MY ARTS COUNCIL GRANT
An update on 10 months of funded research
Last July almost £10k landed in to my bank account with a glorious thud, signalling the start of a period of research. I’d been a successful applicant to the Arts Council’s Develop Your Creative Practice fund, given to me so that I could develop my reportage practice. Since 2016 I’ve been creating illustrations about people with experience of seeking refuge, but despite the work being useful for fundraising & awareness it’s almost always been unpaid, which means that commercial illustration commissions have had to come first. I wanted to commit to being involved in community work, but didn’t know how, and I wanted to get it right. So I put a plan together and secured a pot of money (I’ve made that sound easy, but it was a headache, and I had help too).
For those reading this who don’t know me, I’ll give some context. I’m a 49 year old woman living in Bristol and I’m a full time freelance illustrator. I live alone, don’t have family money or a partner who I share things with financially, but I do own my house and have a spare room that I sometimes rent out to theatre / TV people here for short term contracts. I’m very good with money and I’m open about it too (I’ve got a separate Money Substack here), but try as I might I couldn’t spent time on this research without being paid to do it. So £6k of the grant was assigned to paying me for 24 days of research at £250 per day. I planned this for one day a week, so £1k per month for 6 months. A total lifeline that has paid my mortgage and given me the headspace to concentrate on this new area.
Other than paying myself, I’ve bought books, signed up to Substacks, paid experts for phone calls and meetings, been to two Symposiums and for training days. I’ve also veered off plan a bit too, changing where some of the money went, based on things that I uncovered along the way. I’m going to round up first with where I’m at with it all, and then below you’ll see links to everything I’ve spent money on. I’ve written this post to be useful. Please do ask questions in the comments, then other people can see my answers too.
WHAT IS REPORTAGE?
It’s a factual, journalistic approach to documenting something. So I go along to protests, peace feasts, festivals and draw what I see in front of me. It’s a particularly good way of presenting difficult situations where perhaps people would look away from a photo (eg children playing in mud living in tents in Calais)or a way to allow people their anonymity but still share their joy.
WHAT WAS I HOPING TO UNCOVER WITH THE RESEARCH?
I was given the fund to help make my practice ethical and sustainable. So, making sure I’m totally respecting the people I’m drawing, but also getting paid for it in a way that makes sense too.
Before I started I felt like there were courses I would find that would teach me best practice, that I’d do those and feel much clearer on how to approach this work. I needed some extra confidence and was lacking in essential training (for example I had an ethics for journalism course and an anti-racism course in my proposal). But what I've come to understand is that whilst I can do courses and they are useful, I need to take full responsibility for the work that I do and develop my own code. There is no one I can point to if something goes wrong. I’m carving out a new space for myself and spanning a few areas. The most important thing is for me to be clear on what I’m happy to do, manage the expectations of the people I’m working with and continue to be open to learn & change. I’ve always been aware that I’m a white woman often drawing people who are Black and brown, and that in itself is not straight forward to navigate, each situation is different and has it’s own complexities.
WHAT REVELATIONS HAVE I UNCOVERED?
So after months of research, I’ve realised I’m not really a journalist. I’m not hungry for the story or comfortable asking difficult questions (even though I understand that could really benefit the people I work with). I’m not keen to immerse myself in extreme news-worthy situations (eg. a war) and report on what I see. I’m happy to be the quiet person at the side of a room, documenting everyday scenes. Most of the reportage artists I think are amazing (like George Butler & Olivier Kugler) are much braver and more inquisitive than me, and that’s OK. I just need to find my place, not strive to become a new version of someone else.
After attending an academic Symposium, Illustration & Heritage I feel very clear that that academia is also not my world. I found much of the language impenetrable, which seemed strange in an industry built around visual communication. There were some really interesting talks and I met some great people and presented a poster, but I didn’t feel like I belonged there.
I attended a symposium called Social Making about socially engaged art and co-creation, and again there were some fascinating talks and I learnt so much. I think I need to explore this area a bit more as there’s probably a model that will work best for me. Likely me working alongside a facilitator on community projects. But I feel like jumping in to co-production isn’t the best fit for me either….
And so I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just an artist, one who is trusted. I document scenes with respect, spending time to observe and report on the small details. I have a huge body of work that’s already important in it’s own right! I don’t need to change my style or approach for it to be valid. So the foundations are already there, I just need to build on them.
SO WILL YOU DO NOTHING NEW THEN?
Oh loads! Time for a list.
REBRAND So I fast realised that Miss Magpie Fashion Spy / @miss_magpie_spy as I used to be known, needed to go. So I’ve rebranded to nikigroom.com and diverted some of the fund to get a designer to work on that with me.
VISUAL NOTE TAKING I’m a good observer and listener, so I’m going to be offering to attend meetings / conversations, draw the scene and add notes. I’ve already been commissioned to do this for a project I’m involved with and it went so well. It will be printed at A1 at the next meeting the group have as a reference point.
LICENSING Small charities want to work with me for their impact reports and social media but often don’t have the budget, so I’m creating generic imagery that they can license from me for a small fee. People learning English, people cooking, children playing etc. Affordable, respectful and no need for them to head to AI. I’ve already added a licensing page to my website, I just need to keep adding work.
WEBSITE / PACKAGES I’m rethinking how I promote this work so it’s really clear what I offer and how much it is. I’ll be offering packages that change depending on the size of the business / charity and the usage of the imagery. My mentor Deasy at Diverse Artists Network is really helping me with this!
DATABASE I’m working with someone who is helping me to research a new database, so that I can contact people working in schools / hospitals / care homes etc who may benefit from illustrated imagery.
EXHIBIT I have a large body of powerful work sitting in my studio and I need to find ways to exhibit it and (gulp) stand up and talk about it. So I’m investigating the best way of approaching this. I’ve already shown this at an evening event at Watershed x DAN called First Friday. I’m really open to hearing ideas you might have of where I could show my work, it’s certainly not useful at the moment packed up in my studio.
RELATIONSHIPS The relationships I have in Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare as a result of this work are incredibly important and I need to nurture these. I have people I can talk to about situations I might come across and that’s really valuable. Also I’m lucky to be a member of Diverse Artist Network in Bristol now (paid for with the funding) and I feel like it’s the perfect connection for me to have. I’m surrounded by good smart people with big hearts and brains!
DO YOU HAVE A LIST OF USEFUL RESOURCES YOU CAN SHARE?
Sure!
SUBSTACK
I signed up for a year paid for the following Substack pages.
writes his Illustrated Journalism newsletter about reportage. It’s factual, beautiful and always interesting.
Gabi Campanario started the Urban Sketchers movement. He’s so talented at telling stories and encouraging others to. The publication has since moved off of Substack so I’ve joined over here.
is an artist and author who does important work. She hasn’t posted much, but I’m pleased to support her work & to read the updates when they do arrive. I had put Nova’s Anti Racism course on my funding bid, but the course is no longer running. I therefore signed up to Nova's Substack. Nova has a way of offering up a mirror that ensures I ask myself difficult questions without looking away. Made It. I really appreciate people who can draw, write, make you laugh and then make you really think. I never know what will arrive in my inbox next, and I love that. I’ve realised that to be a good reportage artist I need to cling on to my humanity and my empathy, live by my own code. Reading what Poorna shares encourages that spirit in me.
BOOKS
George Butler - Ukraine: Remember also me
George Butler - Drawn Across Borders
Olivier Kugler - Escaping Wars and Waves
Louis Netter - Reportage Drawing
Rachel Emily Taylor - Illustration and Heritage
Gary Embry and Mario Minichiello - Reportage Illustration
PEOPLE I PAID TO SPEAK TO ME / MENTORING
This chat with Jaz made me realise there is no manual for this work, that you take on the responsibility yourself, there is no one else to blame or point to if you make a mistake. We talked about permissions & consent, speaking on someone’s behalf, fear of getting things wrong, always learning, privilege, being open to change, excellent humans and really excellent hummus.
I've had a few great sessions with Sarah where I learnt about how art therapists protect those they work with. In particular we talked about permission as well as the role of bearing witness.
Lucy is a fellow fashion illustrator who has moved in to the community art space. We had a really useful practical chat about co-production and co-creation.
Deasy Bamford - Diverse Artist Network
I joined DAN in order to have a mentoring session with Deasy, I’ve since had three. Deasy gets me and my work, her brain is fast and she’s all action and she’s encouraged me to make changes. So brilliant! As is Vandna…watch this space as I feel like we will all work together so well moving forward.
I’m very lucky to know Kim personally, she’s been an incredible help along the way with my application and research.
- The RUEI’m super grateful that Alex was happy to speak to me to encourage me to go for it for my rebrand. It’s scary to walk away from a name you’ve built up as a business, but she was right - it feels good!
SYMPOSIUMS
Illustration & Heritage Symposium held by UAL - London
Social Making - Take A Part - Bristol
TRAINING & TALKS
George Butler reportage workshop - Dulwich Art School
Lucinda Rogers - Talk about her reportage work, in London
PODCASTS
I don’t listed to podcasts much, my brain struggles to take things in without some imagery! But I did manage to listen to
chat to Olivier Kugler and Kerry Lemon and they were great - go seek them out wherever you get your podcasts.SO WHAT’S NEXT & WHEN DOES IT END?
Due to my lovely Mum ending up very ill in hospital this year, my research was paused and I’ve had an extension from The Arts Council. So I’m working on the points mentioned above at the moment and over the summer. Then it’s all systems go! It’s been an incredible opportunity and I feel so grateful to have received the funding. If you’re keen to apply for a DYCP then there are loads of places you can get help if it feels a bit daunting. I had help from Cai Burton and The White Pube is an amazing resource too. Also the Arts Council helpline was really good, I called them SO many times.
If your organisation would like to work with me on a project then please do get in touch. For now this is my reportage web page but it’s soon to undergo a makeover :)
If you’d personally like to support the work that I do then it would be amazing if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter, it really does mean so much.
I’ll end with an image of me in action and how the resulting illustration was used, for Reclaim the Sea.
Thanks so much for reading,
Niki
Really interesting,thanks for sharing in so much detail.You may be interested in the work of Patti Digh.
So wonderful seeing an insight into your creative world Niki. Thank you for the tag - the course is still available until next year for a dedicated few - contact team nova if you still wish to explore this 🙏🏾