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Creative Support Sessions

Free one-to-one support for artists

An Artsadmin producer speaking to an artist
Photo by Saima Khalid

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

What happens in a creative support session? 

Creative Support sessions are a dedicated space for reflection, conversation, and guidance tailored to your creative journey. Whether you’re developing a new artistic idea, navigating a funding application, or figuring out the next steps for a project, our producers are here to listen, offer insight, and provide constructive feedback to help move your practice forward. We offer one session, per artist, per year and each session lasts between 45 minutes and one hour. 

Who is the service for? 

This free service is available to UK-based artists and creatives. This includes arts workers, producers, designers, production managers, curators, arts leaders, technicians, writers, dramaturgs, academics and thinkers. 

What art forms can we support with? 

Our team’s knowledge is in contemporary performance, theatre, inter-disciplinary practice, dance and social- Engaged practice. 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. If you are not sure if our support is right for you, we’ve listed some other places below that offer artists support. 

How are the sessions delivered and what access support is available? 

The sessions can be delivered in person at Toynbee Studios and online via Microsoft Teams. Our Teams account can offer closed captions. 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

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. 

A portrait of Raidene, a brown-skinned female, aged early forties, with wavy brown shoulder-length hair, wearing a black top and red lipstick. She is smiling at the camera

I’ve been doing this (being a cultural producer/programmer/facilitator/ creative director) for quite a few years, across slightly different roles in the publicly-funded arts sector, so my advice and support might lean towards the strategic/big picture (Why are you doing this? Who is it for? What do you think will change or happen as a result?) and this can be quite confronting if you’re simply looking for a kind ear to listen.

I will ask you what you’re needing/wanting at the start of a session, before getting stuck in. I really enjoy throwing around ideas that place people (as participants and audiences) at the centre of a project, or could help you think about your idea from this angle. I’ve also produced work with/for/by lots of different types of communities and can help bring some rigour to any thinking about work that wants to engage specific groups.

I LOVE a budget, and am very happy to spend all the time with this as a starting point if helpful. I also like a bit of governance, organisational structure.

One small request, is that you use our time together to make good use of my experience to get what you need, not to pitch an idea or project to Artsadmin. There are other/better ways to do that which help keep these slots available for artists who need them for support. Thank you, and I can’t wait to connect!
 

I’m an experienced producer with over sixteen years of working in the arts sector, predominantly in cross-arts, interdisciplinary and socially engaged practice. The work I’ve produced has appeared in all sorts of places and contexts like theatres, festivals, found spaces, vacant shops, parks and playgrounds and has toured Nationally and Internationally.

I have a particular interest in co-creation and place-based practices and approaches and have produced a range of work with, for and by children and young people. I love cross sector partnership working and have a strong background and experience in arts and health initiatives.

I have previously worked with organisations such as the Barbican Centre and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and most recently as the Programme Director for Fevered Sleep. I also work as an independent producer for artists and organisations such as Akshay Sharma, Fearghus Ó Conchúir, Victor Esses, Micro Rainbow and Wookey Works. I’m a Trauma-Informed Yoga Practitioner, a graduate of the Clore Leadership Short Course, and have been a Trustee for Entelechy Arts since 2017. 

All sessions have now been fully booked. Please sign up to the Artsadmin Anchor to get notified about any new sessions in May.

If you have any questions please email us at creativesupport@artsadmin.co.uk

Other support services for artists

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
An Artsadmin producer speaking to an artist
Photo by Saima Khalid
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