Making a freelance living in the arts is often precarious, inaccessible, fraught with insecurity and fairly unsustainable: so why do it? HOW might ye do it? This masterclass weekend will be a frank and brutally honest exploration of the benefits and pit-falls of trying to forge a career in the literature sector in Scotland, with a special focus on freelance creative producers, spoken word event promoters, and those seeking to carve a path for their creative work outwith traditional routes. How can you forge a community in your field? How can you aid and help nurture a ‘scene’? How the heck does funding work? How to navigate the obvious structural biases in the arts? And, very importantly, how do you take care of yerself while doing this?

This masterclass weekend will be led by Jenny Lindsay with guest speakers tbc, all offering advice and insight as you build a realistic plan for your next steps.

Jenny Lindsay won the Creative Edinburgh Award for Leadership in 2017 for her efforts in contributing to a more sustainable scene for spoken word in the city and beyond. A tireless activist for fair pay for artists she has been instrumental in supporting fellow spoken word/ live literature producers to gain funding and regularly provides advice and mentoring to new event series and individuals working in spoken word poetry and live literature. Jenny started her career as a sofa-surfing poet aged 20 with no degree and no contacts to speak of. In this masterclass, she aims to pass on what she’s learned along the way, while making lots of mistakes, about how to navigate this often inaccessible world.

Tickets £45. Available at eventbrite.co.uk.