Musician Resilience

"For me, the Creative Think Tank experience was so well timed. As for many people, this has been a challenging year on many levels, and coming to Snape has an instantly calming and grounding impact, physically and emotionally. My first experience of Snape as a place of learning was years ago. I came to attend a SoundSense area gathering, which was organised in partnership with Aldeburgh Education. That event had been a workshop around inclusion and was also in partnership with Streetwise Opera, the organisation working with homeless people. Susie Gorgeous from Streetwise was one of the group taking part in the Think Tank last month. The atmosphere of the Think Tank from the outset was rather like a cloud of warm positivity, into which we were all gently folded ! From the delicious hot soup on our arrival, to the home made cakes during our breaks, and comfort of our beds, the focus was clearly on our wellbeing from start to finish. Conversations and interactions revealed a whole host of connections and coincidences, linking us all together despite our disparate identities. In turn, this created a truly supportive and positive environment for ideas and concepts to spring into being. Throughout the Think Tank experience, an artist was capturing our conversations visually, and notes were also being made to ensure that each idea was plucked from the ether. During the evening we experienced ‘ Collision Drinks’ where the artists in residence came across to meet us all, giving another opportunity also to try out the ideas which were slowly gathering momentum through our animated discussions. We recognised parallels and synergies in our shared experiences which offered a tantalising glimpse of a way forward, and a way of bringing all the threads together. Paramount to our feeling of wellbeing and our enjoyment of this quite intense 24 hours was an awareness that throughout our time together, there had been a palpable focus on giving us each a sense of support and nurturing.  This approach lies at the core of so many participatory projects. As practitioners,  I realise much more clearly, the need to ensure that we are in the best place to start work, are really tuned in to ourselves and recognise our own needs alongside those of our participants. We are often the last to consider whether we are truly monitoring ourselves and our own wellbeing. It will be so interesting to see where this work takes us next."