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Creative Support Sessions

Free one-to-one support for artists

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Artsadmin offers a unique and free one-to-one support service to UK-based artists working in contemporary performance, at any stage of their career

Sessions are informal and artist-led, offering an opportunity to talk about anything from artistic ideas and project development to funding and contexts for your work. The format of these sessions has been developed in response to artists’ feedback and research.

Who is the service for?
This is a free service that we offer to artists and creatives, which to us includes arts workers, producers, designers, production managers, curators, arts leaders, technicians, writers, dramaturgs, academics and thinkers.

What happens in a one-to-one support session?
This is a one hour session and you can meet with us once a year. These sessions are places of support, which means everything spoken about in these meetings is confidential. This also means this isn’t a place to pitch work that you hope to get produced at Artsadmin. The support team won’t share anything about you or your project with the rest of the Artsadmin producers.

What art forms can we support with?
Our team’s knowledge is in contemporary performance and live art.

How are the sessions delivered and what access support is available?
The sessions can be delivered in person at Toynbee Studios and online via Zoom. Our Zoom account can access Otter.ai captions embedded and we can offer BSL interpretation. Both will be provided upon request. Please indicate any access requirements when you book your session.

read about access at Toynbee Studios here

What other organisations offer advice and support?
Not sure if our support is right for you? We’ve listed some other places below that offer artists support.

Book a session with one of our team

Please do take the time to read about the person you’d like to meet with before you book in. Each person has different experience, knowledge and expertise, and your experience will vary based on the person you meet.

Please only book one session. Due to capacity, we are only able to offer one session per artist each year.

Valentina standing smiling in front a bright purple wall. she has long dark hair and is wearing dungarees
Valentina Vela

My name is Valentina. You can call me V, Val, Vale, or Valentina. I use she/her pronouns.  I am a Colombian-born queer brown migrant artist and creative producer. I speak Spanish as well as English. I have studied and worked in the US, the UAE, and now the UK. At Artsadmin, I look after our Artist Support Programme.

I am keen to engage in conversations with artists and arts workers around practice, vision, strategy, budgeting, networking, and collaborating; and to sit in the sticky bits of art and art making. I am particularly passionate about supporting migrant artists and artists of the global majority, as well as queer artists and other underrepresented folks, as these are elements of my identity and lived experience that permeate my practice, politics, and personal belief systems. 

During these sessions, I will hold space for us to listen to what is going on under the surface, and I look for ways to challenge you. I will ask you questions about what is driving you, what would be ideal, and how I can best support you in the time we spend together. I will listen, reflect back, and push you to unpick your own statements, beliefs, and plans.

You don’t have to prepare anything, but feel free to spend some time setting intentions and expectations, and we can begin our time checking in about why we are meeting and what we hope to do together. You can also send me anything you’d like me to look at or read beforehand, or to have handy during our session, to valentina@artsadmin.co.uk

Before we meet, I suggest you take a look at our Resources Directory, just in case some of the things you’re curious about or looking for are already there. 

Chat soon!


Nicky Childs, woman with brown shoulder length hair, wearing a grey top sat by a window smiling
Nicky Childs

I’ve been a Senior Producer with Artsadmin for 35 years, and have seen the organisation go from an ambitious dream to a reality in that time. I’ve produced a huge range of artists’ works; from site-specific, immersive, cross- generational performances to socially-engaged and participatory events and projects with an environmental focus or gallery-based exhibitions, performances, video installations and even festivals and conferences.

Some projects have been one-off commissions, whilst others have been co-produced and may have toured nationally/internationally. Alternatively some have been curated festivals or very locally based school or community focused. I’ve also coordinated festivals, produced artists’ publications and partnered on multiple European networks & initiatives.

I started my career as a Speech Therapist and trained and worked as a Dance & Drama Therapist. I also simultaneously informally trained in contemporary dance and dabbled in performance for a while as a founder member of a dance company with choreographers Jacob Marley and Liz Ranken.


Portait of Mark Godber a white male, he is standing with outside wearing a blue shirt smiling into the camera
Mark Godber

Hi I’m Mark, I use he/him pronouns and I’m a cis white man. I’ve been working at Artsadmin since before my hair went grey in a variety of roles, including several years of experience providing creative support and advice to artists. My current role is as Artists’ Producer, working on partnership projects like Season for Change and Another Route and I’m usually very involved in Artsadmin’s work around climate and social justice, including What Shall We Build Here and before that the 2 Degrees Festival. I have worked with many artists on an ongoing and one-off basis on big and small projects.

I am really interested in artists’ work that engages with questions of justice, especially where thinking about climate intersects with other issues. I really like to experience and support projects where the audience is asked to be an active part of the project, and where the work happens in surprising spaces. I have a lot of experience of Creative Europe funding programmes, and some experience with raising money from trusts, foundations, sponsors, and from Arts Council England.
Before we meet, I suggest you take a look at our Resources Directory, just in case some of the things you’re curious about or looking for are already there.


Nora - a woman with mid-length curling brown hair
Nora Laraki

My name is Nora. I am a producer for Artsadmin and I use she/her pronouns. I am a Moroccan-German migrant creative producer, researcher, and curator. I speak German as well as English. I have worked in the art and community sector since 2015 and successfully delivered on a local, national, and international level producing a variety of projects: intergenerational-art projects, exhibitions, conferences, live art, film festivals, participatory community art projects and multi-disciplinary curatorial projects. I started my career working in grant-making for a community organisation funding a lot of community art projects, and also spent a couple of years working in a commercial visual art gallery in Mayfair. I have a PhD in Art History from the University of Kent focussing on the politics and responsibilities of corporate collecting. At Artsadmin, I am producing artist projects with significant international partnerships and touring. Aside from my work here, I am also part of the art collective Queering Space and a trustee for Koestler Arts.

I am passionate about de-colonial perspectives in art history and specifically interested in art and artists from the Middle East and North Africa. Though currently working more in theatre and live art, I’m very passionate about contemporary visual art as well. In the sessions I can be a sounding board for production, logistical, technical, and organisational aspects of your projects. I love a good spreadsheet, timeline and to-do list and may be able to help you with pragmatic advice on structuring your ideas into manageable plans and next-steps. If you are working on community art projects, I may be able to give you some ideas for organisations, trusts and foundations for collaborations or funding. 


About me

My name is Theo, and I’m the Communications Manager at Artsadmin. I use they/them pronouns, and am a white British queer person from South London, with lived experience of disability and neuro-divergence. I am passionate about using language and imagery persuasively and strategically to engage and move audiences.

A non-binary person with short blonde hairshort
Theo Hooley

I have worked in communications in the culture sector for five years, and before that I produced events and projects predominantly for visual artists and documentary filmmakers. Before joining Artsadmin in summer 2022, I worked at a cultural communications agency with clients including The Booker Prizes, English PEN, The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Pan Macmillan, The Warburg Institute, John Hansard Gallery and Estuary Festival.

Who and how I can support
I am best placed to support artists and creative practitioners who are working out how to best represent themselves and their practice on various communication platforms.

For example, we can discuss specific texts you are currently drafting like artist bios, performance or exhibition descriptions. This could be through listening to any challenges you’ve experienced regarding representing yourself and your work publicly, and inputting prompts or suggestions if desired. Specifically, I can advise on the accessibility of copy in terms of syntax and presentation, and of imagery and audio-visual material through alternative text/ image descriptions, captions or sound descriptions.

I can also hold space for you to share challenges you’ve faced around self-promotion, such as running your own website and social media channels as an artist. We might discuss setting personal and professional boundaries on social media, your intentions to connect with specific audiences, or managing your time and energy as a freelancer. Or we might discuss how to go about setting achievable and meaningful targets for your publicity campaign, based on your own artistic goals.

How I run these sessions
At the beginning of our session I will ask you to share a little about your practice and any upcoming or ongoing challenges you are facing, and then we will decide together what to spend the hour focussing on – whether its a casual free-flowing chat, or discussing a particular task.


Nene is pictured here smiling against a red background. They are person with a light brown complexion and they are wearing, a brown woolly jumper.
Photo by Holly Revell

I am an assistant producer at Artsadmin, and my pronouns are they/them. 
 
I am a producer and artist, and on a journey trying to learn to do both. Perhaps for this reason, I often find myself moving through and sitting in-between spaces and contexts.  

I have a background in contemporary performance, and I would wholeheartedly say this is where my passions and interests lie. I am also intensely interested in practices of communities that often under resourced but are offering unique perspectives whilst finding exciting and intricate ways to continue artmaking. 
 
I am queer person with lived experience of being Black, neurodivergent and fat which creates my frame of reference of how I live and work alongside people. 

I have an interest in transforming structures through engaging with artistic practice. I am dreaming of a sector that has a deep commitment to processes that challenge our systems and supports artist in demanding for more.  
 
About these sessions 
 
I will approach my time with you openly, as I am a curious person who can offer a listening ear and reassuring hand throughout our conversations. I’m prepared to give you room to think, dream and ask questions. If you’re willing, together, we can attempt to move deeper into your ideas and thoughts. 

I have experience in fundraising, building networks, project management, idea development, budgeting, facilitation and cross-collaboration.  

I welcome conversations with people who on verge of an idea, stuck, not sure what support is needed, unsure of where to go, in a shift of place or just looking for a chat. 

My name is Paige. I use she/her pronouns. I am a Producer for Artists Projects at Artsadmin. I am a Black British creative producer with experience working in the creative industries across a range of interdisciplinary art forms including dance, photography, film and music.

Paige ofosu-asaa

My own life and career journey has led me to passionately believe that art should be accessible to as many people as possible if not all as a vehicle for change and creative expression.

I am experienced in and have a skills base in but not limited to funding applications, community engagement, budgeting, scheduling, planning and execution. I work collaboratively with artists to realise and bring their vision to actuality.

Most recently I have worked on projects which explore themes of environmental issues, climate activism, racial justice, exploration of self and identity.

To make the best possible use of the one hour session, I am happy to receive material in advance if you feel this would be advantageous and would give you the best value and experience. Ideally a week in advance so I can best prepare for our session.


Hiya, my name is Cat. I use she/her pronouns and have worked at Artsadmin for 15 years. I’m a mum, an artist and a producer, originally from the North of England. As a senior producer, I work with artists to turn their ideas into reality. I’ve had a lot of experience working closely with artists on projects that travel internationally and are presented in non-traditional spaces – from carparks to beaches to derelict warehouses. I am particularly interested in projects that are about environmental and/or social justice.

Image of Cat Harrison, woman with short blonde hair wearing red lipstick and blue and purple knitted jumper smiling into the camera
Cat Harrison

In addition to my producing role at Artsadmin, I oversee the amazing team that run our Artist Support Programme, and input into our organisational development. Outside of Artsadmin, I’m an artist and Co-Director of award-winning collective Non Zero One and Chair of the Board of producing company Crying Out Loud.

I’m interested to hear about artists looking to change the world and better ways in which the arts sector can work together. During these sessions I can offer an ear on how a project is going and signpost to possible avenues of support, or we can get into a specific producing task such as creating a budget or schedule together or looking over an ACE grant.



Maya Kincaid

I am Maya and I use she/they pronouns. I’m the Engagement Producer at Artsadmin, my journey has involved 9+ years of socially engaged practice, research and programming across Scotland and in London.

A bit about me:  
I come from a visual arts background and have always sat between forms – my interdisciplinary approach has incorporated sculpture, drawing, movement, spoken word, fashion, storytelling, video and more. I’ve produced projects across visual arts, dance, performance and community gatherings, from intergenerational social dances to school wide gallery takeovers. 

I’m most experienced in working with children and young people; I’ve also worked with adults with experience of the criminal justice system, refugees and people seeking asylum, older adults, disabled people, families and a vast range of intergenerational communities.  

I’m studying an MA in Arts & Learning at Goldsmiths, my research looks at how anti-racist, anti-institutional models interact with institutional frameworks. A key focus is on the intersections of chronic health, neurodivergence and blackness within socially engaged practice.  

As a black mixed-heritage, queer, neurodivergent person with chronic health conditions; intersectional access is inherently embedded into my ethos. My lived experience informs my knowledge base and provides sensitivities to my ways of working.  

Who and how I can best support:
If you have a community-based practice or are starting to incorporate participation/facilitation/education/engagement in any form into your work and have questions about how to approach that – a creative support session with me may be useful.  

Through my work, I’ve learnt to break down and translate a lot of ‘art speak’ into language that I can better understand. Whilst I recognise that we all think and process differently, I feel equipped to support others in journeying through that, in a way that works for them. Whether that’s navigating application processes, funding criteria or more general ideas-based dialogue – I’m happy to be a sounding board and to support in demystifying areas that might not be ringing clear.  

I also have an awareness of institutional practice and finding ways for projects to sit within organisational structures without an artist compromising their approach and values.  

In summary, the areas I feel excited and confident in supporting include: 

  • the ethics of facilitation  
  • sensitively building community partnerships  
  • work that explores African Diasporic and Black British identity with others 
  • how to work with and without institutions  
  • expanding or adapting art forms/projects/practice to work appropriately with specific groups and embedding access considerations throughout that process  

Sessions with me:  
Our session will be a time for us to reflect and travel through your practice and your questions together. I’m not here to tell you what to do, but am happy to unpack problem areas with you, sit with and appreciate the exciting moments, troubleshoot, evaluate, listen and consider perspectives. I can also signpost to references relating to community based or participatory practice.

I don’t expect you to do any in depth work before meeting but as we’ll just have one hour together, it would be great to come with a core focus for what you hope to get from the session. If you would like to send me any reference points or information to look over before meeting, please send to creativesupport@artsadmin.co.uk at least 3 working days before our scheduled session.

Before we meet, I suggest you take a look at our Resources Directory, just in case some of the things you’re curious about or looking for are already there.  

Please note: We can support you in idea developments and professional support, however this is not a place to pitch work to Artsadmin’s producers

If you can’t book using Calendly, please email us at creativesupport@artsadmin.co.uk or call 020 7247 5102.

Other support services for artists

Events

Date Location More info
Radar: Queer Clash Mornings
19 January – 9 May 2024
11am–1pm
Toynbee Studios, London Details and tickets

Date Title Venue City
6–18 April 2021 Guest Artist Support Sessions: Nando Messias
23 March – 27 April 2021 Guest Artist Support Sessions: Vijay Patel
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