Tag: creatives

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Be Extra News

A Year of “Being Extra”

Today we celebrate Be Extra’s 1st birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! In the past year, we have accomplished so many things and we are so proud of our amazing team of volunteers and our community for helping us at every step on our journey to where we are now. If you have followed us on social media, liked one of our posts, read one of our blogs, watched a YouTube video, tuned-in to a livestream, attended an event, or donated to us, we are extremely grateful, thank you!  Be Extra- Wellbeing For The Arts CIC was created as a result of the mental health pandemic which was evident in the arts and creative industries. Our aim was to bring wellbeing resources to artists and creatives in accessible and easy to understand ways, and we have most definitely achieved this. We have had many conversations with creatives in the past year who have struggled at some point in their life or regularly with their wellbeing and mental health, and all of these individuals and organisations have expressed how thankful and pleased they are that Be Extra exists and that we are here to raise awareness about wellbeing in the industry. Arts organisations should be taking a greater focus on their creatives’ wellbeing, and we have seen improvements with this in many organisations in the past year, but there are still big changes to be made. In the meantime, Be Extra is here to help you, and we will continue to campaign for wellbeing for the arts at all levels, professionally and in community arts networks. The world is in quite a different place to where it was a year ago: many artists and creatives are able to return to their work and hobbies again, in-person or online, but I don’t think any of us can say that in the past year, not one of us has struggled, be that mentally, physically, financially, with our health, or with our art, questioning our creativity at times. The past year has changed us all, and with that, we hope that we have been able to help you, even if you saw just one of our social media posts, we hope you have taken time to think about your wellbeing, and even done something to improve it, or given you the skills and knowledge to help you help someone else. We know that one’s wellbeing cannot be miraculously improved overnight, it can never be fully “fixed”. but with small, regular steps, we can all greatly improve our wellbeing in time. This is why it is still so important for Be Extra to exist, there is always something that we can work on with our wellbeing, and hopefully, we will always be here to offer you some advice.  Our Director of Media, Emma Kennedy, had this to say about our 1st year: “I joined Be Extra as one of the company’s first volunteers (which is very strange to think about looking back) as the only person on the Social Media and Marketing Team. In time, I joined the board of directors and we have taken on more volunteers and the Marketing Team is now filled with talented and wonderful individuals who I get to work with and share creative ideas with every week. I am incredibly proud of every volunteer at Be Extra, dedicating time to our cause, learning new skills and gaining new friendships along the way. I can’t wait for the future of this company and what the next year will bring!  Through being a volunteer at Be Extra, I have not only helped other artists and creatives with their wellbeing, but I have also seen a big improvement in my own. Of course I still have moments when I struggle with mental health, but I have learnt a lot of wellbeing techniques in the past year which I now incorporate into my daily life, and I have also helped friends and family when they have been struggling. So on a personal level, I am extremely thankful that Be Extra exists, as without it, the past year would have been very different for me.” We like to focus our attention on you and your wellbeing, but today, we’d like to celebrate and share some of the things that we have achieved in the past year: Our social media accounts have become a valuable wellbeing resource for many artists and creatives, where we share lots of tips and techniques in simple ways which people can incorporate into their daily lives. Our team of amazing volunteers has grown and we have developed great friendships with each other (despite the fact that we have never met in-person!) Our Wellbeing Live series has given artists, creatives, and wellbeing practitioners a platform to showcase their art and to discuss the importance of looking after our wellbeing.  Our blogs have been read by hundreds of people where our writers discuss arts and wellbeing topics in an honest and heart-felt way, again showing how important it is to pay attention to our wellbeing.  Our Student Wellbeing Sessions have been attended by students from a range of Universities in the UK, where our Wellbeing Coaches have offered valuable advice to students who have really struggled during lockdowns.  Our Wellbeing Wednesdays series brought wellbeing advice from a Psychologist to many people across a wide range of topics from CBD (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), to EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).  We have achieved so much already and we cannot thank all of our volunteers and creative community enough for helping creatives “Be Extra” by taking time to improve their own and others’ wellbeing, bring on our next year! Patrick Hall, PA to the CTO, had this to say about Be Extra: My time volunteering for Be Extra has been phenomenal and I have met some truly amazing people. Lockdown made me feel quite lonely and isolated from other creatives, so it was really great to join such an open and friendly network of artistic people.

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Guest blogs

Artists Online: the challenges of being a creative during a pandemic

by Patrick Hall In today’s article, we discuss the difficulties of being an artist during the pandemic – a topic which I am sure will resonate with many of our readers. The pandemic has been an emotional and financial burden on many of us; but it is even more difficult when you are being asked to perform in front of a camera and not on a stage, having to source expensive tech equipment or missing the buzz of performing/ practising with others. Relying on the internet or on alternative spaces to create art poses problems with accessibility as a lot of people can’t afford the right facilities or get hold of the right kind of space within the confines of where they live. Many of us feel emotionally drained when practising art by ourselves and long to be working with others again. But is there anything that we can learn from this pandemic? Has the pandemic taught us anything about how we can modernise art and carry it through the future? I’ve never been a professional artist myself, but playing music with other people and sharing my poetry, even reading it aloud sometimes, have been key components in my happiness and wellbeing. Before the pandemic, I was always on the lookout for music ensembles to join, opportunities to perform and poetry ventures in which to participate. When the pandemic started, I remember my cello ensemble rehearsal being cancelled straight away and I naively assumed that this would be a momentary blip. Months later, I realised that all of my time was being spent working, going for walks alone or just sitting inside. I needed a way to get back into the Arts now that rehearsals were a no-go and I couldn’t see my friends on a regular basis.  So I got into volunteering at a museum which was great fun because it gave me the chance to talk about and discover some amazing art, most of which had a local flavour to Devon and Cornwall. Volunteering for Be Extra was also great: although I couldn’t be with lots of creatives in a physical space, working with other creatives online and discovering fantastic artists through the wellbeing live events was spectacular. It is true that I am desperate to get back to an orchestra rehearsal, but I have loved how the pandemic has made me explore the arts differently and do things that I would not have done otherwise.  Now let’s hear about the experiences of our CTO and Head of Development, Lizzy Hardman: My expectations for this year were a lot of time spent shuffling my CV and applying to as many auditions and competitions as possible while getting set up as self-employed. Particularly before summer, companies had no idea when they would be able to put on a show so auditions were cancelled and competitions closed their scope – “sorry, we’re only accepting applications direct from conservatoires”. Even more brutally for me was the fact that having been a student, the majority of my income had previously been a mixture of freelance work, part-time employment, and student loans, meaning I was ineligible for the government support for artists. Then came the next kicker – recordings for applications. They’re really a double-edged sword. Yes you can perform from the comfort of your own home, you get the chance to redo if you’re unhappy, and you get to save on travel costs. On the other hand, it comes with the presumption that everyone wanting to apply has access to a space suitable for performance, and access to decent tech equipment. I’m fortunate in that I have a decent mic from my work as a narrator but other people won’t be in that position. So many of my recordings have been ruined by my neighbours cackling and mimicking me from next door, or people walking past the window when I’m doing a video recording, picking their nose as I emotionally pour out ‘Se vuoi serbarla a ricordo d’amor!’ It’s also difficult to get in the mindset of performance when just behind you is your partner eating crisps and playing Cyberpunk. The pandemic has made us think differently about how we can share and access art, making the most of the internet and new technologies. However, it has also brought about issues regarding accessibility and we face the danger that certain creatives will be pushed aside while we look to modernise. Unfortunately, this may not be the only pandemic that we face in our lifetime and it would be good to adapt the way we work and become more flexible. But it is crucial that we bring up the problems faced by creatives during the pandemic and how we can tackle these. Hopefully, Lizzy’s experiences and my own have proved insightful, but stay tuned for reflections from two more of our volunteers, which are yet to come.  Return to News & Features…

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Guest blogs

Empty chairs and empty studios

How the global health pandemic has impacted studio spaces and their owners by Alice Strachen, co-founder of YourStudiosUK The effects of COVID-19 have devastated many industries, one of the first to shut its doors was of course the creative industry with theatres going dark and all TV and Film productions halting filming back in March 2020. With this closure, studios across the capital that usually would have been filled with rehearsals, fitness classes, filming and auditions were sadly left completely empty.  This has had a huge impact on the industry as a whole and the mental health of many. Studio owners have faced huge turmoil and with no clear route out of lockdown, they have been left unsure of when they will be able to fill their space once again and financially, the impact has been absolutely devastating. So the roll out of the vaccine has been welcomed with open arms, with the hopes of busy studios in summer 2021 in sight.  YourStudios was created to help creatives find their perfect studio to hire with ease and our hope was to help studios fill their spaces, help their marketing pursuits, increase their visibility and ultimately grow their overall profits. Creatives have produced some absolutely incredible work over the course of the past year, with many taking their work online, choreographing out of their bedrooms and doing their best to work out of their homes, however, research has shown that, “When you have a lot of demands from both work and family and you put the workplace in the home, family demands become very salient and you’re reminded of the conflict,” said the study’s author Timothy Golden, who is an associate professor at the Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. “But when you’re at your workplace, you don’t see the chores and family members, so you’re a little removed from the conflict”. Juggling the home/work life balance is an incredibly difficult task with many really struggling with motivation and productivity as a result. Having a separate space for our different pursuits is so important as ultimately, we want to be able to associate our home as a place of comfort and rest.  Another bad habit that has crept in for many is working from their beds, something which at one point maybe sounded like a total luxury and dream job, however has now become a difficult reality. According to psychotherapist and behavioural sleep medicine therapist Annie Miller, there’s a very specific reason why we shouldn’t work from our beds. “When we use our bed for other activities, like working, reading, watching TV, etc., we create an association with wakefulness. We want the bed to be a cue for sleep, and working in bed weakens this association,” says Miller.  With so many obstacles to overcome, any work that has been achieved over this past year deserves to be celebrated, but take comfort in the knowledge that our beloved studios will be open to us again very soon, we’ll be able to get back to yoga, work on the correct floors, have space and have be in the same space as others!  We can’t wait!  YourStudios launches in April 2021. Head over to their Instagram to keep up to date. Return to News & Features…

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Guest blogs

Working as a creative freelancer in lockdown

You don’t need me to tell you that the period we are living in right now is pretty unusual.  No matter what industry you’re coming from or the job that you do (whether it’s creative or not), the job market is a stressful place to be wading through.  Throughout lockdown, I have been working as a freelance writer and content creator. I’m very lucky in that, although I am a creative freelancer, I work as a writer – so the cancellations that have impacted countless other creative industries have not restricted my work.  However, I do have some sense of the difficulties that lockdown has imposed on my age group generally, and any other individuals who are working in the same field as me. It is my hope that this piece will resonate with other freelancers out there, who might be facing the same stresses and challenges as I have been.  Just as a little bit of background info for you, I graduated back in 2019. I technically still class myself as a post-grad (don’t think I’ll be able to get away with saying that for much longer though). I got a job as an in-house writer for a creative agency, and I was there for almost a year before I moved back home to write on a freelance basis. This, completely coincidentally, came hand in hand with the start of lockdown. So, during the pandemic, I’ve been building my freelancing career. The surreal thing about freelancing during the lockdown is the fact that, not to be too unprofessional in admitting this, but you’re essentially sat typing away in your joggers all day. In some senses, that’s the brilliant thing about it. Plus, I love to be kept busy (but I can’t sew, so I’m not really made for lockdown’s conventional hobbies). For me, it’s been great to be able to throw myself into my work during this period.  On a day-to-day basis, I find the job’s successes, new contracts coming in and receiving praise from employers to all be fantastic plus points of the job. I’m incredibly lucky to be in a position where I can pick and choose the types of work that I take on, and I’m so grateful to be able to say that I truly love what I do.  However, the negative side of working completely on your own is the isolation of it all. Sometimes, you can be left with the unnerving feeling that your work doesn’t really exist. It’s a hard sensation to explain. But, with a lot of the ‘ghost writing’ projects that I do, you essentially write a thing, send it off and then never see it again. Working on a screen all day, then sending quickly-written work to people that you’ve never met and then it’s gone forever – it’s rather surreal at times.  If you are self-employed, self-motivation, organization and self-management are always tricky matters. But (at the risk of sounding like I’m sitting on my high horse), these skills can be especially tricky to master if the work that you’re doing is creative. You’re bound to have an off day here and there, and sometimes, there’s nothing that you can do about that.  When you’re working on creative pieces, an off spell might mean that the work that you do on that entire day is pretty rubbish. And that’s part and parcel of the deal. But over lockdown (where, let’s face it, we’ve got nothing else going on), that can really get to you. It’s all too easy to start really beating yourself up about your skills.  One of the other most common problems with working as a creative freelancer is being underpaid. All too often, potential clients undervalue our skill set, because it’s seen to be something that ‘anyone can do’. There are so, so many writers out there, and businesses looking for someone to hire know that.  I worked with an American client for about a month, and they were paying me $6 per 500 words of my writing, and I would write as much as 20,000 words for them a week. It was hard being paid very little for a lot of work, and then churning out so many words can leave you feeling very demoralising at times. This can certainly lead to self-confidence knocks.  With hindsight on my side, if I could go back and tell myself one thing, it would be that it is so important to stick to a fair rate and that, if it means losing the odd job here and there, so be it. In order to break this cycle of underpayments, we need to respect each other as a creative community and stick to our rates, so that no one else is being inadvertently undercut, or forced to drop their rates to compete with ours.  I want to end by absolutely stressing that, all things considered, working as a creative is incredibly rewarding. Being able to write all day long is the most wonderful, fullfilling job.  As with any creative career, managing your mental health is a routine that you need to spend a bit of time learning to perfect. It is a skill in-and-of-itself, and one that it is absolutely imperative that we take seriously.  The support that BE-EXTRA provides as a community has been invaluable to me. Time and time again, Katherine has pulled me out of a little rut, or provided me with fantastic advice (particualry guidance r.e. Twitter!). I cannot overstate the importance of feeling as though you’re part of a creative community. Independent work can feel so isolating at times, and it’s been fantastic to feel as though I am within of a hub of like-minded creatives, going through exactly the same things.  Overall, if you take one thing from me and my little ramble, it would be that one of the main areas of growth that you will face when you start out on a self-governed creative career is working to bolster

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Be Extra News

Welcome!

by Josephine Walbank, 4 August 2020 To all of the fantastic individuals, communities, creatives, artists and performers in our wonderful arts sector, we are delighted to be able to welcome you all to BE EXTRA.  We have seen – and experienced ourselves,  the toll that working in a creative industry can take on our wellbeing. BE EXTRA has been created to fulfil a need and provide a once-and-for-all solution to the absence of online support that is available for artists and creatives.  “Whenever I have struggled with my wellbeing, or my friends in the creative industry have struggled with their mental health, I’ve always looked online for things that I could do to help. What could we do to change the situation? But there has never been the right support materials out there for creative people. I decided to change that.” – BE EXTRA Founder, Katherine Rees We are incredibly excited to start out and launch our jam-packed calendar of online courses (ideal to fill your days during the rest of the lockdown period) which are available for everyone. Keep an eye out on our website and social media pages to see what events, talks and workshops we’ve got coming up.  So, welcome to the BE EXTRA family – we can’t wait to start forging the bonds and providing the support that our sector needs to blossom.