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How to Write an Artist Bio

How to Write an Artist Bio

by | Oct 16, 2023

art resources
How to Write an Artist Bio

This has been especially set up to support Neurodivergent artists with writing an Artist Bio.

The questions have been written in a way to support Neurodivergent artists.

How to Write an Artist Bio

Answer the questions with 1 -2 sentences only. If this feels too difficult, simply answer the questions fluidly and then edit your answers to approx 50 words each. Some of your answers might be longer than others.

1) What is your name, where are you from/where are you based, and where did you grow up? How has your culture or background influenced your art practice (if at all)?

(Here you can mention your pronouns, sexuality, ethnicity and other stats that you deem relevant – you can also choose not to add them in.)

2) If you could sum up your art practice in 3 words, what would those 3 words be and how do they fit you as a person or artist?

3) Did you study art or are you self-taught? How do you approach you art or performance practice?

4) How long have you been doing your art, what are the key themes in your current practice and what are you currently focusing on?

5) If you’re using a bio to match an opportunity for an application etc, then match how your art or the themes in your art fit with the theme of the opportunity.

6) Look at the opportunity or your goal or aim for your art practice and decide how to powerfully close your artist bio by showing how your attendance to writing, art materials, how you use words or create performance ultimately emphasises the messages, your goals or aims for your art practice.

Example template written by Elinor Rowlands to show you how to answer the questions:

(1) Eloise Sampson was born in Leeds but grew up between New York and London. Her father’s own art practice particularly influenced her growing up because of his fascination with botanical gardens. Her own art practice is driven by her fascination with cacti and orchids.

(2) Her intrinsically feminine and overtly sexualised fauna makes her art practice question the internal fleshy landscape within the queer and neurodivergent female landscape and form.

(3) Studying at Dartington College of Art meant that she could attend to the closed off and isolated parts of herself and really delve into the moments that are hidden and unseen. Choosing to bring them out through cut out pages from found books, discarded at the roadside means that Sampson can attend to the parts of ourselves that we leave behind in the bathroom.

(4) She has been using found objects in her art practice since childhood when the moves between countries meant she could never own anything for longer than the short stay between cities and states. These link to the key themes in her work about displacement, body and mapping the missing links between what belongs to women and what is taken.

 

Examples:

(5) These themes link to this opportunity because one can only be united if one is able to draw links and make suggestions or signpost toward answers that might offer one hope in a moment of despair.

(6) By using found objects, I am never quite the owner of what I take, lose, or give away and therefore whilst I might miss an object, there is never an act of grieving which ultimately might only be found in the art pieces I create, and will be the closest I get to that human experience.

Top Tips!

We have created Verb/Vocab Bags for you to find words to best describe you for you to use to answer the questions above.

Click on the link below for categorised ones or see below for a mixed list.

Verb Bag (Mixed verbs!)

Accurate   Enthusiastic   Focused   Detail-orientated    Active  Experienced    Adaptable    Fair   Practical   Productive   Broad-minded    Reliable    Competent    Honest    Resourceful    Conscientious   Innovative    Self-disciplined    Creative    Logical    Sense of humour    Sense of justice    Dependable  Loyal    Sensitive    Determined    Mature    Sincere   Diplomatic    Methodical    Successful    Discreet    Motivated    Tactful    Efficient     Objective   Trustworthy     Energetic     Outgoing    Enterprising    Disciplined

​

Vocab/Verb Bags

Vocab/Verb Bags

by | Oct 16, 2023

art resources
Vocab/Verb Bags

Use the words below to apply them to your CV/Resume, your Artist bio and other applications etc. when applying for jobs or opportunities.

Analytical/Critical Thinking:

These verbs are great for you to show you as an analytical and critical thinker. Instead of repeating their words for when applying for an opportunity, it is useful to use synonyms (different words that mean the same thing) to show your meticulous and calculating skills you possess and how you apply them on a daily basis or towards certain projects. They are particularly useful if you work in industries or are applying to work on projects that require complex analytical thinking.

Astute    Intelligent    Inquisitive   Analytical    Critical thinker    Perceptive

Complex strategist    Calculating    Logical    Practical    Complex    Methodical

Shrewd    Discerning    Meticulous    Strategic    Insightful    Objective

Thoughtful

Creativity & Innovation:

Demonstrating that you are a creative innovator has never been easier with this Verb bag to help you show future collaborators, clients, buyers or organisations what your professional experience offers them.

Cutting-edge    Ingenious    Robust    Eloquent    Innovative    Sophisticated

First-class   Novel    Unique    Groundbreaking    Progressive    Unprecedented

Imaginative    Inventive   Revolutionary    World-class    Original    Productive

Effectiveness:

These verbs can help those you want to work with see how effective you are when you apply your skills and expertise. If you use these words, they will help to show how your skills are more impressive.

Accomplished    Active   Compelling    Competent    Direct    Forceful    Powerful

Practical    Fluent    Significant    Adept    Ideal    Smooth    Advanced

Industrious    Skilled    Competent    Influential    Skillful    Constructive    Instrumental

Strong    Cost-effective    Productive    Economical    Proficient

Qualified    Expert    Profitable    Quality    Effective

Hard-working and Motivated:

Do you work tirelessly through the night to complete a key project because you care? Emphasise this desirable personal trait with the list of key professional skills and vocabulary to use in your artist bio below:

Enterprising   Attentive    Focused    Motivated    Tireless

Studious    Thorough    Concerted    Driven    Persistent    Vigorous

Versatility:

These are great words for those of you who work in fast-paced environments. Use these words to show that you are the master of multitasking.

Adaptable    Countless    Flexible    Agile

Multifaceted    Capable    Diverse    Deep

Resourceful    Comprehensive    Extensive   Vast

Versatile   Functional    Gifted    Talented

Organisation and Methodical:

Organizational skills are needed for anyone in assistant or managerial positions. These words will help you describe your expertise in accomplishing tasks in an orderly and practical manner.

Businesslike    Methodical    Step-by-step    Controlled    Orderly    Structured

Detailed    Precise    Systematic    Detail-oriented    Smooth    Timely

Meticulous    Scrupulous    Efficient   Disciplined

Reliability:

Being dependable is key to certain job roles but we have a little leeway in the arts industry to be a bit more flexible, still, it’s important we show we understand the importance of being reliable and as a ND we are often excellent at hyper-focusing and getting the work done to a high level. It’s important that we acknowledge we might need a break or short breaks after each burst of energy.

Accurate   Exact    Professional    Consistent    Fastidious    Punctual    Dependable    Honest

Resilient   Diligent    Impartial    Steadfast    Disciplined    Loyal    Sustainable

Teamwork & Communication:

Ultimately, this can be difficult for Neurodivergents so showing how you can communicate and work as part of a team can be an important skill to emphasise. You might not do it in the same way as a neurotypical artist, but you might display certain traits or skills that emphasise the characteristics they are still after. You can also show how your neurodivergent communication and teamwork skills can also show how effective you will be when running projects etc.

Articulate    Conscientious    Persuasive    Calm    Cooperative    Pleasant

Charming    Cordial    Positive    Cheerful    Courteous    Respectful

Clear    Diplomatic    Team-minded

Interested – use another word to show you are interested or fascinated by something.

1. Showing curiosity or concern about something or someone; having a feeling of interest.

Similar     Attentive    Intent    Focused   Absorbed    Engrossed     Fascinated    Riveted   Gripped     Captivated     Rapt    Agog    Intrigued   Inquiring    Inquisitive    Curious    Burning with curiosity

2. Having an interest or involvement; not impartial

Concerned    Involved    Implicated    Affected    Connected    Related

How to be an artist everyday

How to be an artist everyday

by | Oct 16, 2023

art resources
How to be an artist everyday

This is simplified but it works.

1) Find a pen and paper

2) Write a list of everything that comes to mind when you think about art, art-making including the materials, genres, galleries or exhibitions, locations and spaces etc

3) This list can be as long as you want it to be, as random, chaotic or out there!

4) Close your eyes and put your pen down on the paper, where ever it lands is your first day to be “Artist”

5) During Lockdown where ever you are in the world it might be harder but you’ll find a way because you’re an artist!

6) Aim to do one thing from the list at least once a week – maybe choose the same day each week at the same hour so you can keep to that routine.

Examples for a list:

Learn about yellow paint

Know how to paint with watercolour

Create watercolour flowers

Draw with pen to the end of a drawing (don’t half finish it)

Colour in pictures

Create a collage

Visit more cemeteries and take photos of trees there

Read poetry by the unmarked grave

Speak to the rosebush in my front garden

Dance in the kitchen barefoot on the tiles

Learn why Dali loved yellow of all the colours

Learn to use a new art material

Create texture in my artwork

Use the vintage material I own into my canvas art.

Publish a magazine

Approach LADA to work with/collaborate with them

Write a blog

Collaborate with other autistic/ADHD artists

Facilitate relaxed spaces

These are examples from Neurodivergent Magical Women artists doing their “art list” to pushing them to attend to their art practice:

 Judith Rowlands (first image)

Anna Dyson (3rd and 9th image)

Gemma Abbott (5th image)

Natasha Oliver-Cork (12th image)

Elinor Rowlands – Magazine, some of the art, and facilitator of the workshops or events seen.

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Application Support Guide

Application Support Guide

by | Oct 16, 2023

art resources
Application Support Guide

This is an example for a funding application. In this article we look at what a funding application is and examples of what you can ask for. The neurodivergent brain is varied and wide, yet it can be tricky for many of us to fully understand how to ask for money. Particularly when our brains work so fast that we often don’t have time to wait for funding and just set out to do it!

When I set about to write this, I realised that this is a perfect example for when I should ask for funding to write this Guide! However, because there are so many deadlines looming, I want to make sure more neurodivergent artists feel supported to apply! Don’t hold it off any longer, your practice is worthy of support!

This has been written in such a way that it is accessible for neurodivergent artists and has been written by a neurodivergent artist, Elinor Rowlands.

Please note:

Magical Women is run by a neurodivergent artist. She has made this available for free to support the ND community. If you’d like 1:1 arts mentoring or art psychotherapy with her, this is separate and costs money until she herself has funding to offer reduced mentoring sessions:

If you’d like to donate to this Guide, you can do so here: BUY ME A COFFEE

Let’s begin!

Always read the application link before making any assumptions, they will always clearly outline what they do and don’t fund. For this exercise, I have used what the Artists Network funds and I have simplified each one to make it more accessible to a neurodivergent artist’s way of thinking. For future funding applications you could use the wording in this guide to help you.

1) What can be funded.

This means you can apply for money to pay for the following things:

This is the actual list in the Artists Network bursary list. I have simplified it under each bullet point to help you identify what activity you might like to apply to be covered by funding.

  • Studio or workshop rent

So, most neurodivergent artists cannot access other spaces or studios due to communication and interaction barriers. Many neurodivergent artists work from home (like I do, because of my communication/interaction and also travel barriers) however, for those of you who may have a studio space or workshop space or would like to rent somewhere this is what you can put down in your application to ask for money to cover. Depending on how much it is, if it’s the only thing you want covered, you can ask for up to the maximum amount for several months or even a year.

If you work from home, but still require funding costs like support to pay the bills or even your own rent at home, this is important too and you can ask for that.

What you can write:

“I would like to apply for funding to cover the rent of my workshop/home studio/artist studio at (name of studio). The cost of the studio is XYZ per month. I would like to apply for 4 months of rent. (here you explain why you need 4 months). “

  • Outgoings such as mortgage or rent

So this is where you can apply for money to cover your own mortgage or rent especially during a difficult time where you may have been affected by Covid19 or the lockdowns, you might have lost your job and for whatever reason you might not get benefits. You can still apply for funding if you get benefits.

What you can say:

“Covid19 has meant that I lost my job. I used to work as a gallery assistant. Covid19 also meant that a few clients also lost their jobs and so I lost commissions and funding. I would like to apply for financial support to cover 6 months of my mortgage payments which are XYZ per month. This would greatly help me get back on my feet, and I will set out with an action plan to secure new clients/customers or work with new organisations”

  • Lost income such as cancelled contracts for future work

So, I was jumping a few steps ahead above and had mentioned losing clients or customers – Covid19 affected many of us – and losing income from cancelled contracts for work is a massive deal for artists. Even if this was just 1 commission for £100 – that’s still a big deal for you and your practice. Using the neurotypical way of speaking, use the language they provide you already in this list.

What you can say:

“Due to Covid19 I have lost income such as cancelled contracts for future work. This has had a significant negative impact on my ability to pay rent and my expenses and I have gotten behind on my mortgage payments/bills/rent.”

  • Time to rethink/recreate your creative space

So many Neurodivergent artists have NO IDEA that you can apply for funding simply so you can spend time to paint and be creative! YES YOU CAN.

What you can say:

“I need funding so that I can have some time to rethink and recreate my creative space. I normally paint in the kitchen on the floor, but now that I have had several commissions, I have realised I need a bigger space to create. I have found a local artists’ studio (name/place) who is offering me this space free of charge, but I will need funding to cover my travel there and back, my lunches and also the time it takes to rethink my creative practice and space.”

 

  • Research and Development

So here, this is something that comes so so so naturally to neurodivergent artists that we never consider that we can ask for funding to cover our time to do research, develop ideas, test out, play and experiment. Yes this can be covered by money! This means photoopying, printing, getting Zines made, or anything you need when testing out ideas with people or by yourself, access to libraries, events and even meetings with other artists can be covered.

Printing is usually between £50-100

Museum or archives days out – you can decide how much you would pay yourself either by the hour or by the day. A good figure is to look at how long you have been practising as an artist. The Artists Union and Artists’ Network websites have some great information on how much you should pay yourself.

As an example, you can choose to pay yourself between £10-25 per hour, and most people usually pay themselves as an artist £125 for half a day and £200 -250 per day.

This means when you’re in a museum, or a library and doing the research, you are paying yourself to do that from the funding. How many days do you think you’ll need? If it’s 4 days, write that down, then work out how much you’d like to be paid. If that’s 4 days @ £200/day then you’re asking for £800 to research in museums and libraries. Make sure to name the libraries and museums you’re going to and explain what you’re going to be doing in them.

What you can say:

For example, “I will be visiting the National Archives and going behind the scenes at the National History Museum to work with some scientists and explore my subject interests on parasites. I then want to explore from an artistic viewpoint, how we can show that parasitic matter exists in politics. For this, I will need to spend 1 day at the National History museum, 1 day at the National Archives and then 2 evenings interviewing scientists. This works out to 2 full days @ £200 per day, and 2 half days at £125 per half day.”

  • Market Development

From google: Market development is a growth strategy that identifies and develops new market segments for current products. A development strategy targets non-buying customers in currently targeted segments. It also targets new customers in new segments. … Another way is to expand sales through new uses for the product.

So, in this way, Market development is working with a marketing or communications expert to identify how best to sell your artwork.

What you can say:

“I would like to work with Marketing and Communications company name, to research how to best market my art to a diverse audience. For this, they charge £100 per day, or £350 per campaign. I have chosen the campaign because XYZ”

  • A lot of the below is self explanatory and I hope that the below template will help you to ask for more funding in that area.

    Write: “ (Bullet point name below) is essential to my development as an artist because I need to identify ways in which to present my work better and develop relationships with (art organisations/customers/clients) and meet the demand I am currently experiencing and it is currently a bit overwhelming. Having the necessary support at this time means I can (then explain why one of the bullet points below will transform your practice.”

    Think of why one of the activities below will be essential to your art practice.

    – Why is it so important to your art practice?

    – How will it move you forward in your art practice?

    – What if you could access one of these activities, how would it help you?

    • Online skills development/courses
    • Website development as a way to present your work
    • Portfolio development
    • Professional memberships
    • Tools for business development in relation to your creative practice
    • Expert consultations (e.g. for business development, modelling, planning associated with your practice)
    • Learning new skills through professional training, courses, peer-to-peer learning with visual arts or non-arts experts
    • Mentoring, coaching or curatorial feedback
    • Networking with artists, galleries, organisations or other groups of interest
    • Visiting national conferences, biennials, exhibitions, organisations, cities or any other specific location or event relevant to your practice.

2) Next, in an application form they will often have little boxes for you to fill in the questions – it is always advisable to do this as a word document, in google docs, or in notes first, just in case anything goes wrong and you lose all your work.

For example, from the A-N funding form:

How to apply

Applications are submitted via an online application form.

Please read the Further information and Application guidance below, before starting your application.

We advise you to first write your application offline and to then transfer your answers to the online form. Please note that you will not be sent a copy of your submitted application, therefore we encourage you to save your own copy offline.

3) Okay this part is going to be simplified too:

(In the A-N form) You will be asked to provide:

  • Your contact details

This means your full name (first and surname), your telephone number, your email and sometimes your home address.

  • Your a-n membership number (if you are not an a-n member, you can still apply for a bursary if you are based in England and are an artist or freelancer working in the visual arts)

Your membership number if you have one. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have one.

  • Confirmation of whether you made an application to a-n Artists Bursaries 2021: Time Space Money or Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice or National Lottery Project Grants programmes within the past 12 months (January 2021 – January 2022 inclusive) and whether they were successful

Just say Yes or No. If you have never heard of this before then your answer is “No.”

  • Your area of visual arts practice

Do you paint? Do you make art digitally? With sound? With film? Here are some examples you can use to answer this question:

Painting, Pottery, Crafts, Digital Artist, Performance Artist, Sound Artist, Video Artist, Community Artist, Dance and Movement, Drawing, Sculpture, Textiles, Mixed media Artist, Photographer, Collage, Pastels, Screenprinter, Printing, text based artist

Using the above as examples select one or more.

  • A short overview of your proposed bursary (up to 40 words)

This is a short paragraph summing up what you are asking money for -what activities do you want funded. It’s a good idea to do this one last.

  • An outline of your creative practice and/or your current employment circumstances (up to 150 words)

Keep it simple, start with what your art practice involves and how you might make money, or what you spend doing when making art, and then explain whether you are employed, or not, and if you’re not earning much money or if you’re on benefits, you can either state that, or you can also explain that you are a low income artist and rely on benefits so there is not much manoeuvre for you to spend doing the things you want to be doing in your art practice, and then state what those things are.

  • A full description of what you propose to use the bursary for (up to 150 words)

Explain in your own words what you will be spending the money on. Remember you only have 150 words, so lay it out like this:

-What I’ll be spending the money on.

-Why it’s important to fund this activity. (Even if it’s just space to explore a particular idea, state that).

-How it will affect my art practice and help to succeed your goals.

  • Why is this activity critical to your creative practice and/or visual arts profession under the current circumstances related to Covid-19 and the impact of Omicron? How will the activity benefit you in the short and long term? (up to 150 words)

-Explain why it is essential to your visual arts profession. You might be asking for time to create, that’s because when you work your job as a waitress it offers no other time to focus on your art-practice and just 2 months off to attend to your practice will offer you that time to explore a certain question that you need answering through attending to art materials.

You might have been accepted into a group exhibition and it is not based in your town, you might want funding to attend that exhibition and help you network with more people. You might need transport covered, and maybe a friend or supportive person to come with you as you find accessing those spaces difficult by yourself.

  • Amount applied for (£500 to £1,500)

    Don’t be afraid to ask for the higher amount – and remember you often have extra funds for access needs too.

  • Additional disability access costs (up to £500), if required

    This can cover things like:

    -Transport costs like taxis, or petrol if someone is driving you

    -A support worker – even if this is a friend, it’s someone who understands your access needs.

    -Mentoring – ND mentoring is SUPER different because it’s usually so much more accessible and comes with notes.

    – A BSL interpreter or live captioner etc.

    – Any technology you need to access opportunities or your work.

    – In some circumstances this can include childcare.

 

  • Details on any other sources of income, if applicable (up to 100 words)

    • If you’re in a job, it’s always best to state it but explain where that funding goes to. It might go on childcare for example so it doesn’t cover your costs for making art.

  • A detailed breakdown of your expenditure budget

This is the HARDEST thing for a Neurodivergent and puts so many neurodivergent people off funding applications. I have given some examples to help you out.

Look up the Artist’s Union or A-N for artists payment, but as an example, typical half day rates are anything between £100-150 and day rates are usually between £200-250. Then on some occasions, some artists ask for £300 per day but that’s quite high end.

If you are going to be going anywhere to “do work” even if this is to the Neurodivergent artist just generally what you would do anyway – this is paid work for neurotypical artists so you must consider payment for the day.

So if you’re attending meetings, or going to a museum, or library or going for site specific work like walks in woods, or finding a location for your project that is all “doing work” and you need to be paid, so consider putting down half day or full day work.

Then, consider costs for lunch, for things you might need like photocopying, use of printer, notebook, due to your access needs you. might want a technology programme that writes up the notes for you, or you might want a person that writes up your notes for you – their fee might be the same as yours or it might be higher or lower. Find out, ask them in advance of applying, or look up the cost online.

Often they don’t pay for art materials, but will pay for the time and environment/location you need.

Mentoring costs can vary – usually between £25 – 75.

As an arts mentor I charge £45 to individuals and £60 to organisations if they’re paying for the individual. My mentoring sessions to artists include a set of notes typed up. This is because so many neurodivergent people are often forgetful and a set of notes and an action plan is important to them and my fee covers that admin time. People tell me I undersell myself for the work I put in, but I understand the cost of mentoring to people, so I have reduced my fees especially since Covid19.

For Neurodivergent artists who work from home you might want to consider buying a new shed for the garden so you finally have a studio art space to work from, think of what you need for your art practice.

  • A list of your most recent solo exhibitions (up to 250 words)

Keep it simple, write up your most recent (2021/22) Name of exhibition, location name, location place name, then date for example: Light and Dark, Kingston Gallery, London, Dec 2021.

If you haven’t had a recent exhibition them explain the gap briefly and then write up your most recent for you (2012) – your argument could be why you need the time and space to get back to your practice and why.

Also, remember the work you’ve been doing at Magical Women – online exhibitions and being published in our publications count!

  • A list of your most recent group exhibitions (up to 250 words)

    See above, keep it simple.

  • A list of any other key achievements that support your application (up to 250 words)

    Any other awards, funding, bursaries, or any achievements like a showcase on Magical Women for example.

  • A list of any relevant work experience (up to 250 words)

    This is very important. Think of your work outside of being an artist, when have you been an organiser? When have you supported a project? Have you got admin experience? What other skills can you bring? You are showing them you will put the funding to good use.

  • If you’re a good networker state that, if you’re good at bringing people together or attend groups and other projects, state that. Explain your roles in those organisations or groups.

  • A list of your education history (up to 250 words)

    Again, keep this simple:

    What you studied, institute/place of study, dates and location – if you think it’s important you can list any modules you think are important to the application.

  • A link to your website, online portfolio or other means of viewing your work online

If you don’t have a website, share your instagram or a place where you share your art practice. You might need to make up a page. WordPress and Wix offer free pages.

  • Equal opportunities monitoring information (this information is separated, anonymised and does not form part of the selection process)

    Remember to fill this in – your application won’t count otherwise.

4) The application form will be accessible until 12 noon, Thursday 3 February 2022.

Pay attention to the end date – always try to get the form finished for the day before – so for the 2nd February instead!

5) Pay attention to the support some organisations offer like access support – if you have any problems – contact them and ask – they want to fund diverse individuals – don’t be afraid to reach out! They might also let you choose someone you want to help you with the form and pay that person directly, it’s worth asking!

We regret that we are not able to provide advice on developing individual applications. However, should you need any technical support or have questions about the application requirements, including access requirements, please contact us by email at EmergencyFund@a-n.co.uk

You got the funding, now what?

You got the funding, now what?

by | Oct 16, 2023

art resources
You got the funding, now what?

How R&D is 1, 2, 3 for Neurodivergent Artists (let me explain!)

I had a really interesting conversation recently with a neurodivergent artist who was successful with her Arts Council application but she was stressing about wasting their money because she was getting nowhere with her attempts and research into a specific technology she wanted to explore and use in her practice.

She had tried so many different ways but kept hitting a brick wall.

It reminded me of a few days ago when I asked my Access Worker what words do I use, or how is it possible, or that I did not have the possibility of thought or thinking style to even consider to ask for funding without having done at least some work for it.

“But you can ask for funding for lost income, or to pay your bills, it says so right here.”

And I know it did.

But my mind simply can’t get round the fact that I can do that

Because I need to go into extreme burn out and stress before I can even consider being paid.

Here at MW, since we were unsuccessful with our many funding applications, it’s been absolutely gut wrenching to have to turn away so many Neurodivergent artists (worldwide) who are absolutely desperate for arts mentoring… but because I now have a baby, I literally can’t (it’s impossible) to mentor for free, in the way I would have done before. My time is now so precious and I often have to decide between sleep and doing any kind of writing or art. (I often choose sleep!)

But in many ways, having a baby has taught me that if my time is precious, then so must I realise that my skills are precious too and those skills – I should be paid to use them.

Think about that for a second, your autistic (or ADHD) traits/skills are so precious, that you must be paid for that. Because the skills that make me prolifically produce work, are in fact skills that only so many neurotypicals would dream of having, but they might only do 1% of the work I put in and get paid for that and be satisfied with it, whilst I’m prolifically making/creating a mountain of work, and drowning in it, having taken instructions or directions or agreements so literally that I believe producers or platforms when they say it’s essential the work is (XYZ), that when I realise everyone around me does NOT have Z, there’s no sighting of Y and I can barely see an “X” but they appear to get the most praise for their efforts…

And we feel…

Well, burnt out.

And so many other neurodivergent artists are in the exact same boat, like this neurodivergent artist who was becoming stressed.

So I said to her – but those many different ways is you trying to find a way in, or out of the problem – and that’s R&D – you are committed and are doing it to the highest scale – you are prolific in research and developing ways of doing…

Now I have a theory on R&D that neurodivergent artists miss out on:

Neurodivergent artists never usually ask for R&D funding because they don’t quite know what that is. I mean, they might ask for R&D funding but continue to treat it as an actual project that needs a conclusion and needs to be finished, often polished and complete.

But R&D can be an “unfinished” project

It can be a ….. wait for it ….. autistic obsessional interest – where everything is mapped out, researched, written, prolifically produced but does not need to be concluded

It can be a “until next time folks”

Or…

an unfinished ADHD project that has been tested and tested and tested and failed at.

And so why then, do we neurodivergents struggle so much in asking for money for R&D?

Because obsessional researching and developing and process and unfinished projects are our master pieces that could never possibly be counted as …. something to be funded. Can we actually be paid for that?!? (Short answer: Yes.)

But here’s the thing,

The neurodivergent artist who was stressing she was wasting money – has (guaranteed) done 100x more work on the project than a neurotypical artist has.

Yup.

I said it.

I said it.

But it’s true.

And because I’m trying to be even bolder with my neurodivergent voice (skills) – and bluntness, I’m here if you have an idea to develop or an obsessional interest to take forth,

If you want to apply for Arts Council funding for your project, they offer you access support help with the application. You can approach us for that access support. The way we support is 100% ND led, and we can “translate” if you like, your ideas and vision into a step by step process. But this isn’t an advert, this is simply helping you realise that your ideas ARE worth being funded, and so if you have the funding and are struggling we can also help in identifying with you what you have already achieved, accomplished, discovered…

(It’ll be a mountain’s worth)

And, you’ll notice something else, in your pursuit for “the truth” or “big discovery” that you’ll have forgotten to pay yourself, and your expenses.

So working backwards now:

How many hours did you spend researching X? (What’s that? 56 hours? Okay then, let’s break down those hours – 56 hours @£11/hour is £616 on the lower end – if you pay yourself £20/hour then it’s £1120 – yes you CAN pay yourself that, yes YOUR TIME is worth that, yes YOUR ARTISTIC research IS important.

Okay great, and then you also spend a huge amount of time absorbed in collecting sound and singing a million different ways of doing Y – how long did that take you? What’s that? 120 hours – goodness, you’ve worked hard! How much do you want to pay yourself for that? Well, if we work out that 8-10 hours = 1 day, and you want that to be 12 days then you can ask for 12 days @ 1 day = £200. So, that’s £2400 to include your expenses which were taxi rides out to the forest to collect all the different bird song and that computer technology programme that differentiates sounds, yes how much did that cost? £100? Add that in there too.

Finally, we get to “Z” – Z is all the admin where you make connections, explore and engage with an audience of some kind, either in a podcast, or blog or the way so many of us Neurodivergent artists do so naturally drawing a crowd – yes that (yes that counts!) how many hours did you spend on your blog and podcast? 50 hours? And how many were in the audience? 500?! Wow that’s brilliant!

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Your time is worth it.

Your art is incredible.

And more audiences deserve to engage with it.