Planning Art Direction and ndis

So you want to be an artist?

When we use the word 'artist' we are referring to writers, poets, actors, signers, performers, and visual artists. For the purpose of this post we will be talking about visual arts, but the principles can be applied to any of the artforms. 

Before we go to far I should warn you, that you are not choosing a easy path and few people take artist seriously.  In fact most artists have day jobs to pay the rent and buy food and the most important thing - to buy art supplies.  Artists are known as dreamers, but I perfer to refer to us as the critical thinkers of society. 

This is the first blog post is a series I am writing specfially for school leavers with a disability who may be eligable for support from the ndis. You can access the ndis if you have a signifcant disability that impacts you daily living.  This might mean you need help with showering, feeding, reading and writing, transport, budgeting, communication or equiptment that enables you to be independent.  In the past school leavers with disabilities have been referred to service providers to provide their supports. The National Disability Insurance Scheme now allows you with the assistance of family members to choose the supports you want to access.

Your ndis plan will be based on:

• The goals you choose (things you want to do)
• How you want to achieve those goals
• The types of supports you need to achieve your goals.

So when you talk to the ndis, support services, protential feilds of study or a job support agency you want to be as clear as possible about your goals and how you intend to achieve them.  As an artist your not going to be looking for a support program you can slot into, your going to need to create a support service structure that enables you to reach your goals. Since your reading this post I am assuming you:

• Want to create art
• Want to show your art to other people
• May want to sell your art
• May want to work with other artists
• May want to study and train as an artist next year.

These are the activities you want to make clear to your Local Area Coordinator and anyone you ask to be part of your support network. So a ndis goal to be an artist; to sell art; or to make art will not be enough to ensure you are supported in the way you want.  Remember to society artists are the dreamers. 

So what is art and what does an artist do?

This is the first way you can get tripped up! Whether that be with your parents, ndia or people who support you.  Art is many different things. What is art to you, may not be art to me.

For example is this work craft or is it a piece of art and what is its purpose? As you plan for the ndis to support you after school, whether you are producing craftwork or artwork will not matter. What does matter is your intention of what will happen with the finish product.  People chose to engage in arts n crafts for different reasons.  So in your ndis goals you want to be clear on what your reason is. Otherwise you might find yourself sitting in a arts n craft group run by a support provide for 2 to 3 hours a week.

If your goal is to sell your work, then it is going to take you along time to make enough work to sell or exhibit.  Their are things you can do in the meantime and we will look at those in the next post. 

One way to explain to someone what you want to do is to show them a photo. If you have been making art at school you might be able to show that to your planner.

This is the type of art I produce

They still will not understand the process it takes to produce your work so you will need to outline what your day will look like. The ndis talks about accessing pathways. So what we want to look at over the next few weeks is how to map your personal pathway so you can be supported to achieve you goals, you way.

My Art, My Way!

So lets get real! You not going to leave school in December and be hosting your first exhibition in June 2019. Exhibiting your artwork in commerical galleries is one of the many ways to sell you work. However not every artist wants to sell their work and not every artist wants to be self-employed.  You might want to be a graphic artists or a photographer and work for a maginize. This begins to show you how specfice you want to be about your art goal.

So some of the questions you will need to answer are:

1. Why do I want to be involved in art?
2. What do I want the outcome to be?
3. How do I want to engage in art and with other artist?
4. What are the steps in my pathways?
5. What assistance will I need from the ndis?

Every artist reading this post will answer these questions differently and the answers will determine both their life pathways and their ndis pathways.  Being clear about your art; your art pathways and how you want to achieve your goals will make it easier to write your plan with your planner.

Be Professional

A professional is someone who makes money or draws a wage using their talents. skills, knowledge and experience.  As an artists you might sell your own artwork or work for someone else in the production of artwork.

Being a school leaver you might have some talent and skills, but you will not have any experience to work as an artist. You might consider if one of your pathways with be education at art school or university; training with another artist (mentoring) or working in a group art studio where you can learn from other artist.

There are different types of studios you can 'work in', most artists work in their home studios, but it your just getting started you might benifit from being part of a studio.  In Brisbane their are two studios that specifically support artist with diabilities. You will need to apply to join these studios in the same way you  applied to study at university. 

Another influence of the type of studio you need to access is the type of work you will be producing.  If you're drawing and painting then working in a home art studio works well, however if your a siliver smith, potter or sculpturer then you will need a specialised studio with specialised equiptment. 

If the things I have talk about in the post are new to you or you thought art was just about painting, you might want to have a chat to your parents and art teacher about your ndis pathways. In the next post we will look at opportunities for trained artists.