Being a film director & Tapping into Leicester Heritage

Well things have certainly heated up activity wise, a few glitches with with paperwork and personal front family worries around of ill health . But the show must go on..so a lot of work negotiating permissions to film /photograph to set up location shoots. Prop hire , wardrobe costumes make up hair , recruit up 11 character model/actors for about and 20 extras !. Not including the creative technical crew of about 7-9 people !!!. Now I think I know how Busby Berkely must have felt !

As we are recreating Leicester 70's nightclub in a important part of Leicester's heritage the Nottingham Oddfellows Club Humberstone Gate in the city centre. the Secretary had been at the club 50 years and the club it self dates back to the 1880's. My memory recollects it being a hub for the phenomena that was Northern Soul ! It is still regularly used as a venue for functions & event we will utilise its fabulous layout, dance floor and lighting rig complete with gold lame curtains stage, to create a 70s, Disco club night as part of the narrative for the piece. It will be

such a special event- with all those local people participating - being part of the project .

Yes Yes Yes 'We will build Jerusalem in England' etc. ! Blake

YES , the answer is yes we got it !! A vitally important milestone has been reached - major achievement in the current financial climate . We have been notified, we will receive grant funding, from a major funder, Arts Council England, for our wonderful project. I know I have not written for awhile, due to, much anxiety (lots) , anticipation alongside a mind boggling flurry of activity. Needless to say it has not all quite sunk in but we now have the means to move very quickly and positively forward !!!!

We have in place a really fantastic creative team ( theatre, performing arts, creative artists , digitals till & moving image, multi-media MA's BA's etc) planning out with me in our regular team meetings, still and moving image shoots, the art direction , external and studio, locations and venues , extras costumes, props , hair make up and personnel . In addition to very having stimulating discussions with clear decisions emerging about creative technicalities about the visual look, colour textures, post edit treatments of the piece, across the different decades of style, throughout the narrative of the piece . We are currently recruiting a crowd of extras. All our main character/model actors have all been sourced locally and cast by me. All to generate the quality images we need for the stage production . Key project management tools are Dropbox and Google Calender-essential !!! It does feel historic, with an unstoppable positive forward momentum. We are building something that will really be very special and unique right here in the middle lands of England ..of Leicester The world awaits....

Its All Over Now.. !

Indeed it is all over... well because one key part is ,now a very important arts grant application flew off into cyberspace !!! I have received notification already - which is a great relief. It is a 6 week turn around - ten days first to find out if you are eligible. Here is hoping for the best and all of that stuff to actually start this project in earnest , on behalf of the project the team, board , champions everyone !!! A big thanks to them all so far on this journey...

I met last week with Further Education College of Excellence in Leicester to talk about the project, young people and exploring future learning possibilities . This afternoon I meet a journalist from a arts lifestyle magazine for an interview about me as an artist , my work and this mind boggling project. Great ! Tomorrow I have tour with fellow collaborators Simon and Sean , of a prestigious arts venue to check out its technical possibilities. does R& D ever really stop or is an on going process hmmm -possibly ?

Next week I do presentation with Sean, for MA students at the Institute of Creative Technologies De Montfort University to talk about the project, at the invitation of Dr Sophy Smith. there will be further discussion in the Autumn 2011 with the Centre of Excellence for Performing Arts in Leicester, have shown great interest in the project for his Digital & Performance students

Setting Off - A Truly Amplified Moment !

Maybe the blog will be more frequent from now on..why because we have arrived at very important point. I am so pleased to know, from now on there will be no more R& D or recruiting Arts Project Champions (they must be powerful, influential & informed for an artist to advance most importantly know & appreciate your work) Project Advisory Board Members all the pre-production etc . The project has secured over eleven grand - eleven thousand pounds' in kind support to contribute to the overall project budget for the main arts funding application. This will be added to other in kind support for marketing and the Igniting Ambition grant award of five grand - five thousand pounds . My biggest arts project to date- but worth all the hard work, despite the setbacks in these harsh economic times for an innovative project to move forward. But create and innovate WE MUST !!!!

These recent and very important resources , are made up of three creative residencies, they are as as follows;- an arts centre dance studio & rehearsal space for physical theatre text performance and music workshops; a digital media centre to record edit and process all the still & moving digital images - for the digital performance platform; several days technical rehearsal and 'sharing of work in progress 'at a major arts venue. The overall arts grant application is being proof read (very important you may have missed something especially for online applications) for final submission this week as all at last all the information is in place GREAT !

Now all the juicy creative arts work really begins in earnest - the text , the improvisation performance , locations , recording images (still & moving) construction of set/props, design and implementation of the digital performance platform etc etc. So now we need some more project management tools,web based/online ones, as a team member reminded me . For better and more quick effective communications for the next phase.

I have used for example Basecamp usefully in the past for an arts project and I would strongly recommend others to try them for their own project work. Especially for sharing documents , images etc quickly the a number of people in a safe secure and private way. When I said I was taking the digital challenge- I really did and the Amplified Leicester course certainly open and prepared to up my level digitally speaking in so many beneficial ways. A few examples apart from arts research references etc., making national & international arts contacts , pitching to arts venues using power points, diagrams, to communicate our vision and concept quickly for the project. Finally, social media to consolidate a range of interest, wider engagement and audiences for the project. I becaome mor amplified as an artist by the day - but also learning to manage and filter !!!

On Tippy Toes....but getting more financial know how

I have not blogged for what seems like ages loads emails and phone calls zinging back and forth . On the cusp of finalising a couple of key deals (money figures needed). To then submit (big breath here ) the full application for oversight by those in the know with these things . I will breath a long yogic sigh of relief when eventually the whole application to wings it way up north, to be assessed- the decision will be defining one way or the other... I am so much more confident this time round .

The Project Advisory Board is looking GREAT we have now added an accountant and financial adviser of of the first order . It now as a wide range of experienced qualified and knowledgeable people - who support artists and the arts.

We are looking forward to a technical site visit at a high profile arts venue, looking over work schedules and making beauty

Mixed Messages but Creative Designer Gives Top Buzz

So somewhere those ooooooh's is are still being sounded somewhere about the new commission... but recent times have also featured confusing mixed messages from another key arts venue. Must therefore seek to clarify matters with them further ... However this has lead to sharpened up and more precise communication of information. So here is always hoping....I have noted the amount of information,the different types and quantities to different people at different times. Is well nothing short of l - staggering !! I have lost count of the number of e mails, documents, power points, the amount of phone calls, meetings conversations etc. etc. It is all very much worth it though and it all does yield results in the end . A brilliant creative designer/fiction writer has come on board, who not only gets it all in one fell swoop (too my utter delight ) . But also brings fabulous goodies to the table - like art work design, advertising marketing support (sooo needed later on), clubbing experience and to top it all literary input ! You have enjoy some of all this stuff or otherwise - why do it ? We just need a Finance person and our Project Advisory Board (*two other new members Education professional & ex local Councillor) is looking the business. For a new re- vamped Dare to Diva arts organisation. Ululations aplenty !

OOOOOhhhhhh - Joy Joy Joy !!!!!!!!

There is no other word for it I have been going round in the last 24hours going ooooooooh in a high pitched voice , sounding like one of those little digital things that make a similar sound- that used to heard in Bashment (Jamaican Dance Hall) Dances as a sign of enjoyment and pleasure to the DJ's... more recently seen in the latest Pina Bausch Wim Wenders Film - a dancer mounting then descending balanced on single chairs, letting out huge ecstatic oooooohs !!!!!!!

Why ? because yesterday was a simply a huge massive tremendous awe inspiring fantastically brilliant BREAKTHROUGH kind a day all artists would hope for !!!!!

After the good advice , all the project work to date, all the information gathered, presented and pitched etc. The project successfully- will now receive a commission at a local Digital Media Centre for a Creative Residency to produce a pilot digital performance platform Summer 2011 a
A well as produce an innovative installation piece for 2012 at the Digital Media Centre . This will undoubtedly will change everything. Ooooooh !!!!! this boosts the project work massively Then to top it all, I had the most excellent letter of support from a local University English Academic, with regard to the project and more specifically my creative writing, placing it within an East Midlands tradition of writing GREAT !!!! All from day one SUPERB !!!!!!

Nothing Can Stop This Now

Someone said about this project at this juncture 'nothing can stop this now. I sat at home the other night and likened it to a snowball gathering pace and taking unto itself all manner of things, to make it bigger stronger and more robust ! There is something different more confidence , definitely - like as if you can smell it all done ... really well ! The list is endless as to what has been learned so far, the transliterate arts must offer themselves hither and thither being an artist is somewhat like a call girl, as one high profile arty commentator remarked 'one chooses to be an artist , its not a job' I see ) being fully competent in all manner of digital paraphanalia, have good writing skills, get independent assessments of you and your work. Important working collaboratively, keep focused ,do not lose sight or let anyone take over completely your overarching vision. For them to tun into something it is not and can never be. An abundant artistic creative talent , limitless energy , faith, self belief in the face of utter fear despondency (especially other peoples) i.e Jobs (the bible) constitution. Always spend time with very creative people, to rub together and make big sparks for each other. I am not at the end but .... we are rolling right now..

Soul to Soul & Trashing Post Modernism

In the last 24 hours I have been in the company of Rozena Maart Head of Gender Studies Kwazulu Natal University S. A. Soul to soul talking about Black Consciousness (yes you do not hear that very often round these parts !) black afro-centric artists being copied and then blocked, the hidden afrikan herstories and histories of Afrikaans people and white europeans in general, non european forms of philosphical reasoning . Plus completely trashing post modernism and its champions e.g. Paul Gilroy etc and exposing its apologisms - it was awesome !!! The new is totally upon me, revelations abound in my millieu as to who really helps and who actually hinders...Wonderful ! Now having said all of that, circumstances do change and a fire is catching with a good head wind towards fulfilling the dream. Mostly in a totally beautfiful way. So lots of smiling by me inside and out.

Catch 22 Hobson's Choice -to Achieve Beauty Not What You Expect

Great so you have an important meeting about the project that is to create beauty , with a gate keeper and begin chatting like a mynah bird, not not realising that the person you are talking to - is not with you . Why because the document you thought you had sent to them - you actually did not - because you had spent so much time sending various documents (by email of course) to so many people - it was clearly an oversight . Hilarious really ! However further discussions took place that were constructive . An even more satisfactory meeting took place for the first time between the staging deviser ace and the digital designer ace on the team . A meeting of great minds - powerful , wonderful to see. To the point. (previous drawings of stage design were poured over ) whereby we all have seen the centre piece, in terms of our core creative digital stage prop. A thing so great and wonderous , as to inspire real awe as far as I am concerned. With its abilities to work real magic ! No the knot in the pit of my stomach, all revolves around key decisions (time is pressing now ), as to where to go for money and exactly how much - e.g. request less (to get a quick positive decison hopefully and get more needed later ?) or more (with a longer turn around- take the risk to ask for exactly what you need with maybe a negative decision ?) It is all rather like gambling (I do not gamble except in my arts of course ) really only much worse. All the funding options look feasible till on further examination,there is some big decisions (the criteria and the steer being given to by funders for you to follow) then makes it all look far less attractive, in terms of what the actually project needs- Catch 22, six of one half a dozen of the other . One good thing recently amongst all this funding angst, is I have come up with more important details about one of the characters for the piece. In addition I have written a type of treatment to progress matters technically. I am very happy (I so enjoy my writing ) about this, as there was some things missing... Also it looks we have have film video etc.production facilities/resources to use over the summer . As of today it looks like we have recruited a recommended film maker /photographer to work with us . A meeting with the local univerisity is planned to discuss more formalised partnership arrangements. With a view to knowledge transfer, innovative artists in the community and access to their resources. the Project Advisory board have their information, to set up more formally for a meeting . So we keep moving foward ....

'Diunt Get Frit' - Wax In Sync With The Moon...

How to say this ,its been gloomy (but the moon is waxing) with everyone down about arts cuts. But I have with my collaborators namely Simon and Sean so far been busy bees , we are waxing marvellously along . Getting so much work done at last at last ! Development really perking up so to recap , deadline for sharing work in progress august 2012, theatre meetings for support and joy of joys (my inner geek rejoices ) getting to devise and work out a pilot creative digital platform for performance Whoopeep doo - in a digital media centre !!! Not to mention an agreement to move forward with a big arts centre to comission original contemporary acoustic and electronic music , musicians, workshops, choir to learn the music and a debut performance of the music work , plus other performance dates . There has been great help and advice and more importantly hope, now available in high places. So vital with the recent arts cuts laying waste to artists dreams and hopes - bitter anger and rage, with hardened cyncism toward goverment and funding bodies raging. I will gird my loins, but also diunt get frit (leicester slang for dont be afraid) with regard to grant funding shennigans. However it is different this time- more powerful champions, complete with their own not inconsiderable juicy resources, that the project requires YAY !. Transparency is the key, see how diverse the arts can be in these 'middle lands 'are or will be . This project clearly will be a litmus test , for clear criteria , real fairness and so forth . But most of all this project is will/ be the most groundbreaking amazing fantastic thing ever in these parts..I love it that not quite everyone has realised this yet...but they will. The fun is back now (I was dancing- working recently to work out the size of my performance platform to be built as part of the staging) we have moved so much further forward with everything !

Treatment, Transliteracy & Innovators Elastic Brain Loops

I am getting on with writing various types of material to be generated , synopsis, a treatment to communciate exactly what the show is how it works, and what it looks like and what audience will see and experience e.g. key moments in performance and technical events etc. There is also the poetic text that drapes around this architecture . This all brings me back to the 'transliteracy' (a term I'a not not keen on as it makes me always think of that which is written whether e.g. words, or code etc) idea. I have taken for granted the fact that I do alot of different things. Always have done (often discoverd through adversity ) and they have been well received or performed to a high level. In particular I have enjoyed being familiar this time round with all the different processes involved . Plus the all the new ones my elastic brain loops around happily. Music Acoustic & Digital Electronica Literature Dance/Physical Theatre Visual Art Mixed Media (film & photgraphy ) Make Up/Fashion & Style. Working on this project gives me a great opportunity and much enjoyment , to bring all these different things together in a unique way. To find the interstices ,the cracks , spaces between them as well as what cuts across/ through them . Yet having some kind of holistic vision of it all. Technolgy is to play with, to explore and even take liberties with. For me the body and human experience its myriad of expressions is paramount. This has always lead and informed my use of technolgy..Working within a space of the creative tension in discovering the very real limitations of a piece of technology - as well as its potentialities . Celebrating the happenestance and the unlooked for discoveries (all the wrong or incorrect ) things found when fully engaged, in the 'zone' so to speak. I feel like someone who speaks so many different languages in arts multi - media etc,. So that I can be heard and understood get the best of of kit etc, and vice a versa . But that I have an approach , a way of being and communicating that people, often find hard to actually understand fully and/seem remote stand offish rather than engaging. Am I experiencing a sort of cultural 'lock out' because of it, am I a notional threat in some way,as I have such a different background to them maybe ? Surely that is what diversityis all about isnt it . A I am so conversant or transliterateif you prefer . Due to the fact, that I have often made my own discoveries and continue to do...We shall see if I am able to communciate my own cultural perspective and natural ability that I have developed on, to others - including, peers in the coming weeks ....

Give Me The Lights & the Magic Mirror ....

I had a brilliant time today, doing a guided tour of a digtial media centre with Sean and myself, of the excellent equipment and studio facilities (some mac some pc kit audio visual etc.). We envisage using over the summer, to pilot the creative digital visual ideas for the project. In our subsequent meeting together, it became clear, that what was needed was a joint (myself and Sean) presentation, to the various groups associated with this digital media centre, to explain the project. To present its vision and its innovative collaborative nature to them . This way we maybe able to access the resources that we would require. they would benefit from a being involved in a very exciting innovative collaborative project that would benefit student learning and experience.

The deadline for this is the next three weeks. It would also help to get on board also, possible MA students to work with us as a summer project. As part of the creative digital team. With another more experienced person in the field of film/technical etc. to work alongside Sean. This is a bigger creative digital team than previously planned, to create and test the performance platform for the piece . Further decisions are to be made, as to whether we have the correct amount and type of equipment to buy- in order to tour with. In addition - what equipment we would use in-house in theatre venues (we would need very detailed information of equipment , layout , power points etcc here ), arts venues in phase 2 of the project (i.e. installations).

Importantly, we agreed on a combination of classic theatrical lighting techniques with state of the art creative digital still & moving images, to work seamlessly woven into the narrative drama and movement. In particular to move the dramatic character between locations and time zones in a very sutble way. For strictly limited use of interactive software for particular dramatic moments . Other modes of interactvity are possible with other digital moving visuals. Importantly to use the dressing room of the diva character - as a core theatrical transformative device - of still & moving images of multiple projections. However we agreed to ensure the work is fully lead by the performance of live literature and physical theatre.

Chuffed Choked & Charged - Forward with Breakthroughs

Where to really start with the last few weeks ... Chuffed to have a made quite a positive meeting with a big iconic theatre in my region.The Executive producer there requires a project plan & budget (so timely now) also a script - to nail an offer,of 2 night performance dates early in 2012 , plus rehearsal space, professional advice support- leading to a sharing/work in progress end of august 2011. More cream on the cherry, comes in a possible offer of digital media studio technical facilities for the project - opportunities for legacy work and education young people and other artists . I am looking forward to Apples & Snakes Creative Producer , also Peepul Centre this week meeting for further partner /support deals . I have learnt and cannot emphasise enough , how important it is, to be very confident in your planning/ the use of constructive feedback , the creative technical people you choose to work with and most importantly your own proven skills, experience, ideas/vision YAY !!!

Ntzake Shangwe's For Coloured Who Have considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf Hollwywood Film (lionsgate) - has not reached my fair city of Leicester as yet ....I am choked because I wanted to see it as part of my r & d. I am all charged up , after I had watched a great interview and excerpt of Benji Reid's last performance piece and was very inspired. He was definitely the right choice for an artist like me for so many reasons. The work with Simon, all pens & paper approach to setting out- devising staging ideas, has lead naturally to the first draft script version evolving splendidly.

Another of these important breakthroughs after my session with Simon e.g. involves putting into practice my original idea, of the key importance of the number 5 in the piece. The lead characters speech is in 5 lines verse in a 5 beat rhythm (non european) . This in turn leads to writing in the characters' natural voice - to flow beautifully. Location and setting for the entire piece , dramatic key points in the narrative structure are mapped out and its likely length. This technique has created all these important artistic breakthroughs . Finally I must praise the brilliant project plan (in colours at a glance I see all ) our funding goddess has prepared, dispaying her marvellous project management skills.

Technology Tools Up the Artist & UK Cultural Leadership Clubs Put My Name On The List

So you put forward proposals (they say they cannot fund it - oh well Further Education Univerisities have been cut ) and you send poems to people who never write back which you dont expect in the literary game (I would at the very least expect acknowledgement of receipt - so you know it did not disappear into cyber space ) You know there is Further Education money around, it just wont be coming our way i.e. professional independent artists based in the community that I work with . So much for boosting the local creative economy then !

More freedom beckons on internet radio platforms, other publishing platforms and the such like - the bigger the platform the better, seems to work out best ! Creative Commons seems a useful tool - as it is best avoid intellectual property problems. The internet is always there to offer a cornucopia of possibilities, to maintian creative thrust in order for artists to get work and eat !! I have lost count now how much work I get from facebook or how handy twitter is ....a flip camera for recording rehearsals etc. I use alot of new ITC tools as an artist more than I ever could have thought of -say a few years ago.

The current project fundraiser is taking me to task and I feel a real sense of forward momentum, the whole project now seems so incredibly innovative. I understand alot of people that had to consider the project -probably did not grasp it fully. Or indeed its eventual scale. I now see the funding request was far far too modest, given the creative technical challenges and beautiful vision. More importantly its more the 'awe' factor rather than the 'wow' factor that should be aimed for . This is typical of BME artists and Cultural Leaders as they have been undervalued for long . So they undervalue themselves within a harsh arts cultural landscape (it has always been so i.e. see the statistics not just now - hence the need for 'Rebel Dreamin' - by Gaylene Gould Clore Fellow.)

I am no different I realise this dramatically - it is as if I have been operating in a cramped space for years ( and so many BME artists before me ) , not able to spread my limbs . When I all I needed was a far bigger space in order to grow , to create, take risks, to experiment fully ....this is what creates low aspiration. It also something of a feature of the region I based am in - it is caught as is is as the 'Middle Lands' (needing to big it self/identity up more ) between London, Birmingham and Manchester . So how will things change , without Black Minority Ethnic Cultural leaders ( three generations down the line now) taking their righful place, to gain more recogniton and crucially be more valued in terms of their vital contribution overall to UK arts and culture historically? How do I get my name on that list, that gets you on all the other important lists, in terms of Cultural Leadership in arts & culture ? When do we really get this truly diverse party started in the arts cultural club in the UK ? All these thoughts will be part of my consideration for a blog about being part of the my region's Cultural Olympiad, as an emerging Writer that I have been asked to write for one of my region's literature website.

Post Code Arts Lottery Taking a Punt Dancing To My Own Rhytm

I have been aware some of my peers, fellow BME artists have been busy , funding bids, they often need references who will offer this especially if they are emerging artists ? Big arts events, (and big jobs too) are being planned for the region. A couple of things, done today for myself I have sent 'Cats Leap' a poem to an internet radio station ( not sure what happens now it was - on the suggestion of an excellent high profile poet ) Plus I followed up on a Curators commission and put myself forward for a blogging, articles opportunity via a regional literary website . Let's see what can happen with these things eh as I' am just taking a punt ?

Conversely I so glad I am not in the running for a certain national showcase event (though I know some who are) having observed its regrettable in built post code bias in selection over the years. Except it is not really the centre of it all or is it ? It seems to that so many BME artists are competing in one place , like two polar bears on a shrinking lump of an iceberg....obviously they need access to many more wider mainstreamed platforms. Some artists come year after year, usual suspects - it is supposed to be for emerging artists so do they neither really need it or just come anyway as its the thing to do - not sure if its really necessary if things work as they should eh ?

Oh well it is more useful, it seems to me crack on with my own course. This I find can help maintain, freshness, perspective and originality - dancing to my own rhythm. On with the piece, so now I have to cut up the characters text that I have coloured (different colours as to what emotion it conveys) and paste in to a stage timeline /audience engagement graph oooh Simon says ...oh the joys of such an approach suits me perfectly ... he also has suggested a structural device to resolve a number of issues in the orignal Hmmm I am thinking on this in order to satisfy myself as to e overall story arc.

Right then !

So there it is wheels in motion and now just the joy of writing. Deconstructing the backstory, looking specifically at the timeline of the piece and the type and levels of engagement of the audience. This being my latest assigment following my discussion with Simon on proceeding further . Aaaah relief, no more pushing shoving , trying to get resources etc I can just focus on my real joy passion and strength- just writing and accessing my imagination . Imagination being the most precious thing in all of this. Right now it feels like there is space again for it to roam , to expand So right then ! Rebel Dreamin maybe ...

Rewriting - Everything yet still Big Thinking Prevails

A truly auspicous new year begins, (given heavenly and earthly events so far ) with arts organisations, toiling away at submitting funding bids, to the main national funder of arts & culture inthe UK. In order to continue their very existence. Months of uncertainy and little information, draw to an end come March 2011. Who will be left standing so to speak ? There would have been much writing and rewriting on the part of arts organisations, in order to meet the new goals set by the arts funder. It is also most papable - the 'competitive air' the swish and switch of real cuts to come - but also a new robustness in terms of those that will be left to continue. This project continues within this challenging climate. After seeing a number of good spoken word productions in theatres recently . I am both re-invigorated and confirmed , as to the unique space this innovative work will occupy. This is confirmed after a conversation with an artistic theatre director who has suggested putting forward the project to the producer of his large theatre- as 'new writing' The arts will need to do big thinking- that is fundamental about the arts it self . I have just received a book, not due for publication till later in the year. In the first section I have read, it ably articulates many ideas and facts - that will I am sure will set ablaze, long overdue simmering debate, regarding arts & cultural diversity in the UK . What exactly does it all really mean in relation to now ? There are many points that are finely put in the book that I agree with. It resembles a gust of fresh air, regarding this topic, for an artist like myself. There is plenty in the book , about eurocentrism, racism etc. but not nearly enough about all the other 'isms especially those faced by black women . Certainly 2011 will see the begining of this big thinking, as it is required by all of us in arts cultural sector , Further Education, Higher Education - in really moving forward...

Being a Writer On The Page & The Money Goddess

I gave Simon a poem of mine the The Bath, following a conversation we had on character development, staging and retrospective narrative. In particular old age , being infirm and the moment close to death. He highlighted a number of themes, he picked up 'by reading on the page' i.e the poem, namely the dialectic, ying/yang of ;- shadow, nemeisis , 'kushti bok woman' character (wise spiritual, philosophical ?) I had written in the back story for this project . I explained my own awareness, of recurring themes loss, abandonement, illness/afflictions of all kinds, alienation, parental issues, sex etc He assured me, this is quite as it should be for a writer. As what is on the page, is a representation of the inner/outer world of the writer. I agreed and added ,that the spice of your own experiences and other peoples, is the launch pad for your imagination. I have reviewed much of my previous writing and all of the above is confirmed. This seemed some how really very important - to give defintion to my work to date in some way ... In terms of someone else reading it on the page and the way they interpret meaning etc. for themselves. It seemed to me that I had not really thought about this aspect t enough previously maybe i.e. the possible transparency of self in your written work. Also today I met a lovely Money Goddess - i.e. a professional fundraiser - to join the story of this project at this point. For which I am hoping for the happiest of endings - so much relief joy and excitement at the propspect of working together

Enter the Arts Fundraiser or Dumbing Down For Successful Fundraising ?

I have had a lovely email back from an arts fundraiser (local) recomended by an artist friend of mine who is also using her services. She will meet with me early in the New Year , oh what joy if we can agree the time period required and price regarding my re submission, to a the leading funding body for the arts in the UK. Such is the way of things, as I is need to be able to concentrate more fully on art rather than being an arts administrator etc. I had a strange conversation with an artist colleague, after discussing how generally to be accepted as an excellent artist by ones peers , said same artists do not get funded in many cases. My own a case in point to date. I have directly received grants as such for development as an artist bar one for soudn engineering msuic technoly they padi 50% of a £2000 course I paid the rest myself . As I was more of an arts entrepreneur in terms of my own development. He began to recount his many refusals also of arts grants funds. As a result his advice was that you should 'dumb down' your proposals, emphasise how much you need 'their help' to succeed , dumb down a bit your achievements, capabilities and definitely your entrepreneurial spirit in particular, past excellence of what you have done and importantly hope to do, only with their help of course. He seemed utterly convinced that this was the way forward. I could not help but reflect on what he said and how this may apply for next year in an ever increasing competitive 'market ' for grants . I found it useful to refer back to the end of my March 2010 blog !