career design For Musicians
next workshop: Sun, Feb 13, 2022
“I’d recommend this work for anyone who is unwilling to compromise the well-being of their soul for their career goals.”
Everything’s a trade: analyzing the sustainability of your creative ecosystem
This workshop will give you tools to:
Know which projects are a ‘yes’ and which are a ‘no’
Avoid or address burnout
Notice and leverage non-financial resources
Every project is an exchange of resources. Our culture’s focus on financial capital makes it easy to miss other forms of capital (social, cultural, living, experiential, etc.) Find out if your projects are draining or replenishing the areas you need to thrive.
What you’ll need:
Access to Zoom from 2-4 PM ET (11-1 PM PT)
Something to write with and on
Optional: 3 colors (can be marker, highlighter, crayon, pencil, anything! Ideally red, yellow, and green, but we can make it work with any colors or none)
It may seem challenging, but it’s possible to lead a balanced, healthy life while pursuing a career in music.
But it takes good design, supported by intentional practice.
Everything you dedicate time to—every job, project, relationship—is a trade.
Beyond financial trades, we are often making exchanges that affect our time, health, relationships, feelings of fulfillment, and more.
Often we aren’t even fully aware of what we’re trading.
Sustainable project mapping is a tool that you can use to analyze your current projects, and assess future possibilities.
If a project isn't working well for you, mapping it will help you pinpoint exactly why so that you can decide whether to redesign, or start something brand new. Either way you'll come away with an understanding of the mechanisms with which your projects operate and how to optimize them for the healthiest yield.
““The creative mapping project has been one of the most helpful tools in finding alignment in my life!””
I originally started the Creative Mapping Project to help musicians. On the one hand, I had so many talented and hard-working friends who felt they weren’t appreciated financially or otherwise; I saw them burning out. On the other hand, I was learning about permaculture and regenerative design which are rooted in sustainability, longevity, and healing.
So I thought, why don’t we take these sustainability tools and apply them to our unsustainable musical careers?
Since then, the Creative Mapping Project has evolved to include all types of people — from small business owners to visual artists to independent musicians. Lately, however, as I’ve been using these tools to reorient my own musical career, I realized I want to make a space specific for musicians.
I’m a musician. It’s what I love. It’s what I know.
Will I stop offering tools, resources, workshops and so on that aren’t for musicians? Of course not!
That’s the great thing about these tools — they have a wide range of applications. I just want to make sure I’m focusing on the community that I originally started out to help.