I have had to dedicate almost the entire week to
writing: press release for the bloggers/ online magazines, the exhibition
proposal and, well, this blog post. Luckily I had already sent a few emails and
dms to people (Jamal Edwards, London Live, Charlie Sloth etc) in hope to hear their
opinions, so I’d already researched for and had parts of the proposal written
down in a structured way. Still, writing for potential sponsors is a long
nerve-wrecking process which saw me spend hours at a time in front of the
monitor. But even though my fingers are begging for help and my brain seems
unable to process any more information, this responsibility I have given myself
for the project is keeping me going. I cannot afford to let go of work, I love
it and I want ‘A People’s Art’ to happen and be a success so badly!
I now have two people helping me: my best friend Kelly
and one of the photographer’s friends Dwyte. Hands down, Kelly is the most
hard-working person I have ever met and is a genius at research. I am beyond
joy to work with her. She is now mostly in charge of @ForwardAEnt twitter account
(thanks to her, we got our 100th follower yesterday!).
Dwyte and I are getting to know each other and he’s
proved invaluable in providing information and contacts I would otherwise lack –
from obtaining budget info and finding a video editor to having a whole list of
useful blog sites to send the press release to. He also shares his visions and
ideas re: ‘A People’s Art’ which I try to incorporate into my own and hopefully
improve the project so it reaches its full potential. Perfect!
So far so good then, although I have still not been
able to get hold of a photographer from the Only Connect charity, despite
having spoken to them 5 times. I will keep calling until I get any results, at
the very least they might refer me to a similar organisation that could be of
help.
I also must fix ForwardA’s email address, which right
now is so unfriendly to use it makes me feel like I’m stuck in the 90s. It’s a
huge problem because Kelly and Dwyte aren’t able to use their own accounts. So
I’m on it!
It dawns more and more on me that the wheels have
finally been set in motion. And although it’s all still early days, it’s
already a proud moment. I am finally building what I didn’t believe I could.
Speaking of things “I didn’t believe I could”, we all
have people we tend to look up to and aspire to be like. I have them too. The
multi-platinum Hip-Hop producer Sahpreem A King (http://sahpreemking.com) is a name I added to that list
a year ago after I read his book Surviving The Game: How To Succeed In The
Music Business, which was given to me as a present and played a major role in
my transformation as a professional and as a person by giving first-hand
insight into the music industry and teaching me how to stay focused. I followed
Sahpreem on Twitter, he followed me back, I thanked him for his work and he
looked at my website. He generously found the time to actually speak to me via
Skype and give me advice on the project. He wrote books that transformed me and a few months later I'm speaking to him, all thanks to what I’m doing! How cool is that!?
So now I have another promise to keep: send the
invitation all the way to Florida and have Sahpreem visit ‘A People’s Art’
on the opening night. It’s an honour!
Who would YOU be honored to speak to?
