It's been such a busy week, I don't know where to start!

Most of my "Always An Artist" tasks this week have been used on rehearsal for my dance performance. It was a seven-minute piece, and so I needed to build up my stamina. I'm glad I dedicated a good chunk of time to it, so I felt really prepared on Sunday. I performed the routine at the Touchwood shopping centre on Sunday afternoon.

I can't remember how much I've explained about the piece, but the dance was a commission form Solihull Council to celebrate the launch of their exhibition: Surreal Solihull. The exhibition features paintings by the Birmingham-born Surrealist artist, Emmy Bridgwater, as well as new work by local artists. I was inspired by the surrealist technique of automatic drawing, and I loved bringing the dance to life. If you're in Solihull over the next 3 months, go and check out the art.

I also got the exciting news that my DYCP application has been successful!

DYCP stands for 'Developing Your Creative Practice' and is a fund administered by Arts Council England for projects which allow artists to undertake learning and research to support their career. My successful application means I will get to spend lots of time during 2025 learning how to write libretti for opera. I'm super excited about this, and it will probably crop up a lot in my "Always An Artist" project a lot so stay tuned!