Are you creating an institution or a studio?

Do you know what it means to be part of a studio? What do you get to do as part of a studio?

  • Work collaboratively with peers.

  • Create and define a vision for work.

  • Make and keep promises.

  • Be Curious. What if? How might we? What's the real challenge? What can we?

  • Test. Make hypothesis statements and test them.

  • Learn. What did our tests show us?

  • Ship work. Make change happen.

A studio is the opposite of an institution:

  • Stay in your lane thinking.

  • We've always done it this way - "we don't want any of your new ideas."

  • Bureaucracy - red tape, procedures for the sake of it.

  • What doesn't fit, doesn't belong attitude.

There is no better feeling to approach your work as an artist in a studio. The freedom to try with the discipline to ship. That's the way I love to work, and it's the type of environment I try to build.

Why am I telling you this?

Because you can create a studio anywhere. You can create one in your home, in your practice, in your government job, in your college, or on your team.

A studio is not a big open space with bean bags where chaos happens. It's a mindset, an approach, and a posture towards your practice.

I had a moment, and this tactic helped.

How to fail.