ARD504 - Creative Futures - In Conclusion

So - the end of my second week of 'Creative Futures', and I decided to just write a short overview of the whole week.

Although I enjoyed several of the lectures last year, this year I think I got a lot more out of them. I found more that seemed relevant and/or appealed to me, and had no trouble picking out at least 3, every day, that I felt might be of some use .  I am just really disappointed that thanks to the 'physioterrorist', I missed near enough one full day.

The sheer amount of incredibly useful information I noted down from several of the lectures was a real bonus.  I have a whole lot of avenues that I intend to pursue - from websites that I'd previously never heard of, that I can see could be of huge potential use in business or photography, through to information about things like the Go Wales Freelance Course.

A couple of factors came out very strongly, over several lectures -
* The importance of networking - and how to facilitate this.  Its clearly an incredibly useful tool/skill to have, and well worth putting in the effort and following the tips given.
* The use of social web sites - so many advised using all the sites out there, and to quote Violet Fenn, to 'cross pollinate' - post links back to you (or rather,  your work) on them all - its a major way to advertise what you do.  Blogs seem to be an especially important tool and there were a lot of tips on how to use blogs to the best advantage.
*Getting good solid business advice on all the 'boring' business stuff - tax, insurance, ect - not only why its necessary, but how best to access it.
* Going back to Marisse's lecture on  the T shaped designer.  OK, so although that term wasn't used, time and again the importance of being able to collaborate, and  of have some knowledge of, or being prepared to learn about and work with other fields, came across loud and clear. In today's market, its clearly a business model that is sought by a lot of companies, and one which can increase your chances of success.

For me, there were 3 lectures that stood out as being the most useful -

'Copyright - What you need to know', Janet Jones - last year, copyright as regards photography was mentioned briefly ( and more or less dismissed as not important) in one lecture - this whole lecture gave me a wealth of information that I know is both relevant and useful.  And, it was clearly and well delivered .

'Creativity in the Real World - How I make a Living from Death' - Violet Fenn - I attended this lecture just on the grounds that with a title like that, it was bound to be interesting - and Oh, boy - it was.  But what it also was, was chocked full of very well delivered, no nonsense, common sense, useful information on so many aspects of running a business, that could be applied across several genre's. It had me thinking about different ways to approach things, and opened up a whole new area of potential commercial opportunities, that are out there, and relatively easy to access and use .

'Life in the AfterWorld as a Freelance Artist (photography)  - Alison McClean - an almost unbelievable amount of practical information, advice and tips.  There was a very useful set of lists of the organisations and resources that are available, many of which I had never heard of - but many of which I am pretty sure I will follow up and utilise in the future .  The advice given, whilst not an easy option in any instance, was still advice that is relatively uncomplicated to follow, and there was clearly put reason behind everything she suggested.

I'm not going into the lectures I didn't think that much of - I think the blogs I've written on them say pretty much everything - its just nice that there were so few of them !

Its slightly scary to think that there will be only one more Creative Futures week for me, before I graduate - thinking of that has made me realise how important it is for me to absorb and apply everything I've learned so far , and I am very appreciative of the fact that year, there was a massive amount of useful information and advice, that I can honestly see me making use of .