External framework is what a mentor can provide. A mentor can give back your initial question ( that you gave to them) with clarity, experience and wisdom.
The above image is a screenshot of a document that has been produced throughout this activity.
It is a ‘working with me’ document laying out how being a NEURODIVERSE artist will impact our working relationship be that with another artist or organisation or funder.
It is an ongoing document that will inevitably change and adapt but it is a good starting point where my practice is also given its rightful conditions of working. Because everyone has a condition for working and its finding how to convey that. I don’t think I would have had the confidence to finish this document if it wasn’t for the ongoing mentorship.
I’m finding my feet, my grounding, my anchor to move forward
x
My sessions are both weighed and light.
i feel supported
i feel heard
i feel valued.
i’m hoping I’m offering my mentor something too?
im hoping that im not boring to them?
i hope their words soak into my mind?
do i have any questions?
many.
For me, mentorship is about accountability. Keeping me accountable to my practice, my desires and goals.
//I think POC artists finding support, mentorship and care within the arts is fucking vital for sustainable practice.//
Finding pots of money that can be used for mentorship, coaching, counselling, therapy is vital for POC artists. It is necessary. continual unpacking needs to occur to stunt burn out/breakdown.
i realise more violently as time goes on that the work i put out is not under the same air as my white peers, that air is a different condition, a different context that produces
weight.
this weight, many marginalised artists talk about this weight. often, together and alone we sit with the exhausting weight of expected excellence from us to us, to provide consumable and tasty education and growth for them, to be representative of the whole diaspora with nuance and variation and of course be radical in the acceleration of WOC practice.
thats a lot and then i think, quite depressingly…
i can’t carry others if i can’t carry myself?
