Show notes
This episode is part of a nine-part series on commissions. How to prepare for them, respond to them, deliver them, and, crucially, how to stop them burning you out. If you haven't followed the podcast yet, hit follow so you don't miss an episode.
Today, episode one of nine. The mindset. Because nothing in the practical work across the next eight episodes actually holds if the mindset is not in the right place.
Let me start with a story.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Before you draft a single document, you have to get honest about what you actually want, not what feels polite, not what you think people can afford, not what your imagined client might say yes to, what sustains your practice and keeps Your work alive.
You're not responding to briefs, you're filtering them, shaping them, and sometimes quietly refusing them. A commission inquiry is not an instruction, it’s a proposition. Your job is not to say “yes” by default, it’s to decide: Do I want to make this? Can I make it well, profitably, and without wrecking my sanity?
Audit your last two years of commissions: Which ones drained you? Which ones energised you? - notice the patterns. These will inform how you set up your commission process in future.
BEST MOMENTS
“When you define your process, your time and the kind of commissions that genuinely excite you, something changes. You stop bending yourself to every vague inquiry.”
“The hunger for work that feels human, specific, and emotionally resonant is only going to grow the work you make, the way you make it, the meaning you bring to it, that's becoming rarer - not less valuable - more valuable.”
“You're not responding to briefs, you're filtering them, shaping them, and sometimes quietly refusing them.”
"Your role is not to shrink in anticipation of rejection. Your role is to articulate clearly what you offer, how you work, and what it costs."
EPISODE RESOURCES
Julia Cameron episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-the-artists-way-simple-tools-that-sustain/id1709105337?i=1000759449006
PODCAST HOST BIO
With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.
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This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/