The Pilot Episode
That's a wrap on the first ever 6 Cardboard Club meetings! I'm exhausted. Drained. And yet so energized and renewed. I'm ready for Fall.
The whole experience felt similar to my workshops with NMPL in that it was preparing me for something greater. Yes, I put all that I knew into each series of workshops, but now I know so much more because of them. This post is an attempt to recap my progress and look to the near future.
Thank you, WonderSpace
Thank you thank you thank you!
The freedom! oh, the completely unwarranted freedom you all provided… I couldn't have been more blessed.
First, the fact I even found out you existed is happenstance, and the fact you had the budget to bring on some Cardboard fanatic to share his excitement is wild. Gosh, you hardly knew me! and you handed over a group of kids that signed your waivers and let me give them knives! I will never get over that. The generosity is outrageous.
The things I learned can never fully be portrayed through words, but that didn't stop me from trying. I wrote 5 blog posts with a lot of words trying to explain that which I learned: "Blastoff in 3…2…" was a post marvelling at the coincidence of how I got connected with WonderSpace in the first place and babbling excitedly about innocent plans; "So you're the Cardboard Guy?" was a reflection on the first Saturday PLAYdate I went to that I built some cardboard rocket ships for, and feels like AGES ago even though it's been a mere two months; "Are you happy with that?" was what I said a lot at the first Cardboard Club meeting–one that I had PLENTY to reflect on; "Asking More Questions Than the Students…" was what I noticed myself doing in the second meeting, so I wrote about it; "Brainstorming Some Improvements" was a recap of meetings 3, 4 and 5 because I hadn't paused to write about each individually; and finally this post. Though I predict I'll be referencing WonderSpace for years to come.
Of course I have to also thank Ms. Burnworth and the North Manchester Public Library (Jeanna and Sarah) for their generosity even prior to Wonderspace, allowing me to teach workshops in their classroom and library respectively. I'm flabbergasted that they allowed me such responsibility.
My imposter syndrome flared up recently,
telling me I'm not even a real artist because I changed my major to just Human Communications. But looking at the facts I don't think I'm allowed to deny it. Degree or not, I'm teaching people art–guiding them through activities I planned and people I can only call crazy allowed me to lead. Then why do I still feel like a fraud?
Upsettingly, the same feeling revolves around most aspects of my life. The art aspect is just most visibly significant because of my plans for this fall. I want to start an art education-related business and I can.
What is my life if not one big blessing? I can do these things, so why wouldn't I? Even if it feels fake?
The CRATE spiel
For a Public Relations Lab, I was prompted to create a One-Liner and brief organizational overview for the Crate, a business idea I've been refining for a couple years now. Here they are:
" The Crate of Curious Things is a Collaborative, Recreational, Artistic Thrifting Experience, or CRATE for short—which brings accessible upcycling art workshops to schools, libraries, retirement homes, and other community centers for the purpose of joy.
" The CRATE operates on a number of levels. If you're a school and you want to host a class, that's going to be called a Cr8 Workshop, and last for around 2 hours. It will have a primary art principle, say, depth, and then an environmental concept that ties into it—for example, rabbit holes. They would connect in a way that informs the workshop, and provides the students with both a visual and practical concept of the world. Cr8 Workshops are typically one-off, often hosted annually at each venue. For those that wish to host more frequent workshops, I have a group called "Cardboard Club" which is when workshop series of 3-6 workshops can take place. These groups meet weekly, most often, and have similar guiding principles, but they can stack, and involve teamwork and character growth with the extra time I have to get to know each of them and they get to know each other. One-off workshops and Cardboard Club series are the Crate's primary features, do you have any questions about those?
Perfect. What I've found is that some of the kids want to take it a step further and attend one-on-one art lessons. And that's why I have "Studio O," a service that provides personalized instruction in the convenience of client's homes. Eventually, the Crate will connect to and vet other artists with varying specializations to also teach lessons. All these interactions with creators lead to a whole lot of ideas and things to talk about, which is why I have a personal blog and the monthly podcast "The Crate of Curious Thoughts" on which I can bring other creatives to talk about their projects and unique approaches to creativity. For your convenience, everything I just talked about is viewable and bookable through our website, crateofcuriousthings.org.
Basically, the CRATE is a way that I can get people to make art with me. I just frame it in a way that benefits them, instead of just telling them truthfully that making an entire business is easier than making friends.
Jokes aside though, everyone is looking for programming that checks the environmental, artsy, and inclusive boxes that the Crate can check. It may not be at the level that some more established artist's workshops are at, but that just makes it even friendlier to the beginners I'm trying to reach.
It starts this August.
This April, I'm collecting my existing endorsements and marketing materials to build a website. With the MVP, I'll reach back out to the ISBDC for help forming an LLC. Then beginning in May, I'll be reaching out to my various contacts to schedule workshops for the Fall (using the website as credibility). Before June hits, I'm off to a summer camp! where I'll be working with 6-18 year olds for two months as a part of the summer staff team. I think the experience will be enormously enlightening on how different age groups function and how my workshops can best fit their point in life (one thing I learned from WonderSpace is that age matters. Sure, maturity can differ extraordinarily within the age, but the baseline expectation goes up.) For example, I know what age is on the brink of being safe to give knives to: 10+, but anyone can and will cut themselves some way or another.
Of course the camp will also pay me. And this money will allow me to get the final supplies I need to start materialistically prepared. Sadly, starting businesses isn't free, so this is an important factor. Mainly the website is a cost I can't just use pocket change for, since it needs to be able to field the funds from clients and business features such as those cost a bit more.
The workshops and activities I have led so far have all built on each other to give me enough experience to feel confident reaching out to strangers to guide them through art projects. I still don't think "art teacher" is the right title for myself, but "enthusiastic facilitator" doesn't sound as professional (even if that's all they're getting). I've pushed myself emotionally and physically to maintain a level of energy around the students, and am aware of what it feels like to overwork myself. I'm more confident in my ability to prepare for these, and have really just had a lot more experience doing it, so comfort comes along with that confidence. I don't have to overthink every aspect anymore, because I've already experienced several. When introducing kids to craft knives, I know now to have adults monitoring hand placement and how the kids hold the knives–correcting as they cut cardboard (not themselves). I know how long some activities take to teach in contrast to how fast I can complete them on my own. I've learned how to interact with the kids' projects without taking over. And I know some questions to ask, and how to encourage curiosity and problem solving.
They taught me a lot in preparation for the big show to come… which will launch in August with Episode 1.
Stay tuned.
