I haven’t written here for over two years. In blogging years that’s probably the equivalent of 20 years.
It’s life man. It gets in the way sometimes.
Where have I been?
I have been busy during that intervening time – teaching, working as Associate Executive Director of Equity (the union for live performers in Canada) and finishing my PhD (I’m almost there! I am doing my final amendments and I hope to be finished – and well and truly a doctor – in the next couple of months). So I have been busy.
But there’s more…
I lost my courage to speak up and speak out.
I judged what I had to say. I thought it had all been said already, better, by other people. I didn’t think anyone was interested.
But people keep finding this website and people keep signing up for my list.
It’s clear that artists and creatives are looking for business and entrepreneurship advice and ideas. And it makes sense. COVID has really hit the creative industries hard all over.
Surviving the Tempest
For the majority of artists and creatives the last 18 months have been incredibly tough and while things are looking up, there is a long long way to go to get back to any kind of normalcy.
And many people, myself included, think we won’t return to any normalcy we know.
We’re going to find ourselves as artists and creatives in a new land, with new rules and new leaders.
Depending on your point of view, this could be exciting or terrifying. Power is being toppled as we speak in the creative industries.
The Creative Industries are changing quickly
As I look around the creative industries and the arts, I see exciting change taking place. The Black Lives Matter movement has shone light on decades of complacency and complicity and we are finally getting serious about equity, diversity and inclusion. And this is reflected in exciting new black, indigenous and people of colour leaders at numerous organizations, a much greater acceptance of gender diversity and diversity of physical ability, as well as a much needed awareness of the fragility of mental health in the creative industries sector and a need to create workplaces where people can be safe and thrive.
Change is happening all over.
Including in my own home. I’ve been offered a great work opportunity back in the United Kingdom and will be leaving Toronto to take up a position as Head of Department of Creative and Cultural Industries at Kingston University. I am humbled by the opportunity and excited about the possibilities that this new role will present. I look forward to meeting the faculty and students and building a new future together.
As I stand on the precipice of change: completed PhD, moving again, starting a new job – I feel compelled to find my voice again. I’ve been hiding the past few years. Keeping my thoughts to myself. But it’s time to to start writing, speaking and sharing my thoughts.
I hope you might be interested in what I have to say.
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