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The Thriving Creative

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Don’t think about making art….

March 6, 2013 by Steven Sparling 4 Comments

Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. Andy Warhol

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: art, Artists, Creative Entrepreneurship, Inspiration

Picasso and the Myth of Originality

March 2, 2013 by Steven Sparling 19 Comments

Today I attended a great exhibition at the Courtauld Institute, Becoming Picasso, Paris 1901, which looks at one year in Picasso’s output, 1901 when he first came to Paris as an ambitious 19-year-old and proceeded to paint up a storm. The breadth of his work during this period is remarkable. What is interesting about this […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship, Uncategorized Tagged With: Creative Entrepreneurship, creative practices, Ideas, intellectual property, stealing

What We Can All Learn From Dancers

February 13, 2013 by Steven Sparling 2 Comments

It’s safe to say that that I started my career as a dancer. I started taking ballet lessons at age 7, which lead to lessons later in tap, jazz and modern/contemporary. It was through dance that I got involved in community theatre doing musicals, which lead to doing plays, and opera and eventually moving to […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Career, creative, Creative Entrepreneurship, dance

The Dance of Teamwork and the Value of Sprezzatura

February 6, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

That’s me, third from the left in the photo above. It was taken this past weekend at the Middle Temple, one of the famous Inns of Court in London, and where the first recorded performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I was working with an historic dance and drama company called Nonsuch to perform a Candelmas celebration.  […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Creative Entrepreneurship, dance

Luck Has Nothing To Do With It

January 22, 2013 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

A couple of random events have converged over the last 24 hours to make me give some thought to the so called influence of ‘Luck’ on a career in the Arts. I wrapped up the show I was doing in the West End just over a week ago. This has given me a few days […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Creative Entrepreneurship, Creative Industries, Luck

Relationships = Work

June 8, 2012 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

As I have mentioned, I’ve got work on my mind. Much of my major work over the last year has come to an end and so I am looking for some work to do over this summer. It’s not easy because I have a month long holiday in the middle of it (yeah, I know, […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Working Hours -vs- Billable Hours

June 1, 2012 by Steven Sparling 1 Comment

Question: What’s the difference between a hobby and a business? Answer: Billable hours! This is a crucial thing to begin to understand if you really want to earn a living from your creative pursuit. I’m quite certain that you love to do what you do, whether that’s paint, sculpt, knit, sing or dance. You can […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Billable hours, creative, earnings, finance

Nerves of Steel

May 23, 2012 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Marketing 101

May 18, 2012 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

archery target, a photo by Leeds Museums and Galleries on Flickr. What is Marketing? Most people are frightened by the idea. But there are really just some very simple components to marketing. message target market the method/vehicle of communication All marketing involves clarifying the above points. What is the message you want to get across? […]

Filed Under: creative entrepreneurship, Uncategorized Tagged With: creative, Creative entrepreneur, marketing, message, Targets

No Room at the Inn

May 14, 2012 by Steven Sparling Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Recent Posts

  • The Mindful Freelancer: Nine Attitudes for Thriving in the Creative Economy – Part 1 – Non-Judging
  • Pivoting When You Don’t Know Where the Other Foot is Going to Land
  • Help! My Child Wants to Go Into The Arts
  • Confidence Doesn’t Exist. Quit Chasing It.
  • IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Creative Entrepreneur’s Success!

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