Marcella Allison

I'm a passionate advocate for artist dates.

The idea comes from Julia Cameron's famous work, The Artist's Way.

Many people talk about Cameron's ''morning pages,'' her daily writing practice, but they tend to forget about her weekly artist date.

In my humble opinion, artist dates are equally important if not more so for feeding your creativity.

Especially now when we're all tired of looking at the same four walls and desperate for anything to break up the endless monotony.

The weekly artist date is quite simply anything that gets your creative juices flowing and pushes you out of your comfort zone.

Before Covid, my artist's dates looked like a trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum, or eating dinner at a new Vietnamese restaurant, or listening to live jazz, or going to an indy film with Tom.

Since we've been trapped at home, it's harder for me to get my weekly art fix and I can only watch so much video on my computer before my eyes start to shrivel up and dry out like two slugs in the sun.

So when my sister, Bethany Bak, Director of Movement Education for the Indianapolis Movement Arts Collective, invited me to a socially-distanced performance on Saturday night...

I was like, ''Hell yes!''

Not only was it inspiring to watch the performers, but it inspired me to think about new ways to co-promote and support each other in the Titanides.

The performance was called A Light in the Window - Odes to Winter.

And it was held at the Basile Opera Center in Indianapolis.

The center has a wall of glass windows and Bethany invited different artists to create short performances in each window as the audience walked around the building and viewed the performers from outside.

As we watched nearly a dozen performances in the cold crisp January night, I was moved at the resilience of these dancers.

Creativity will always find a way.

Here's how Bethany put it in an interview with NUVO, ''Would we have dreamed up this idea in a pre-COVID world? Would we have dared to ask an audience to stand outside in late January for a solid 45 minutes? I don't believe so...'' And yet, because of COVID she dared, and we dared, and the result was something new and different.

''These circumstances have forced us to re-imagine more... to shift our mindset to thinking about what is possible instead of what is not possible. What if we viewed these challenges or limits to our creative practices or daily lives as a gift instead of a hindrance. What if we let go of how things used to be and embraced, for the time being, how things are?''

Great advice for all of us.

And because Bethany imagined a different possibility, a dozen performance artists were able to safely perform in the middle of the pandemic. With all proceeds going directly to the artists.

But the event didn't just feed the artists financially... it fed them emotionally as well.

Bethany said, ''I hope when the performers look out from their winter worlds, they see eyes filled with wonder and delight, and are reminded just how vital their art-making is to our community and the world.''

And the generosity went both ways.

''I hope when the audience experiences the world of these incredible artists, that their curiosity is sparked, that they are moved in some way, and they remember how much value art brings to their lives.''

And that is the purpose of an artist date… to spark curiosity, to inspire, and to encourage creativity.

I left the performance feeling uplifted and encouraged.

I thought about how these performers came together under extraordinary circumstances to create something new that supported each other and the community both financially and creatively.

That is the essence of what I call ''co-promotion'' and it's at the heart of how we help each other succeed in the Titanides Mentoring Collective.

I think it's one of the best ways we can build momentum so we can all rise together. By the way, if you're looking for yet another way to spark your creativity, here's a simple and free 5-minute exercise you can use to get your creative mojo flowing.

And click here if you want to learn more about Indianapolis Movement Arts Collective

Marcella Allison (Reprinted with permission from her newsletter)

To visit the most important pages on our site, make a selection from the drop-down menu below. If your browser doesn't automatically take you there, please click on "Visit Now!"

Shel Horowitz's book, "The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant's Pocketbook" will save you hundreds of dollars on FUN...every year... for the rest of your life! learn how to travel to exotic places with zero lodging cost... fly for about a quarter of the published fare... eat in fabulous restaurants for $10 or less... This site is brought to you by Shel Horowitz and Dina Friedman, Directors of Accurate Writing & More--bringing you marketing, writing, and career assistance since 1981. (413) 586-2388 http://www.frugalfun.com http://www.frugalmarketing.com/ http://www.accuratewriting.com/ http://www.principledprofit.com/

Clean and Green Marketing Our Privacy Policy

Site copyright © 1996-2022 by Shel Horowitz