Weeks Nine and Ten

In Weeks 9 and 10 my hectic schedule back on my course in Glasgow caught up with my body and took its toll. The show I had been intensely working on had its technical rehearsals and public performance followed by assessment, tutorials and feedback. I dislocated my shoulder, emotionally and physically I felt drained. I recognised a need to listen to my body and take a step back. As an artist and as a person with chronic illness I think this is really key learning and as valid as any other skill. Pushing myself past my limit only delays the burnout and when it comes its so much worse for not having listened to my needs when it first became clear that rest was needed.

The topic of self care is really prominent at the moment in art communities. These conversations are so important, too many people are falling into crisis because it can be so difficult to take steps to look after mental health and wellbeing as a freelance artist.

An article I read recently spoke about this in a way that really resonated with me.

“Many artists and self-employed creatives find it hard to have boundaries around the time they work. It’s challenging to turn off and relax because whenever you do, you risk feeling guilty. There is, after all, always something more to do. Unlike a 9-5 job, you have the advantage of working when you feel most inspired and creative. That could be early mornings or late nights, or anywhere in between, but add to that the fact that we live in a hyper-connected world, and it’s easy to feel like slackers if we aren’t working 24/7.”

I took some pressure off myself in weeks nine and ten and continued working on some tasks for Imaginate in a more relaxed way over the holiday, Namely some tasks around the festival. As the public launch has not yet happened I am going to blog about this task without giving any details of the shows. This year there are 15 shows performing as part of the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival across 8 different venues all around Edinburgh, I was tasked with looking into routes through the festival- How could an audience member move through the festival and see every piece of work / every piece of work for ages 7+ /  every piece of work for nursery age. What route allows the wee night out group to see the highest possible number of shows for ages 7+ with availability only on certain days and times etc. Taking lots of factors into account, convenience and timing and travel it felt a lot like a puzzle or a riddle, I had to create a timetable that allowed me to play with all the options and visually see the different venues and performance times for each show from the 25th May – 2nd June.  Whilst it took a lot of time it was really satisfying to finally find a system that would work with every requirement. I also began looking into accommodation options for the creative teams during the festival.