Written by Isaac Boothman
Spectra’s shadowing programme came at a really ideal time for me personally; I was finally bracing my brain to face the world of community arts as an actual artist, and was getting ready to learn about, to practice, and to do art sessions in all kinds of spaces. I think I’ve been very lucky to work and learn as mostly intended!
My name’s Isaac, and I’m a long-time musician, part-time poet and an out-of-time mover. I’ve spent a lot of time in amateur spaces, like orchestras and open mic nights, and have struggled bridging the gap between being a practicing musician and community artist.
I’ve always enjoyed making spaces for creative activities that let people bond and catch up, feel braver with themselves, grow and think about how they fit or clash with the world around them. I work a lot with children and young people, sometimes with residents of care homes, complete strangers or students and often bring in music and movement fun to build up a playful and welcoming mood that works for us all, with the situation we’re each in. Neurodivergence is also a major thing for me – both learning to work with it personally and also helping out other people connect – in spite and because of it.
This programme then has been a proper joy for me – I’ve ended up shadowing (i.e. observing, joining in, helping where appropriate, critiquing) multi-arts sessions featuring both drop-in chats with complete strangers and months-long projects with established creatives. We (the shadowing artists) also got to see the other Spectra artists take these projects and try connecting their ideas together, seeing links between what passers-by might dream up and testing how they can be built on and respected when making bigger, lasting work. Opportunities to think about and then enact more inclusive practices have also been so valuable, as it takes regular reflection, and an atmosphere of trust, on even mundane things to sort out problems as or before they come up.
The whole experience has been particularly useful in helping me see how experienced artists, in and outside of my practice, plan and deliver workshops – letting us as emerging artists know what’s possible, what goes down well, or what’s needed in this space with these individuals. It’s also lead to me delivering some of my first purely musical activities with other artists, with space for reflection and feedback that is really crucial when you take your first, maybe quite nervous, steps into a ‘professional’ career.
For me, I think it’ll be a busy couple of months coming up – having gained more confidence in finding my way round the art world, having had some chances to try out some cool ideas, and found time in new places with new lovely people, I think I’ll be able to make or find something to keep myself and others going – maybe applying for funding around making games out of sea shanties? Or playing around a bit more with improvisation, music and movement? Who knows. I’m also pretty excited to see who will come through the shadowing programme next to observe, critique, and hopefully jump into the work of this little (but growing) collective.