Tag: Patron

SOLVEIG HERZUM ~ NURTURING TALENT 2024/25 cohort

Posted on October 3, 2024 by - Stories

SOLVEIG HERZUM ~ NURTURING TALENT 2024/25

Nurturing Talent is Create’s 12-month part-time professional development programme for emerging artists. Designed and delivered in close consultation with our professional artists, it is now in its ninth year. During 2024/25, it is upskilling five emerging artists from a range of disciplines, providing them with training and experience so they can develop their creative workshop facilitation skills in diverse and challenging settings. By working alongside our professional artists, they are also giving our participants access to high quality creative arts experiences.

We spoke with Solveig, a London-based documentary filmmaker, writer and director, halfway through the Nurturing Talent programme. She told us about how it has influenced her facilitation skills as well as her own artistic development.

DEVELOPING SKILLS TO WORK WITH DIFFERENT PARTICIPANT GROUPS

“Nurturing Talent has really helped me develop my facilitation skills. Specifically, it has helped to develop my skills, capacities and sensitivities around working with different high-demand participant groups. For example, I had never worked in [Special Needs] school settings or with young carers before.  

“I’ve been encouraged to reflect a lot on my role as a facilitator and the space that I create for the participants. I’ve learned specifically about how to craft a space for participants that is both safe, and encourages them out of their comfort zone.

“We’ve also reflected on the ultimate goals of the workshops we lead and how to design them in a way that guides participants toward achieving those outcomes.”

LEARNING FROM CREATE ARTISTS

“Learning from the Create artists has been lovely because I’ve built some really meaningful connections. The very first workshop I assisted on was with [theatre maker and puppeteer] Robyn Olivia. She participated in the Nurturing Talent programme [in 2021/22], so she was very much a peer who I was able to learn from.

“For my next project I worked with Cheryl Moskowitz [a writer who has been working with Create for almost 20 years]. Cheryl is a veteran of workshop leading. We developed a lovely relationship and she’s become someone I can really look up to. We actually met up recently in Philadelphia this summer as we were both there.

“Through these experiences, I’ve been able to develop both peer and mentor relationships with the artists I’ve worked with. I can see reflections of myself in my peers, building friendships, while also seeing how my career could evolve in the next 20 years.”

HAS THE PROGRAMME INFLUENCED YOUR OWN ARTISTIC PRACTICE?

“My artform is documentary filmmaking and it’s all about relating to people in the real world. The Nurturing Talent programme has developed my communication skills and my ability to connect with the sort of people who might eventually be in a film of mine. It has deepened my cultural awareness. For example, I now have an understanding of the lived experience of young carers, having worked with a group from Carers’ Hub Lambeth. This knowledge will influence my future work as a documentary filmmaker.

“Facilitating filmmaking workshops for others has also really made me reflect on the craft of filmmaking and storytelling. For example, some participants struggled with how to make a story clear to an audience. This made me think about how I approach clarity in my own professional work. It’s helped me see that there are still things I have to come to grips with in my practice.

Lastly, being involved in projects outside my artform has really benefitted my creativity. For example, doing drama or puppetry workshops reminded me of the joy of creating things that aren’t real. That has made me think about my own documentary work and reflect that filmmaking doesn’t always have to be real or super journalistic. It has helped me see how to expand the potential of storytelling in my own work.

“Overall, Nurturing Talent is just a lovely balance of support and challenge. I feel very nurtured.”

SOLVEIG HERZU

Create Patron Isy Suttie SHARES HER PASSION FOR reading and creativity

Posted on August 12, 2024 by - Blogs

Create Patron Isy Suttie SHARES HER PASSION FOR reading and creativity

Create is delighted to have partnered with The Reading Agency for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge. This is delivered with public libraries across the UK to inspire children aged between 4-11 to read for fun over the summer holidays. We developed this year’s theme “Marvellous Makers” together to encourage children to express themselves creatively.

We’re excited that our Patron – comedian, actress and author Isy Suttie – agreed to be one of the Champions of the Summer Reading Challenge. An avid reader as well as author, she believes passionately in the wonder of being absorbed in books.

We asked Isy to share with us what reading means to her and why fostering creativity is so important.

What about this year’s Summer Reading Challenge has inspired you the most?

The selection of books is fantastic! I was bowled over by the standard and diversity of the selection – there truly is something for everyone.

Why is reading important to you?

Reading is something that is a constant friend. I’m always reading at least two books and I love that I have an inner life, which is always thinking about the storylines and characters no matter what’s going on in my real life. I think reading encourages wonder, empathy and self-awareness as well as being a thrilling activity.

What is a book that has inspired you to be creative?

There’s a book called A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, which I will always remember. In some ways it is very simple and in others it is incredibly complex – it explores a young boy’s grief in such a nuanced, brave way. It made me realise there are so many different ways to tell a story.

Why should children/young people read it?

I think we as adults, unless we are lucky enough to have the time and space to read daily, can forget how much books transport us away as children and how much they can teach us about the way other people think, other countries and cultures, and how they can open us up to possibility.

Why is it important to foster creativity at an early age?

If we give ourselves this space as young people, it’s much more likely that creativity becomes something we practise as we get older. Even a few minutes a day can elicit massive changes. I also think creativity can help with hope in difficult and traumatic situations, and in this sense it’s like a superfood we must gobble down when we get the chance.

The Summer Reading Challenge is currently taking place across Britain. Find out about the children’s books that inspire four of our Create Artists here; and head over the Challenge website to find out more.