Be the champion of others

This morning I saw an Instagram post from The Female Lead that said

“Surround yourself with women who would mention your name in a room full of opportunities”

It’s posts like these that make me wish Insta would upgrade the Like option to accommodate the ‘hell yeah’ and ‘this is everything’ sentiments. In a nutshell, this is how I feel about the work I do supporting makers and other creatives/professionals in the contemporary craft community. It’s how I show up when I’m out in the world and I know from experience that it’s how a lot of you operate too (and I’d like to extend this statement to all the wonderful men who do this as well). So much of this work relies on our collective endeavour, on our championing of each other. But, it’s felt harder to do this with social distancing, with lockdown and with events being cancelled or postponed.

A while ago someone contacted me to ask about setting up your own freelance business, specifically asking how I began and what I did that was useful. In reflecting on the first few years of doing this work I realised that I was out and about a lot. I visited all the shows, I went to events, I went to courses and workshops. But, most importantly, I talked to people there, and I listened. I absorbed what people told me about their practices and their ambitions. I squirreled things away and I kept up with the contacts I made. Some of these things didn’t bring me immediate benefits, but I thanked myself for doing it every time someone emailed me or DM’ed me to say ‘so-and-so recommended you’. If I’m honest I know a large proportion of my work comes from word of mouth.

The sad thing is, that I felt like this advice was incredibly unhelpful in these times, when going out to meet people is almost impossible. Those serendipitous conversations which lead to you getting work or you helping someone else get work, where you connect over a shared passion or appreciation for someone else’s work – these are harder to come by at the moment. Zoom isn’t the same as a cuppa in the break at a conference, an Introduction email isn’t the same as a chat over someone’s work at an show. But, it’s all we have. I’m not sure how to recreate those circumstances of being in a room full of opportunities, but I know it’s still necessary, and so we must be vigilant for those moments. We have to share the love even more.

Recently I’ve had a few reminders of this, hearing clients talk of the big projects they hope to achieve next year and facilitating Portfolio reviews with exhibitors of an exhibition that could not take place in real life. Something I find myself saying frequently, in all sorts of contexts, is that makers need to share their ambition for their work – how else will people know how they can help? We all occupy a position of possibility in one way or another. We all have contacts or connections that might make the difference to someone else. But, unless we recognise that, unless the need for that connection has been made known, those possibilities go nowhere.

When I meet a maker, when I work with clients, everything they tell me about their work and their vision for it leads me to think ‘how can I help this happen?’ When I hear the passion behind someone’s work, when they share their hopes for what it might become, I want that for them. And, even if I can’t directly help, I know that I’ll probably meet someone who can, or I’ll be in a conversation where that maker’s name is the one I need to mention.

I’ve read a fair amount about setting goals and achieving your dreams. And there’s conflicting advice about whether you should tell people what you want to do, or whether you should keep your plans private. What I’m talking about here isn’t really anything to do with that. I don’t need specifics; I don’t need to know if this is a short term goal of yours or a life-time ambition. Even just the flavour of it can be enough when the conversation in that room of opportunities comes up. But, what I do know is that if you hold back, if you don’t share with someone what you most desire for your creative practice, then there is little possibility of someone mentioning your name. There may not be conversations that happen elsewhere, that potentially change things for you and lead you into new places.

Sometimes sharing these things can make us feel incredibly vulnerable. And I’m not advocating pushing yourself to talk about things that feel too big or too scary, or to share too much. But, by allowing us in, even a little (and by ‘us’ I mean your peers, your customers, your clients, everyone you engage with creatively) to understand the direction you are headed and the places you want to go, we can help to pave the way in whatever way we are able. It may not seem like much at the time, but those small acts can be revolutionary.

What is vital is that we maintain these conversations where we promote each other, where we make a difference, even if we are no longer together in a room full of opportunities. The room may have gone, but the opportunities are still there, and our shared creative survival in these difficult times relies on us finding a way to continue working for our collective benefit.