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Musings News Project Updates

Creative Spaces: ‘So You Wanna Go to Art School?’

By Jodie Barnacle-Best

With the creative industries growing at four times the rate of the UK average1, it is perhaps a surprise that the age-old tropes of art school haven’t yet disappeared. For many students, the decision of whether or not to go to art school is a nuanced debate – one which undoubtedly isn’t given enough airtime at schools or colleges across the country.

The concept of ‘art school’ and what actually goes on there is still seen as pretty mysterious and aloof (all art students will know the struggle of trying to explain how your degree requires significant work, time and skill just like any other degree). And as the stereotypes build and build it is easy to forget how reliant we all are on the arts and what your individual future in the arts could look like… like can you make money or are we all doomed to the ‘struggling artist’ trope forever?

But even once we are over the hurdles debating the mere importance of the arts industries and the potential for growth within an arts related job, there is still a question as to whether art school is the way to go about achieving these ambitions. Do you a need a fashion degree to be a designer? Or a degree in painting to be a painter? And what does a degree in fine art actually mean? 

The impact of the arts is constantly minimised (anyone still remember Fatima the ballerina ‘whO’s NExT JOb cOulD BE iN CyBer’?)2. What is often overlooked is the transferable skills which you accumulate as you hone your craft within your degree.

Hopefully, you will get to become a magnificent painter following a degree in painting and printmaking. But also, you’ll learn creative problem solving, verbal and visual communication methods, responding to briefs and deadlines, emotional resilience, collaborative working… the list is endless!

With art school in particular, it is arguably not the end result of the degree which makes the choice ‘worth it’ – but the art school method of thinking it can instil in you, the acquiring of potential contacts, the widening network of opportunities and access to facilities that is developed during an art student’s academic career.

The chance to be immersed with like-minded people and having the time and space to fully concentrate on learning your craft (or even finding your craft) is one of the many great allures of art school. The permission to experiment, and the safety to fail, while working on projects for the sake of projects (and, for the most part, not commission or money) is an opportunity that’s not frequently available outside of an art school setting. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to go!

One of the many beauties of the arts is that there’s not one path for everyone. We all find ourselves clambering around, finding our way, losing our way, or deciding to set up camp halfway down the path for a while because we just like the view.

Ultimately… to art school or not to art school? You decide. But hearing about other people’s creative pathways and understanding the paths available will always be a good starting point. 

Join in and continue this discussion at our first event of the ‘So You Wanna Go to Art School?’ programme! Book a place at our panel discussion happening on Thursday 2nd September 7-9pm at The Stove, Dumfries or tune into the livestream via our YouTube channel:

Sign up – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/so-you-wanna-go-to-art-school-panel-discussion-tickets-165255719305 

Livestream on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJbT8JrUhg0pf3UaH0N4sFg

1 Creative Industries Federation, 2019 report ‘Public Investment, Public Gain: How public investment in the arts generates economic value across the creative industries and beyond’, https://www.creativeindustriesfederation.com/publications/public-investment-public-gain, via Culture Counts Scotland

2 Brit Dawson, ‘A brief explainer of the government’s dystopian Fatima cyber ad’, https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/50747/1/a-brief-explainer-on-the-government-dystopian-fatima-cyber-ad

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News Opportunities

Work With Us

We’re recruiting for a NEW Finance & Operations Manager

Realise your potential

The Stove Network is an innovative social enterprise in the centre of Dumfries, and we are looking for someone to join our talented team that is working at the heart of our community. We operate a hub for the region’s creative sector, offering training and opportunities to the local community as well as developing projects in partnership with groups and agencies that help people make changes in the places where they live.

Through success our turnover and organisation have grown quickly, and we now have an opening for the right person to be the next piece in The Stove jigsaw. We are recruiting a Finance and Operations Manager and are looking for someone who can develop with us and provide sound support through financial and organisational systems.

Do you have excellent organisational and financial skills? Do you like being the one with all the information at your fingertips and knowing where to look for the answers? Are you adaptable and do you want to be part of a dynamic and committed team that is genuinely making a difference for our local community? If so, then we’d love to meet you. Please check out the application pack and get in touch for an initial chat or to send us an application….

Deadline for applications: midnight Sunday 19th Sept 2021

Interviews will be held on Tuesday 28st September. We would like to make sure that our recruitment process is as open as possible, so if you’d like to discuss any accessibility requirements, please get in touch via [email protected] or phone us on 01387 252435 (weekdays 10-4pm).

For more information and details on how to apply, download the full application pack below.

Download the application pack
clear text version
equality monitoring form
Categories
News

WWDN Update

Meet the Artists

‘What We Do Now’ (WWDN), is a pioneering, experimental project working with creative freelancers, places, and communities across the Southwest of Scotland, through ten substantial commission opportunities for freelance creatives and artists to work locally on creative projects that directly benefit five towns in Dumfries & Galloway.

Forming part of the national programme, ‘Culture Collective”, What We Do Now focuses on culture and creativity and how these play a role in the nation’s long-term recovery from the pandemic.

The project provides creative practitioners the opportunity to work with community-led organisations throughout the region from over the course of one year, first launched in summer 2021.

A detailed recruitment process was undertaken to ensure each of the five place hubs were partnered with the right artist(s) to collaborate with and develop each brief, identifying and addressing the needs of the communities they represent.

Now in the next phase of the project, What We Do Now is ready to introduce the commissioned artists who will work with community groups to ignite and inspire new imaginative possibilities for the five towns across Dumfries and Galloway for the coming year!

This team, of experienced and emerging artists, will work together with communities exploring bold new ideas to celebrate the voices often unheard in our region. Over the course of the next year, What We Do Now will weave together and showcase a united, creative vision of our region. One that is built and inspired by the communities we all belong to and serve.

Supporting our artists on their journey and recording their progress will be documentary duo, Patrick Rooney of Dear Friend Films and photo-journalist Kirstin McEwan. Their work will illustrate the varied creative approaches each artist will undertake as well as follow the development of each brief, documenting the unique stories of each place, the communities therein and the vision each will evolve.

To find out more about out the artists, and community organisations they’ll be collaborating with click here.

Categories
News Opportunities

Creative Writing Opportunities

High Street Multiverse:

Six Opportunities for Emerging Writers Based in Dumfries & Galloway

Welcome to Dumfries High Street.

In this place, whole worlds of stories and sorrows, memories and hopes as vivid and colourful as your own, exist within each passer-by.

A multiverse, an ever-growing web of realities sprawl and spin from the smallest encounter. New futures are written and re-written all at once, each stemming from the consequences of actions so subtle, they are barely felt. But the ripple of each of our choices resonates beyond now… and alters the realities we all share.

So step inside… what story will you find?

High Street Multiverse is a digital, public art project supported by Dumfries & Galloway Unlimited. Working with 6 emerging writers from the region, this unique initiative will support writers to craft six individual audio stories to be placed within the town centre of Dumfries, through a specially designed series of QR light sculptures, the artworks will immerse listeners into new imaginative worlds, traversing time and space.

Writers will work together with the support of the Stove’s creative team through a regular series of workshops led by professional writers alongside a handful of creative sessions to shape each individual story. Emerging writers will receive one to one creative and professional guidance with a small team of professionals in the field, gaining tailored support and advice to take your writing to the next level.

Writers will receive a fee of £200 for their contribution to the project alongside professional support and guidance along with the opportunity to collaborate with others and be part of an exciting multi-arts project in the heart of Dumfries.

You don’t have to have been published and you can be of any age and experience-level to apply. We’re looking for writers who are excited to be part of this collaborative project and are willing to help create a new experience for Dumfries town centre.

Want to take your story to the street?

Who can apply?
You don’t need to have been published, you could even just be dabbling. You might be a fantasy writer, novelist, poet, or all the above. We’re looking for potential. We’re looking for writers who are excited by the prospect of working collaboratively and are willing to be part of a journey in finding their voice through the support and mentorship of the Stove and our team of professional writers.

The only thing we ask is that you are living in or can demonstrate a significant connection to Dumfries & Galloway. No upper age limit.

How to Apply
To apply please send a cover letter and supporting material to [email protected] answering:

What excites you about the project?

How would you describe yourself as a writer?

How could this project support your development?

Alongside up to three writing examples, exceeding no more than three pages per example.

Submissions closing date is the 30th of August.

Creative sessions and workshops will take place throughout September and October with works being recorded in November and December. Installation and public unveiling will be in January 2022.

Time commitment:
Coordination of workshops and creative sessions will be arranged in consultation with the successful writers. We expect writers to attend roughly 5 workshops/creative sessions, as well as one-to-one sessions with the professional writers’ team.
All applicants will be contacted with regards to the outcome within the week of the of the 6th of September.

For more information about the project please email [email protected].

Categories
Musings

Door Handles of Change

By Sam Gonçalves, Digital Producer for Soap Box

Sam Gonçalves

Back in March I started a short term freelance contract with The Stove Network to help them set up Soap Box: a series of events, panels and workshops. The programme, alongside a whole host of extra resources, has now been brought together in an easy-to-use toolkit. 

The team asked me to write about my experience, but I have to admit the last few months have felt very different to the professional experiences I’m used to having. To give you some context, I have never met any of The Stove’s team in person! This whole journey I’ve just been working with disembodied heads on varying zoom calls. It wouldn’t take too much evidence to convince me none of them are actually real.

That was the biggest hurdle, in my opinion, to the development of Soap Box. An excellent programme focusing on the development of digital skills, ran entirely online and designed by a remote team. Suddenly all the strategies you learned to galvanise a team, work with people, create bonds and make together are not quite as applicable to an entirely digital world. 

I arrived at The Stove aware of the ‘newness’ of this challenge and interested on how it would be faced. As time went by, it was a pleasure to see how the team did it: with open minds and a keen sense of curiosity.

The remote nature of the programme was seen as an opportunity rather than a barrier. I don’t think a single one of our weekly meetings went by without a member of the team asking, “Who can we bring in?” about any given part of the project. Collaboration was an essential building block and it involved people in all sorts of career stages, of different ages, backgrounds and perspectives. 

When faced with the fresh challenges arising out of lockdown, I saw The Stove team open up to other experiences and expertise. They sought answers, as oppose to assuming they already had them. As a result, the programme hosted an incredible variety of people – from facilitators to attendees – who brought in knowledge that would not have been there if these events had been run in a business-as-usual way.

Here’s a humiliating metaphor I can use to explain this – Portuguese is my first language and when I moved to Scotland from Brazil at the age of 17, I discovered a cruel linguistic twist. The word ‘pull’ translates to ‘puxe’ in Portuguese, which sounds exactly like the word ‘push’. For years I’d read the work ‘push’ on a shop door and my brain would short-circuit and make me pull it. I’ve walked into my fair share of doors. 

I tarnish my otherwise flawless reputation to say – sometimes the main barrier is being unable accept a piece of knowledge is no longer relevant. What I really take away from the handful of months working with and observing The Stove is their unrelenting drive to learn more, bringing people in who will show them a new perspective and respecting what they have to say – whether they may be the head of an organisation or a young freelancer. 

I long to see the skill of un-learning being used in the creative and cultural sector more often, it would open many doors…

Sam Gonçalves // @SidlingBears

Want to learn more about Soap Box and check out the digital resource toolkit? Visit our webpage:
https://thestove.org/soap-box/

Categories
Musings

The Tortured Artist

By Jenna Macrory, Creative Producer of Creative Spaces

The stereotype of the tortured artist is ingrained in Western culture. With this trope remaining so pervasive for such a length of time the archetype of the tortured artist has adapted with society over time. With the societal perception of mental illness changing, how has the relationship between creativity and suffering progressed over time?

Historically, mental illness and creativity have always been closely associated. In ancient Greece, madness was perceived as a state of other-worldliness. Madness to the Greeks could be interpreted in two ways: divine or demonic.* Demonic madness was seen as bad and therefore perceived in a negative light similar to how mental health is often stigmatised today.

Conversely, divine madness is a spiritual pursuit that permits an individual to act out with conventional societal standards. For the ancient Greeks, creativity was derived from this subversion of social norms. In other words, creativity comes from madness, albeit a specific type of madness but for numerous centuries creativity and madness have remained intertwined.

Few things have remained as prominent through human history as the trope of the tortured artist. Spanning centuries and infecting every single medium of art, prominent creatives appear to use suffering to their advantage.

Author Sylvia Plath channelled her depression into her only novel The Bell Jar; Louis Wain’s paintings of anthropomorphic cats transformed into psychedelic subjects upon his descent into schizophrenia; Kurt Cobain publicly professed his battles with mental health through many of his songs. The list of creatives battling with mental illness goes on but this alludes to a link between creativity and mental health particularly considering that this trope has remained over centuries.

As such a culturally pervasive topic, recent decades have seen the rise of studies investigating mental health in creatives. Despite the empirical evidence of a link between creativity and mental disorders, several studies have exhibited little to no link between the two.

Creative professions proved no more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders according to a study involving 1.2 million Swedish citizens.** Contrarily studies that do exhibit higher rates of mental disorders show only a marginal difference.*** With the link between creativity and mental illness seeming arbitrary, why has the archetype of the tortured artist remained?

Although creativity itself does not correlate with mental wellbeing, many artists find themselves in conditions that allow psychiatric disorders to manifest. A passion to create leads many artists into situations that can be mentally straining such as low-paying career paths, job instability, or substance abuse.

This sentiment is reinforced by figures suggesting that as many as 60 percent of workers in creative industries spoke of having suicidal thoughts. Although the sole act of being creative does not denote an individual to madness, the environment and social networks we are part of contribute to our psychological wellbeing.

While the tortured artist trope was conceived from the concept of a suffering introspective soul, recent years have seen the narrative of this trope shift. The tortured artist is no longer tormented by an inward pain, the suffering of an artist is now amplified by an economic climate that makes living as an artist increasingly difficult.

Despite this shift, the stereotype of the tortured artist will remain although as we continue to witness the gradual destigmatisation of mental health we can address the issues at the core of this trope. As a result, we can begin to move away from this romanticised image of the tortured artist toward a healthier stereotype.

As humanity progresses how will the tortured artist stereotype change? How will changes to the wider society impact on this persona? Will the art economy, already struggling in a post pandemic world plunge more creatives into mental instability?

If you have any thoughts on these and you are under 30 you can join Creative Spaces for our conversation around the tortured artist persona at 7pm, 8th July. For more information and to book a space please click the link below:
The Tortured Artist Stereotype: An Open Conversation

* John Matthews, Creativity and Mental Illness: Exploring the ‘Tortured Artist’, https://www.vacounseling.com/tortured-artist/.
** Simon Kyaga, Mikael Landen, Marcus Boman, Christina M Hultman, Niklas Langstrom, Paul Lichtenstein, Mental illness, suicide and creativity: 40-year prospective total population study, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23063328/.
*** Stephen A. Stansfeld, Jenny Head, Farhat Rasul, Occupation and mental health: Secondary analyses of the ONS Psychiatric Morbidity Survey of Great Britain, https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr168.pdf.

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