Our job as artists is to create work. Our next job is to share that work with the world. We are in control of these two actions. Your success as an artist is directly related to the frequency and quantity of work you produce and whose hands you try to get it into. What you […]
Archives for May 2012
Downward Facing Dog of Shame (Embarrassing Auditions Pt 1)
Up and Down, a photo by Nicholas_T on Flickr. (That’s not me in the photo! Some random yogi off Flickr) Last week I had one of those classically embarrassing auditions. I squirmed in agony all weekend remembering butt-clenching details. I had been called to audition for a commercial for a major UK grocery chain. The […]
Budgeting for Creative Survival
There are many great things I took away from my MA in Creative Entrepreneurship from UEA (http://www.uea.ac.uk/hum/mace/courses/ma-creative-entrepreneurship). The course leader, Ian Chance, is a charming man with a lifetime worth of experience in the field. He’s also wickedly funny. One of the things he taught us was to have our cabbages budget. As well as […]
Nerves of Steel
I’ve been a freelancing creative for over 20 years now. Sometimes all of my income has come from freelance creative work and other times I have had additional employment at the same time in order to grease the financial wheels. Due to buying a new flat, I took a contract teaching three days per week […]
A Fresh Perspective
Sometimes you think y0u’ve heard or seen something so many times that it has nothing fresh to offer you, right? Even great works of art, when viewed too many times, can seem old hat. And yet, all it takes is a fresh angle or approach and it can seem as fresh as the day it […]
Keeping it Fresh
Daily App Experiment #303: “Chain Reaction”, a photo by docpop on Flickr. When you’ve been practicing your art form for some time it can be hard to keep it fresh. When you are doing the same things over and over again, it’s easy for it all to start feeling a bit…. well like a dayjob. […]
Not All Customers Are Created Equal
I suppose I’ve been a freelance creative entrepreneur for 20 years now, at least off and on. During that time I’ve done a number of contracts as an actor, singer or dancer. In the last few years I’ve taken on freelance work teaching singing and writing contracts related to my other professional life as a […]
No Room at the Inn
Friday night I watched some of my singing students perform in their final year show. I was a proud poppa as I watched them strut their stuff. I know how much they have improved over the two years we’ve worked together – they’ve grown as singers, they are stretching their wings as actors and they […]
Pathway Four: Business Skills
The fourth pathway is called Managerial Tools & Leadership Skills by Lisa Sonora Beam. I find that a bit of a mouthful, so I think of it instead as Business Skills. This is where you have the most capacity to learn, grow and develop your business. The other three pathways are about taking stock of […]