- My father was an entrepreneur/economist and my mother a fine artistwith a PGCE in Art& Design whom I could learn from. I also completed the first year of an Art, design & Craft MA at Roehampton University
- 10 GCSEs which include 100% in Art GCSE and various art cups and awards whilst at school
- A’levels: Art, Business Studies and French.
- Art Design & Marketing degree at Lancaster University,
- 6 years work as a project manager in a number of London’s Top Integrated Advertising Agencies
- In 2005 I received 10k private investment support to develop proposals for a children’s TV program concept based on a set of characters.
- In 2006, I took a LOCN in digital animation at Tower Hamlets College, Poplar and have also taken numerous creative courses in colleges such as St.Martins, City Lit and Morley
- My paintings are currently exhibted in an East Sheen gallery. I’ve participated in numerous open studio events and shows
- I also had an art studio at Wimbledon Art Studios (Europe’s largest single site complex of artist studios) where I interacted with artists, craftworkers and designers at various stages of their careers.)
- I’ve been based in Margate since 2014, playing close attention to the art scene and working on strategies to break through
- I received 10k private investment support for one of my projects
- I’ve taken on several freelance art commissions including mural painting, illustrations but have also managed creative teams for events through my own business
- I’m have over 20 years experience as a sole trader and have also set up my own business: Go Create. I managed to secure the domain name and then trademark ‘Go Create’ in Education (Tesco own the trademark in product). In 2013 and 2014 I became the guardian of my sisters first and second baby, as a single parent and I had to expand my business in order to manage it from afar. At that point I moved from Wimbledon to Margate to meet with my growing family commitments and a need for in-house studio space. I turned over approx 80k in year 5 of trading but then wanted to reformat Go Create to achieve a better live/work balance with two small children but also re-evaluate my direction. I’m now developing plans for solo shows which can be used to promote courses, changing Go Create to a distant learning platform with mentoring support and a more condensed program of face-to-face courses as well as networking to try to explore possible ways of linking with other educational to free me up to return to finishing books and achieving my full creative ambitions.
Although the College already runs some Enterprise seminars and virtual events they may not be pitched perfectly for different artist types. Some students may be engaging with art for therapeutic reasons and others may have no entrepreneurial aspirations at all. Indeed this is what the workshops are designed to inspire.. Other students may be heading off to University and may not immediately see the relevance at this point in their journey and maybe only one or two are destined to progress directly towards self employment.
A good workshop takes all this into consideration.The media course teaches industry skills and graphics, illustration and photography all lend themselves as skills that can be marketed. Fine Artist’s often need longer to understand where their skills might lead and therefore the enterprise leap might ordinarily seem too daunting. As an experienced multi-discipline practitioner with extensive knowledge of different creative diciplines through artist craftworker networks I can see quite quickly access the total skill set of a student and where their talents would or possibly should lead.
At University my own Art, Design & Marketing degree commanded training in the Fine Art and Marketing departments. The degree comprised 9 units an done unit was an Enterprise Unit which drew from both fields and cemented the degree. As a practitioner I have far more Marketing and communication training (gained within the field of integrated advertising) than I would ordinarily need. As an artist who sells work through galleries and has knowledge of working as a self employed artist and as an entrepreneur with experience of setting up a business which employs other artists and craftworkers I have experience of different ways in which marketing or a enterprise mindset can support the overall journey. Buy background in integrated advertising and various creative industries also provides knowledge of the potential struggle for students break into more commercial streams of work or employment. Or even to make it onto further courses.