SHIFT 2024
SHIFT 2024 open for enrollments!
Finnish Art Agency is looking for artists who are motivated and committed to elevate their careers forward and act based on their goals. We are hoping to get enrollments from artists who are willing to seek change and are motivated to build a better and more sustainable professional future. All artists from various different stages of their careers are welcome to apply. The SHIFT international mentoring program is firmly confidential. Program language is English. Sessions are held online and you can join them anywhere around the world!
Why an artist mentoring & coaching program?
We recognize that artists face a range of challenges in their careers, encompassing creative, practical, and industry-specific issues. In the SHIFT program we are focusing on some of the most significant challenges and finding new ways to maintain a sustainable career. The participants will gain more confidence, knowledge and skills which will help them to:
- Have better work-life balance. Managing time between creating art, handling business aspects, and personal life is often challenging. In the program participants will gain understanding of how to manage their time and set goals for themselves.
- Find a unique voice as creatives and writers. Developing a distinctive style that sets an artist apart from others is a constant struggle. Self-doubt and criticism dealing with external criticism can impact confidence and motivation.
- The pressures of creative work, financial instability, and the solitary nature of the profession can affect mental health.
- To find your inspiration. Periods of low creativity or inspiration can be frustrating and hinder productivity.
- Contracts and Agreements: Understanding and negotiating contracts for commissions, gallery representation, and collaborations require legal knowledge.
- Growing as an artist and learning new skills, improving expertise and staying updated with new ideas and ways to manage art profession is necessary for growth.
- To be true to yourself. We are not trying to change you, we just want you to be seen, understand your value and help you achieve your goals. Trends and consumer preferences keep changing, staying true to your artistic vision is crucial. Would you still make your art if no one would see it? or exhibit it? or buy it? In the program we will help you also to understand the importance of negotiating contracts.
Your time
The program will include:
4 individual coaching sessions
(90min each / 6 hours of personal coaching during the program)
4 group coaching workshops
(3 hours each / 12 hours of group coaching during the program)
6 workshops with international arts professionals
(3 hours each / 18 hours during the program)
All participants are also recommended to schedule at least 2 hours per week of independent work to reflect, think and write about the program assignments and materials.
The program is flexible as the participants will be able to join the workshops, coaching and lectures online or watch the recordings of the workshop sessions when it suits them the best during the program. The online sessions are easy to access on Zoom but it is not necessary to participate at the time of the streaming, you can access the recording of the session and see it when it suits you. Personal individual coaching sessions are scheduled based on your calendar.
SHIFT program lead
Personal career development will include one-on-one meetings with Laura Köönikkä, MA, solution-focused coach, mentor and the head of SHIFT program. Laura has been working as a curator, art professional and mentor through the Finnish Art Agency since 2013. She has curated several exhibitions in Finland and internationally, including solo and group shows by established international artists. She has curated and produced various exhibitions in Finland, Norway, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Japan, etc. She has worked with institutions like Espace Louis Vuitton Arts Foundation and Venice Biennale for arts. Laura has the ability to see the potential of individuals and help the client to see their possibilities in a new light. In individual one-to-one coaching sessions you can focus on issues that are important for your own career and self-reflection. You can focus on limiting beliefs or process your past experiences or future challenges and dreams. The sessions will be an opportunity for you to clarify your strengths and personal skills as a professional artist. Through self-reflection you will understand your possibilities to grow and develop in your career. In the sessions you will have the opportunity to articulate your core values and work towards a future in which you can be more confident and empathetic to yourself. Laura has coached numerous creatives and is happy to help you throughout the program! Laura focuses on making creative lives more sustainable, helping creatives have more self-compassion and courage to build a strong career and a positive professional path.
Program structure
4 individual coaching sessions with Laura Köönikkä for all the participants will be held once a month between September – December 2024. The workshops will be held online and will be 3 hours sessions each. The workshops will be a tool for you to process and develop yourself as a professional artist. In these sessions the group is also sharing experiences and learning from each other. All sessions are led by Laura Köönikkä.
6 workshops with external arts professionals:
Workshop with Anne Klontz
Anne Klontz, curator (USA/Sweden) is a freelance curator and Head of Exhibitions at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. Her curatorial projects include Co-curator of the 46th Tendencies Biennale for Nordic Contemporary Crafts (2024) and “Fresh Brew” a group exhibition hosted by Stockholm City Arts Centre (2023).Other recent exhibitions include: “The Hands That Unravel the Sweater” for The Norwegian Association of Arts and Crafts and the North Norwegian Arts Centre in Lofoten, Norway (2022); and “2084” with Catalysti Transcultural Artists in Finland (2020). Anne Klontz is originally from Seattle, Washington and has a dual master’s degree in International Curating Management and Culture and Media Production.
Workshop with Alan Phelan
Alan Phelan (IRL) works in sculpture, film, museum interventions, public art and collaborations with other artists, writers and curators. He is a co-editor at Small Night Projects. Exhibitions include: The Molesworth Gallery, Dublin; Void, Derry; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris; RHA, Dublin; The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon; The Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art, The LAB, Dublin; TBG+S, Dublin; LCGA, EVA International, Limerick; Solstice, Navan; Chapter, Cardiff; Bonn Kunstmuseum; Detroit Stockholm; Treignac Projet, France; Bozar, Brussels: ŠKUC, Ljubljana; SKC Gallery, Belgrade; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Website: alanphelan.com
Workshop with Mike Pinnington
Confidence through text & writing workshop: Artist statement as bridge for the audience – and you. Approaches to writing about your practice.
Mike Pinnington, art writer, Co-founder/full-time editor, The Double Negative, UK Co-Editor of Present Tense (2019), a book of essays reflecting on the decade following Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture Award. Previously Content Editor at Tate Liverpool (2013-18); contributor to Art Monthly, The Art Newspaper, Art Quarterly, ArtReview, byNWR, Ocula, etc.
Workshop with Saara Renvall
Saara Renvall was a participant in SHIFT in 2022 and her workshop will focus on artist’s personal career development as she has experienced changes in her career on many occasions.
Saara Renvall (FI) is an artist and designer working with objects and sculpture. After finishing her training as a carpenter, Renvall graduated from the Aalto University, Helsinki and received her Master of Arts in 2002. Since 2017 she has focused on stronger artistic self-expression and independence.
Renvall received the Bryggman Award in 2005 for her merits in creative design. She has also received the Finnish Cultural Foundation one-year grant for artistic work in 2008, 2009 and 2017, along with several smaller grants, scholarships and prizes since the year 2000.
In 2010, Renvall was awarded The Young Designer of the Year Prize. Since the beginning of 2022, Renvall’s work has been supported by the Arts Promotion Center Finland with a three-year artist grant, as well as an exhibition grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Uusimaa Regional fund.
Renvall has actively participated in numerous exhibitions and residences both in Finland and abroad. Her residency periods include the FCINY residency in New York, Oribe Artist Residency in Gifu, Japan and Bio art Society residency in Kilpisjärvi, Lapland. Her work has been acquired by Finland’s State Art Foundation, National Museum of Scotland and private collectors in Finland and abroad. She lives and works both in Helsinki and Askola, Finland.
Workshop with Laura Robertson Confidence through text & writing
Laura’s workshop: Every time I write, I create myself Creative writing workshop Laura Robertson, writer, art critic, editor and lecturer, UK https://laurarobertsoniswriting.cargo.site/
Read artist Alex Markwith’s review of Laura’s workshop here to learn more about it!
(TDN co-founder, contributing editor) is a writer and critic based in Liverpool. Her work has been published in Frieze, Elephant, Hyperallergic, Art Monthly, ArtReview and a-n amongst others; is a critical writer-in-residence at Open Eye Gallery; and graduate of the 2018-20 MA Writing cohort at the Royal College of Art. Trustee and former director of The Royal Standard Gallery & Studios. Guest Critic, Front Row, BBC Radio 4
Workshop with Yue Yu
Chinese art historian and independent freelance curator based in Helsinki. With multi-cultural study and work experiences in China, Japan, Italy and France, Yue is passionate about fostering deeper understanding across different cultures. Her concern for underrepresented artistic scenes led her to deliver a talk at the international conference “Art in the Periphery” in Lisbon in 2019, as well as a curatorial residency in Hungary and Slovakia at Easttopics in 2022. Her research and curatorial practice focus on establishing dialogues between the center and the periphery, the past and the present.
Yue holds a Ph.D. in Art History (2023, University of Lille & Ecole du Louvre, France) and two Master’s respectively in Aesthetics (2015, University of Osaka, Japan) and Comparative Literature (2017, Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3, France). She is also a research fellow at the University of Tokyo for Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies in 2019.
Her recent projects include “Oriental Dream — Yves Klein’s journey in Asia” (2024, Art Museum of Nanjing University, China), “Abstraction in Asia, from 1960 to nowadays China | Japan | Korea” (2019, Vazieux Art Gallery Paris, France), as well as an international conference on artistic exchanges between East Asia and the West from the 19th century to nowadays (2023, École française d’Extrême-Orient, France).
YOUR PEOPLE
You will have a group of other participants who are going through the program simultaneously with you. You can decide how much you want to have peer support and experience. You must understand and speak basic English to participate.
The SHIFT mentoring program is firmly confidential. Participants will sign a confidentiality agreement. It is important to have a safe space to talk and reflect. You will have a platform for the group to share thoughts online throughout the program.
SHIFT will change the way you see your career and artistic goals.
APPLYING TO SHIFT
You can apply until 6.9.2024
The program will start in September 2024 and end in January 2025.
The program is fully online.
PRICE
The 9 months program costs 1780€ (+vat/tax 25,5% will be added to final payment 2233,90). The payment can be made in 5 installments or as a one time payment. (5 installments 356€ +vat/tax)
APPLY
Click here to open the application form.
How we got here?
The mentoring program was organized for the first time in 2015. Due to the growing need to have dialogue and support through online groups for artists and individual career development opportunities SHIFT has been held fully online for the first time in 2022. This will make it possible for participants to join from all over the world. The program is made flexible so that professional talks can be accessed online when it suits best for the participants.
About SHIFT
The program is directed by certified business coach, arts expert with 20 years experience and creator of Finnish Art Agency, MA Laura Köönikkä. The core of the program is each participant’s personal experience and process which will be supported in group sessions.