In this episode Naomi Alexander talks to Tashi Gore about the quality of Empathy and Care for Others; how artists as leaders of co-created art embody this in their work.
Tashi reflects on how she embodies care and empathy in the different contexts that she works in, whether working with 2 people or 100 people.
She discusses the importance of the context and people feeling heard within the group both at the start and end of each session. She talks about conventions that she establishes in her practice that she comes back to as a way of generating care and empathy within the group.
Tashi talks about how she has to enter a different state of being, turn off her phone and be completely present in the space. She embodies a way of being that is relaxed and alert at the same time. She listens with her body, sensing the energy in the room in order to embody care. She talks about being open, soft and approachable in order to be able to care for others.
They talk about physical contact and the importance of fully understanding the context within which work is taking place; how taking care is carefully expressed through establishing boundaries. This might be different in a young offenders institute, or an open drop in workshop, or in a setting working with older women.
Tashi also talks about the importance of having excellent Producers who also contribute to the care of the artistic process and participants as the artists. She also talks about the concept of self-care and how easy it is to forget this as artists that are focused on care for others. How do we encourage ourselves not to over-work and to care for ourselves? She talks about budgeting for recovering time for artists after leading a co-creative process, to reflect and recover from what has been achieved.
Naomi Alexander is the CEO and Artistic Director of Brighton People's Theatre. Her AHRC funded research Let's Create: Do we know how to? identified 20 qualities, skills and responsibilities that are important for artists leading co-creative practice. The report and illustrations are available here.
X: @naomi_ontheatre
IG: @naomi.ontheatre
LinkedIn: @naomiontheatre
Tashi Gore is the CEO and Artistic Director of Glass Performance.
X: @glassperform
IG: @glassperformance
LinkedIn: @tashi-gore-12371898
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