We are very excited to announce our speaker for our first Nurture Creative Talk on 6th November - Stéphanie Heckman @stephaniesaloli - Graphic Recorder & Visual Facilitator.

Stephanie will be sharing her journey as a creative entrepreneur and how she came to do the work she does. She will share the highs and lows of her journey and what she has learned along the way. She will also share her advice for others on a similar path and for artists and creatives on how to generate an income from their creativity. Stephanie will also share with us some examples of her work, including her work for UN Climate Change negotiations.

ABOUT STEPHANIE:
Stéphanie Heckman, Dutch originally but based in Northern Ireland, works internationally at conferences as a graphic recorder and visual facilitator. In this role she translates in real-time collective conversations into hand-drawn visual summaries that distill the essence of both content and undercurrent. Her visual summaries transcend language and accessibility barriers, and communicate key takeaways of complex discussions in an engaging, visual way to a much larger audience than those originally present.

Active since 2018, Stéphanie has worked with close to 200 organisations, but focuses on supporting those advancing climate action, peace and reconciliation and leadership development. Since 2020, she collaborates regularly with UN Climate Change and numerous NGOs in the global climate space. She has trail blazed a way for the field of graphic recording to support climate negotiations at the highest level and has led teams of graphic recorders to cover sessions during three consecutive COPs (annual UN climate summits) and related events. In recent years she has trained up two cohorts of graphic recorders through her Visual Practice Apprenticeship Programme, focusing both on the craft of visual practice and business skills as a creative professional.
https://www.stephanieheckman.com/

EVENT DETAILS:

DATE: Wed 6th November
TIME: 7 - 8pm
VENUE: Blick Shared Studios, 46 Hill St, Belfast, BT1 2LB

For more info and to book your FREE ticket visit our website (link in profile) 🌟 🌟

Phew almost there! Not long now, until we properly open our new South Belfast studios, we`re excited to share details of our new space with you (and get our weekends back!) 

It has been an amazing journey, and hopefully, you will love it as much as we do!

I’m off to Hong Kong next week for a couple of weeks for our Design Your Life Installation so while we have welcomed some of our previous Malone residents into the space, we are holding off on opening properly and sharing full details of the space until I get back.

However if you are interested in taking a space (we will have 1 small 1-2 person office and a few dedicated desks available) from the start of Nov email christine@blickstudios.org for more info or to arrange a viewing!

Last Monday, as part of @the_design_salon international collaborative project `Design Your Life`, we helped host an online workshop with a
global audience of Hong Kong students and online attendees from Italy, USA, and England!

These are some of the lovely zines created by the Hong Kong students, under the supervision of @kyliekai and @jeannie_rabbithole

Each exercise was under 5mins long to encourage personal reflection, get the participants thinking about their habits and choices and health and wellbeing and spark ideas, and get things down on a page without overthinking!

We will have more Design Your Life content over the coming weeks as we gear up for the festival itself and our installation in Hong Kong later this month!

Applications for our new creative support program Nurture close tomorrow at midnight! If you have a creative idea, don`t miss your chance for space and support to help make it happen!

- 8 months program
- free workspace
- mentoring support
- workshops
- talks
- resources

All to support you to make your creative idea a reality!

Friday is the closing date for applications for our new creative support program Nurture, which will support 4 creatives over an 8-month period to start their own creative business through Free workspace, mentoring and different creative talks and workshops

You can find out more on our website or by emailling christine@blickstudios.org

Link below or in our profile

https://blickstudios.org/nurture-support-for-emerging-creatives/

A huge THANKS to @bsoafoundationartdesign for taking part in the first workshop of the Design Your Life series.

We had a great time with you and were blown away by the creativity and enthusiasm from the Foundation Art & Design students starting a very exciting year ahead!

We have two more workshops coming up this week that are open to all, on Monday 23rd & Tuesday 24th September. To book, please sign up through our event page (link in our bio)!

Our Hill St studios set up for a candle making workshop with @lecontourcandles earlier this month! The ideal space for small-scale creative workshops right in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter!

2 weeks left to apply for our new incubation program!

An 8-month program to help 4 emerging creatives in Belfast establish their creative practice. Providing bespoke business support and free shared creative workspace in our new South Belfast studios. Each program participant will have 24/7 access to their own dedicated deskspace as well as use of shared communal facilities throughout the program. In addition they will benefit from the following support:

Monthly one-on-one mentoring sessions – for accountability with Blick founder Christine James

Monthly peer-mentoring group sessions with the other program participants – for peer support, learning, inspiration, community and accountability.

Quarterly finance mentoring sessions – to help with financial planning and advice with Blick and freelance finance manager Rosy James

Monthly industry specific skillshare training workshops for program participants – with current and past Blick residents and team members, sharing their skills and experiences with the program participants

Monthly online business resources, worksheets and exercises – to help you refine your idea, improve your skills and knowledge and for accountability and to establish your creative practice

Quarterly creative talks – by local creatives sharing their creative journey for inspiration and peer learning

Quarterly industry specific skillshare workshops – by local creatives sharing their expertise to improve skills and knowledge

Showcasing and promotional opportunities – on our website and social media and through presenting your work at a showcase event at the end of the project

Program dates:

1st October 2024 – 31st May 2025

Application criteria:

This program is aimed at emerging creatives who aren’t yet generating a full-time income from their creative practice. To be eligible to apply for the program you must have an idea for a creative business or be a self-employed creative, or creative freelancer generating your full income from your creative idea or practice for less than 6 months.

Find more information on our website link below and in profile

https://blickstudios.org/nurture-support-for-emerging-creatives/

NURTURE CREATIVE INCUBATION PROGRAM

An 8-month program starting this October providing bespoke meaningful business support within a nurturing creative environment to help 4 emerging freelance or self-employed creatives to successfully establish their creative practice.

Participants on the program with benefit from

- Free shared creative workspace in our new South Belfast studios. Each program participant will have 24/7 access to their own dedicated deskspace as well as use of shared communal facilities throughout the program.

- Monthly one-on-one mentoring sessions – for accountability with Blick founder Christine James

- Monthly peer-mentoring group sessions with the other program participants – for peer support, learning, inspiration, community and accountability.

- Quarterly finance mentoring sessions – to help with financial planning and advice with Blick and freelance finance manager Rosy James

- Monthly industry specific skillshare training workshops for program participants – with current and past Blick residents and team members, sharing their skills and experiences with the program participants

- Monthly online business resources, worksheets and exercises – to help you refine your idea, improve your skills and knowledge and for accountability and to establish your creative practice

- Quarterly creative talks – by local creatives sharing their creative journey for inspiration and peer learning

- Quarterly industry specific skillshare workshops – by local creatives sharing their expertise to improve skills and knowledge

- Showcasing and promotional opportunities – on our website and social media and through presenting your work at a showcase event at the end of the project

This program is aimed at emerging creatives who aren’t yet generating a full-time income from their creative practice. To be eligible to apply for the program you must have an idea for a creative business or be a self-employed creative, or creative freelancer established for less than 6 months.

Please note that due to the nature of the funding, screen and technology based businesses aren`t eligible to apply for more info visit our website or get in touch!