A few weeks ago I assisted with the Rhizome: Creative Arts Symposium – March 2015 at BEMAC, a day of workshops, conversations, discussions, pitches and debates that uses a community of practice approach to sharing how artists develop and maintain sustainable careers. While there was a great deal of conversation on that day, I wanted to pick up on one set of thoughts that were shared as a part of the theme, and then to invite you to a workshop that I’ll be giving next Wednesday for the Queensland Writers Centre.
At Rhizome, Austin Kleon’s book, Show Your Work was profiled as a framework for thinking about creating a career in the arts, using a learning taxonomy as a basis for learning and development that built on participants’ knowledge. As Kleon himself describes it, his book outlines “ways to think about your work as a never-ending process, how to build an audience by sharing that process, and how to deal with the ups and downs of putting yourself and your work out in the world”.
For Kleon, the key is to avoid thinking you have to be a genius, and just get out there and share your process, in small ways/everyday. Hopefully, by sharing of your good stories, your curious works and mind, and teaching what you know, you can somehow go somewhere sustainably, without become a human spam bot. Then when people are mean to you: deal. After all that, you hang around for as long as it takes.
So, in the spirit of share and share alike, I would be delighted if you’d join me at the Queensland Writers Centre for a little bit of non-genius level sharing of process and curiosity, with a sprinkling of what I know and a little of what I do not. Hopefully, we can share ideas, spam sandwiches and meaning. It will only take two hours.
Details and booking info check out the website, but basically: Wednesday 29 April, 6-8pm at the State Library.
Later, when all that settles, I’m going to wing up to Mackay and have myself a conversation, which I hope is with some people, if you are people in Mackay or know people in Mackay, I’d love to chat. 6-8pm Saturday 9 May.
Image: Rhizome participants Brisbane City Council via FB
eleanor j jackson 