Conversation Starters
I am incredibly honoured to have received Arts Council England funding through their Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant.
This funding will enable me to realise a new body of work exploring the difficulties some neuro-diverse people, especially children and young adults, have with communication; they may struggle to start, maintain or end conversations, which can lead to stressful misunderstandings and frustration.
My work is both socially engaged, delivering projects in schools and communities, and also deeply personal. Conversation Starters reflects the differences that we experience as an autism family as well as the difficulties others encounter watching their children and young adults struggle in our neuro-typical world.
The DYCP grant will enable me to explore and raise awareness of this issue. The funding will enable me to develop my creative practice, learn new skills and carve out the time needed to develop new work.
Gaining Arts Council England funding has helped my confidence enormously, knowing that they consider Conversation Starters a worthwhile project to support.
The Conversation Starter Diary:
The Diary of my journey from the start to the end. Hoping you will follow the ups and downs of my Arts Council Funded Project: ‘Conversation Starters’
Big News! - April 2022
Where to begin….
The first thing I did after receiving the funding, was set out what my plans are. I went back to my ACE proposal and looked at my predicted timelines. I realised quite quickly that my timelines were quite pushed, which was worrying and set me back a little bit, but the timeline is not an absolute, and I don’t have to deliver everything by November this year.
I’m really grateful that within the Arts Council grant there is access support funding available, which will greatly help my needs as a neurodiverse artist. I struggle to focus or get things completely finished, or I take on too many things at once, which can become a little bit overwhelming. So, in some respects Conversation Starters is also about my journey into how I organise my projects and research, and also the support that’s needed for me to deliver a successful project.
Through ACE access support funding, my mentor, Susan, was able to attend a meeting about applying for the Being Human festival on my behalf. I wanted to deliver workshops around Conversation Starters during the Being Human festival, but through that meeting we discovered that this was going to be a bit tricky, because I’d need to partner up with a research organisation. We realised that to find and partner up with the research organisation need to happen within a very tight deadline that was impossible for me to meet, so I decided against it. However, I am going to apply to the ‘cafes’ which are part of the Festival and hopefully get to run a cafe/coffee morning/workshop in my local borough of Haringay, or with the Markfield community centre, which I’ve previously had a lot of support from as an autism parent fighting for my children’s SEN.
Next, I had to find spaces to run the workshops that will form the backbone of the Conversation Starters project. I want to run these workshops in museums and galleries because I don’t think these spaces are places that we (autism people/families) access as widely or as easily as neuro-typical families. My experience of museums and galleries, as an autism parent and advocate for other autism families is that they are often not accessible. For instance, the relaxed/quiet hours that some institutions have usually take place early in the day, which can be challenging for families, especially those with teenagers who often need to sleep into the morning.
Clare Madge put me in touch with the British Library, where I met Emma Tutton, Access & Outreach Programmes Manager and we had some meetings about the Library’s own work into access and inclusion. We have pencilled in some exciting plans, which I will share once The British Library have confirmed. I have also spoken with Belvue School in Ealing and the October Gallery, who have been an amazing support and are enabling me to run my first workshop on the 9th of June, which is really exciting.
alisonlam, Arts Council, Art, Artist, Neurodiversity, Autism, Diary, Journal
Wow! - April 2022
Receiving Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice grant, has been fantastic,
I received lots of positive support from organisations that I have ties with, which was great. I was also
able to reach out to people that I want to work with during the project, including Clare Madge, who
runs Autism in Museums.
Autism in Museums visits exhibitions and museum spaces and gives in-depth information for autism families who wish to visit exhibitions and shows, through the Autism in Museums website. I've wanted to work with Clare for some time, and wanted to partner up with her knowledge of what does and doesn't work for autism families in public spaces. Having first met during lockdown Clare and I were excited to work together. Receiving the DYCP funding means that I can now employ Clare to help me develop the Conversation Starters project.
My research proposal is, how can we engage in conversation within a neurodiverse family?
How do conversations start, either between neuro-diverse young adults or between neuro-diverse
and neuro-typical people? Why is it so difficult to start and engage in a conversation? How do we end conversations? A neuro-typical person might want to continue a conversation while the neuro-diverse person might be feeling that they want the conversation to stop, that it’s too difficult to continue.
It’s understanding that difficulty, that split second when we begin, or decide to continue a conversation with somebody that I will be exploring in my workshops. Asking participants to respond to a space, a museum or gallery space, will be a really good conversation starter because we can use the space as
a point for discussion.
Getting the DYCP funding shows me that the Arts Council is interested in my work, in what I’m researching, what my interests are, what drives my work, what drives my passion for socially engaged art. It also allows me to work with some amazing people that have an understanding of neurodiversity
and what it’s like to be either autisic, or be in an autistic family. That is the one thing that I am really conscious of; that I do want to work with like-minded people, possibly because it emulates my own understanding and I can learn from them and hopefully they can learn something from me along the
way too.
Arts Council, DYCP, Neurodiversity, neurodiverse, socially engaged, artist, socially engaged practice, Discarded, autism, @alisonlamart, alisonlam
Beginnings - June 2022
October 2022 The first thing I did after receiving the funding, was set out what my plans are. I went back to my ACE proposal and looked at my predicted timelines. I realised quite quickly that my timelines were quite pushed, which was worrying and set me back a little bit, but the timeline is not an absolute, and I don’t have to deliver everything by November this year.
I’m really grateful that within the Arts Council grant there is access support funding available, which will greatly help my needs as a neurodiverse artist. I struggle to focus or get things completely finished, or I take on too many things at once, which can become a little bit overwhelming. So, in some respects Conversation Starters is also about my journey into how I organise my projects and research, and also the support that’s needed for me to deliver a successful project.
Through ACE access support funding, my mentor, Susan, was able to attend a meeting about applying for the Being Human festival on my behalf. I wanted to deliver workshops around Conversation Starters during the Being Human festival, but through that meeting we discovered that this was going to be a bit tricky, because I’d need to partner up with a research organisation. We realised that to find and partner up with the research organisation need to happen within a very tight deadline that was impossible for me to meet, so I decided against it. However, I am going to apply to the ‘cafes’ which are part of the Festival and hopefully get to run a cafe/coffee morning/workshop in my local borough of Haringay, or with the Markfield community centre, which I’ve previously had a lot of support from as an autism parent fighting for my children’s SEN.
Next, I had to find spaces to run the workshops that will form the backbone of the Conversation Starters project. I want to run these workshops in museums and galleries because I don’t think these spaces are places that we (autism people/families) access as widely or as easily as neuro-typical families. My experience of museums and galleries, as an autism parent and advocate for other autism families is that they are often not accessible. For instance, the relaxed/quiet hours that some institutions have usually take place early in the day, which can be challenging for families, especially those with teenagers who often need to sleep into the morning.
Clare Madge put me in touch with the British Library, where I met Emma Tutton, Access & Outreach Programmes Manager and we had some meetings about the Library’s own work into access and inclusion. We have pencilled in some exciting plans, which I will share once The British Library have confirmed. I have also spoken with Belvue School in Ealing and the October Gallery, who have been an amazing support and are enabling me to run my first workshop on the 9th of June, which is really exciting.
Fleeting Dialogues - June 2022
I wanted to use my Arts Council England DYCP award to develop a new body of work, Conversation Starters, a sculptural archive of conversations between neurodivergent people & families. My intention was to capture these fleeting dialogues in glass, ceramic & metal.
Learning New Techniques - July 2022
This new work meant learning to use materials in a highly technical & experimental way. To do this I needed mentoring by porcelain, glass & bronze casting experts. The tutors I wanted to work with were not able to meet my timetable, but did refer me to other equally skilled tutors.
Conversation Burns Away - August 2022
Conversations collected on paper then dipped into porcelain slip that burns away once fired. The safety of revealing how it really feels starting conversations.
Work developed with multimedia sculptural artist Esther Adesigbin from October Gallery.
Working With Glass - August 2022
In order to develop my skills and take my practice forward I wanted to learn new techniques and improve my understanding of the technical processes I use, allowing me to work with my materials in new ways. I was able to attend glass blowing workshop led by Sam Sweet (RCA glass MA) becoming more confident working with my chosen materials.
Workshopping! - September 2022
I worked with Clare Madge from Autism In Museums to develop site responsive work & workshops for autism families. This was a successful relationship & she helped me devise workshops at British Library & brokered conversations with the Science Museum where I hope to be running SEN workshops in 2023.
I also ran a workshop at October Gallery with neurodiverse young adults. Trying to show what it is like starting, continuing and ending conversations for ND people.
Gallery Shows - September 2022
I have had several studio visits from curators & artists met through this project. I felt the DYCP opened doors, people took me seriously & I was invited to exhibit Conversation Starters at Espacio Gallery Group Show, at Crypts Gallery, Euston, & Gallerie Art Pool, Vienna.
Through brokered conversations & meetings with new people, I have learned the importance of networking. My confidence has grown; before my DYCP I would shut myself away but I’ve come to see how feedback from other artists is so important.
Beyond the Studio - October 2022
I was contacted by organisers of Markfield Festival, Tottenham to take part in a panel talk called ‘Road to Success.’ Middlesex Uni offered me a visiting lecture opportunity to explore how funding helps artists.
I was asked to be part of the Tate Project by Lorraine Leeson, exploring ways to teach art and social practice within arts organisations & Universities. We are working with Queens Museum and Queens University in New York and spent a weekend in Margate with artists, curators and writers involved in this project. I am looking forward to developing new networks through this project & continuing my working relationship with Wellcome, CRAI, British Library and the Science Museum along with artists, curators and gallerists that I have met and worked with this summer.
Kabir Hussain - October 2022
My sessions with Kabir Hussain at Walnut Works Foundry were delayed until early October, necessitating an extension to my DYCP. However, Kabir and myself had several meetings about my work over the summer meaning I was very prepared when I finally worked with him. He was such a supportive and inspirational tutor. The ability to have 1-2-1 sessions with Kabir meant my exploration and understanding of working in larger scale and in bronze become more proficient and this has given me the confidence going forward with new inspirations and ideas to express the ideas behind my work.
