existence.
You know the sinking feeling that comes with putting it off. You’re familiar with the rage at losing days to its boring details. Oof.
To help you complete your necessary admin efficiently, so you can get on with your art, here are 8 tools I use regularly.
