THE ARTIST AND STORY
The Artist and Story online workshops offer a practice-based lab space in which creators and practitioners can dig into a creative project they are working on - or would like to begin working on - in a mentored environment.
Each course (Part One and Part Two) offers a series of different provocations, staying always in response to participants needs and the needs of the work. Each combines movement research, guided sessions, group discussions, dedicated individual research time (with individual tasks and two opportunities to digitally submit your work) and one-to-one mentoring sessions. Courses culminate in a closed sharing.
The Artist and Story is suitable for all who work with story in any way – performers, directors, writers, dramaturgs, dancers, musicians, visual artists, photographers, interdisciplinary artists. You should be interested in exploring an embodied approach to and sharing your process and be ready to work on your story. The story you choose can be something you are already working with or would like to work with.
The team accompanying you is Cat Gerrard, Lionel Ménard & Adi Weinberg (more about us here).
PART ONE: Deepening our Relationship with Story & Exploring Autonomy in the Creative Process
Part One opens different themes of embodied research, looking at how and where the story meets you as an individual and as an artist and how you can embody multiple roles in your process.
Where Does The Story Meet You?
We will explore: the Poetic Body and story; Characters, Types and Archetypes – approaching, researching and embodying those close to and far from you; Writing – deepening the connection to and tuning your own “voice”. We will investigate the question through the body: where does the story meet you? And where does it meet other stories in a wider context: societal, ancestral and mythological?
Wearing all the Hats
Through these themes and questions we will address some of the different aspects of the individual creator, including the performer, the writer and the director. We will explore how we can embody every role in the artistic process to deepen our autonomy, whether we plan to work solo or with others, in a specific role or taking on all roles ourselves.
5-weeks, ~35 hours contact time
What Previous Participants said:
“inspiring, challenging, motivating”
“intense, mind-opening, igniting”
“inspiring, encouraging, playful”
“I expected to walk away with a small, concrete portion of a story, but I walked away with broader questions about the placement of my myth in history, the current world, and why it's important to me. I didn't expect to dive so deep into themes that the embodied explorations invite. I'm very grateful for this journey.”
“I was able to find new intensity in my work, which slumbered so long in me and now I feel it becomes my own work”
“Exceeded my expectations! Such a journey!”
THE DETAILS
DATES & TIMES
Next PART ONE course - Europe & Americas-friendly
Monday 4th October 2021 - Sunday 7th November 2021, with a final sharing on Sunday 14th November 2021.
1800 - 2100 (CET, Berlin time)* Monday to Friday in Weeks 1 and 2. One-to-one sessions, in weeks 3, 4 and 5 will be available at various times Monday to Sunday. There will also be additional discussion sessions in weeks 3 and 4 during the week in the same time period. A fuller programme is available here
*For the Americas 18:00 is 09:00 PDT / 11:00 CDT / 12:00 EDT / 13:00 UTC-3
COSTS
We offer 3 options, so it can cover both your possibility and our costs.
Option 1 - 400€ / $470 / £340 (this works out at about 12€ / $13.50 / £9.50 per hour, to give you a sense)
Option 2 - 360€ / $420 / £305 (this works out at about 11€ / $12 / £8.50 per hour)
Option 3 - 340€ /$400 / £290 (this works out at about 10€/ $11.50 / £8 per hour)
This fee covers our teaching fees, watching and reviewing your work, planning and admin time. We split our fee so, no matter that we sit in on each other's sessions, we just get paid for the teaching that we do. We hope this keeps it accessible for you.
You can pay in instalments, if that's easier for you. Just contact us to organise a plan.
TECHNICAL THINGS
You should have a working internet connection, with a functioning camera and microphone. You should have a space to yourself that you can work in (minimum 2m2 – more is better).
To Apply
Please email Cat (catgerrard@gmail.com) with any questions, for instalment/payment plans or for any other info, needs or desires you have.
To apply please:
* fill out the registration form here https://forms.gle/y4XZRXgp7pDDhxuo6 and
* email the following documents to catgerrard@gmail.com
Curriculum Vitae - please include some information about your education, artistic training, performance experience and any other interests. Please include your date of birth, your nationality and your current country of residence.
Story Summary - please send a short summary/text/outline of the story you wish to work with (max 1 A4 page)
The deadline for applications for PART ONE, commencing 4th October 2021 is Monday 13th September 18:00 CEST.
We'll contact you to confirm your place. Maximum number of participants is 12.
We need a minimum of 8 people for the course to run. We'll let you know for Course 1 by Wednesday 21st July and for Course 2 by Wednesday 15th September in the case that the course isn't going to run.
After application and confirmation, we will send details about payment methods. Payment should be made to secure your spot. This should be done for Course 1 by Wednesday 28th July 18:00 and for Course 2 by Wednesday 22nd September.
In the case that you need to cancel your spot, please email us straight away. If you cancel up to 7 days before the course starts we can give you a 50% refund. Within 7 days of the course starting payments cannot be refunded.
PART TWO: The Spaces In Between
5-weeks, ~40 hours contact time
Building on Part One, Part Two will continue to mentor and support you through the continuation and creation of your own piece, within the frames of story and artistic autonomy.
In Part Two we’ll be diving deeper, focussing on the spaces, the gaps - between the piece and the audience, between the different scenes or parts of your piece, between the layers of your material, the gaps that are blockages or unknowns.
We will investigate the questions:
where does your story meet the audience?
and how can we embody the role of the midwife in a creation process?
Image by Gao Xingjian
BEING A MIDWIFE TO YOUR CREATIONS – AND OTHERS’
Deepening our connection to our artistic autonomy beyond the roles of performer, writer and director, we’ll be exploring the role of the “ragi”. Archetypically closest to the midwife, the ragi helps you to birth a piece, to develop the kind of listening that allows you to be in service to the piece, to help it be more itself, to bring it fully out into the world.
The ragi challenges us to be more authentically connected to our work (and ourselves), to be better collaborators and to be aware and supportive of the work that we are uncovering, rather than bending the work to what we want to be creating.
Or, at least, the ragi helps us to have a lively dialogue between the two!
We’ll be exploring how we can bring the spirit of the ragi to our work and to others’ – with work in pairs and small groups and the opportunity to collaborate more with each other for those interested in doing so.
THE DETAILS
DATES & TIMES
Next PART TWO courses
We will have two courses in Spring 2022, one in the mornings CET (Europe & Asia/Australasia friendly) and one in the evenings CET (Europe & Americas-friendly). Sign up to the mailing list to hear about the new dates when they are announced.