As I found last year, networking events are great ways to explore industries, meet some awesome people, and talk shop with those interested in what you love.
Yesterday, May 2, I attended the 2nd MEGA Networking Event at the Richmond Hill Country Club. Starting at 1pm and going until 4:30pm, I was able to attend the tail end of the event after work and was blown away by the size of it. Hosted in a larger venue by TheNetworker.ca – the same hosts of the Distillery District Networking Events – MEGA Networking provides even more ways to meet the people you want to know. The event was a great success, and I look forward to the next MEGA event.
Another event that I am extremely (understatement) excited for is York Region Arts Council’s first ever Arts After Hours Networking Event on May 24. Taking place at the gorgeous Willow Springs Winery in Stouffville and running from 7pm to 9pm, the night features a great opportunity to meet other artists in the area. It also includes wine and cheese tasting, raffle giveaways, and awesome performances by spoken word artist Sheniz Janmohamed and my good friend Manuele Mizzi. I can’t wait and hope to see you there.
As always, please comment and review. Are you affiliated to any local arts councils? If so, how has your arts council experience been? If not, why not check it out? Let me know what you think!
They all suck. Badly. And surprisingly, they don’t seem to know it.
Over the past year, I’ve gotten increasingly involved with various online and print publications and have really enjoyed it. This type of writing, however, is not what I ultimately wanted to do. I love to write, but I don’t want to spend all my time writing about other people’s books. I want write my own books, too.
Recently I decided to leave shift work to focus more of my time on art. This included applying to Humber’s School for Writers Correspondence Course – a renowned course, but one that cost a tiny fortune. I knew that if I got accepted into the program, I’d have to pay up, so I began looking into grants and scholarship programs.
One of the grants I applied for belonged to the York Region Arts Council. Silly me thought that my chances of landing a YRAC grant were pretty darn good. I had a pretty good portfolio and I’d agreed to write for the YRAC’s new YorkScene website, too.
Months passed and the deadline to hear back about the grant came and went. I took to checking my mailbox every day. People say that a watched pot never boils. Well, a watched mailbox never fills. On Thanksgiving Day, after hearing nothing in the mail as I was supposed to, I was included in a mass e-mail sent out to all rejected Grant applicants. “Thanks for trying. Sorry you didn’t make it,” was the gist of the thing.
I was devastated, of course, but it wasn’t about the money. It was about the above. It was about American Idol contestants who suck and suck badly. When people watch American Idol, they watch it as much for the success as for the failure. The above video has been viewed over 6 million times! These awful singers are just hilarious to watch. How do they not know how bad they are?
Over the years, after that first bout of curl-up-and-cry rejection from grad school, I’ve harboured a fear of what I term “tone-deaf writing”. What if I’m just not good enough? What if I just can’t see how awful my writing actually is? What if I’m one of those sad, sad people who pursue a dream to death to the point where it is no longer inspiring, but shameful and a tad depressing?
Being rejected for the grant -not even through snail mail like I was advised I’d be, but through a mass BCC – reinforced all my fears about being a tone-deaf writer. I found myself thinking, ‘Gee whiz, good thing I didn’t quit my day job, and thank goodness I signed up for courses in Project Management too.’
Of course my relationship with writing didn’t end there, but it certainly was a low point for me. Feelings of insecurity and uncertainty are normal, but what do you think of these feelings in relation to art? Of course it’s only natural for every artist to experience a certain degree of insecurity. Then again, what if you’re a “tone-deaf” artist? It’s naive to believe that a certain degree of talent isn’t needed to succeed in art. Some people just don’t have an affinity for certain arts. I can’t sing for beans and I know that. What if I can’t write for beans, either, but I just can’t accept it? What if you’re a tone-deaf artist? How would you ever know? And when, in the pursuit of art, should you accept your limitations and stop?
Pardon my last minute notice, but if you’re somewhere near the Town of Newmarket tomorrow afternoon, come drop by and celebrate the YRAC Grant Recipient Announcement and YorkScene.com launch with the York Region Arts Council from 4:30-6:30pm in the York Region Municipal Offices.
YorkScene.com is the York Region Arts Council’s inaugural website featuring What’s On in our local arts, culture and entertainment scene. In addition to the main website, we have a whole host of bloggers from across the arts scene, from literary artists and visual artists to graphic designers and fashion designers. It is with great pleasure that I am one of the bloggers for the new YorkScene website, which is super handy and cool looking, just FYI.
Come out and celebrate the site’s launch with us tomorrow afternoon, or at least check out the new site after tomorrow’s 6pm release. We love reader feedback, so I hope to see you guys there!
