Written by Nichola Burton, this guide is something of a philosophical overview to give you a blueprint and road map when you need one.
Not a day goes by when an artist doesn’t ask how to keep themselves on track at times when the shit hits the fan and stress and anxiety color their worlds. As an organisation, Entertainment Assist have done quite a lot of work in the field of Mental Health in the Australian Music Industry. Check this website out. It is a great resource.
There is an energy and a flow to business and with a MUSIC business in particular, where artists are seemingly more connected to the frequency of the world around them, the connection starts within.
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For us, this being our 30th year in this one business, we have developed our OWN operational model for the management of a music business where mental health is key and kept at the forefront.
We are reflections of nature – the earth, our bodies, the stars and yes even human nature in all its beauty and ugly. Where to begin? Start with the natural system in your own life first. Appreciate it. Break down your observation into emotion and story, thought and feeling. See the other side to everything that you think sucks and everything that you think rocks. Then look down from above yourself and see everything as one gigantic painting. Marvel how each little story you tell yourself forms part of that incredible piece of artwork. Look at the colours and textures. What is that worth? How do you measure it? Now you have a place to begin………
Create a vision of something you truly want in your life. Not what someone else has told you that you want, but something that is just yours. What does it look like? How do you feel? What colour is it? Where are you? Who are you with? Is it a specific shape? What form does it take? Start with a dream. Work your way back to now – here. See all the steps in between? Turn them into mini goals. Start…….
Now that your goals are in sight, ask yourself….. What is in my environment right now? What is happening? What are my resources? What are my skills? What technology do I have access to? Identify the friendlies in your circle. Cultivate your allies. Who can assist? Who is on your team? Identify the obstacles. What when where whom? What are the strengths and weaknesses? What are the invisible structures around me? Law, finances, Culture, Security, Fear, Education, Belief?
When you establish your project parameters, it is imperative that you identify the WHO in your circles and networks as you build the collective for this project. Survival and Thrival is not a mutually exclusive self-sustaining experience.
You need to connect and exchange and expand as part of a collective organism. Ask yourself: Who has what you need? How can you access it? Who are the decision makers? What do THEY need? How are these needs actually opportunities?
Start Easy. Find the low hanging fruit. You are an Olympian Athlete in training. You do not run the fastest time straight up. Work your way up to it. Flow with the Rhythm of your Vision.
Zone the actions and solutions that you take. Start where you are. Establish your metrics. As you move through each zone, value-connecting and collecting and exchanging into the next zone. YOU – Family – Local – Regional – National – Terrestrial – Celestial
Produce your own Road Map. Develop a life where you value the connection and exchange you already have. Operate from a models that holds a value for both abundance and scarcity. Feel where you have power. Track where you have power. See beyond the pre-packaged well-marketed illusion to the invisible structure of nature that supports you, the plants, the earth, and humanity. See where they are the same.
The Sound Garden Project was a Sustainable Community Program created by The Pushworth Group in 2012. The first Sound Garden was located in the Albert Park Flexible Learning Centre community garden at the bottom of Clifton Street in Petrie Terrace one of the historic suburbs in Brisbane. It was the start of a larger scale community project where students, residents and local businesses in any location could get together, find a bit of dirt that needed planting, and contribute plants, share the green thumb, work and bounty. The project was designed to get people away from the screen, outside and closer to nature, understanding where their food comes from and creating ways together to connect and grow. We at Pushworth found that digging and working in the garden was a wonderful way for our team to sound off, debrief and distress. Our minds were clearer in the garden and conducting team training and development is more enjoyable as well as efficient. We also found that meeting with our Artists was more relaxed and far more productive in the garden away from the internal meeting room. We produced several community events in the Sound Garden being run exclusively by the students of the Albert Park Flexible Learning Centre as part of their training in our Work Window Program.