Hello old friend, new friend, awesome creative soul,
Thanks so much for being a guest on The Circle 5 Podcast! I’m very excited to hear about your life and share it with listeners.
Circle 5 is a podcast focusing on the topic of work, life, and creative balance as it relates to the relationships in the life of an artist. My goal in each episode is to speak with a professional artist, semi-pro artist, or creative professional and to ask and answer three questions:
1. How have the various relationships of your life shaped who are you creatively and artistically?
2. Which relationships from your past are presently influential or helpful in your creative life?
3. How, and how well do you currently balance the different types of relationships in your life?
Why?
This podcast was born out of a personal necessity for greater calm and peace. In the last decade, I’ve found it challenging at times to juggle the different relationships of my personal and creative identity. There have literally been moments of receiving texts in quick successions from people that are from completely different spheres of my life. My brother asks me something about Christmas, then a friend sends me an old joke from many years ago, and then I get texted about an offer to shoot photography… “Who am I right now?”
When these messages and connections occur simultaneously without any reference or context to one another, it can be overwhelming. I’ve been interested to know if other artists and creative individuals experience the same kinds of moments? If not, what can I learn from other artists in order to handle those moments better?
5 Circles
In 2019, I slowed down and really thought about this relationship and identity angst. I realized that there’s essentially 5 different “kinds” of people in my life. There’s plenty of crossover and people that fit in multiple areas, but overall, it came down to understanding that I, again, have five…circles of relationships. (Circle 5. Get it? You get it…)
I then thought it could be a podcast: to sit down and talk to other artists about these five circles. The labeling of the Circles isn’t crazy profound, but they have helped to organize my thoughts, and structure the podcast. In each episode I’d love to talk to my guests about…
Circle 1 - Family
Nuclear family- who were you raised by and with?
Extended family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and more…
What impact did and do they have on you artistically?
What kind of careers and jobs do your family members have? Can they relate to you?
Circle 2 - The community where you grew up
Grades K-12 or ages 5-18
Who were some important friends and teachers during your upbringing?
Were those years of your life non-traditional in any ways?
What was your early exposure to art and creativity? Did it come from your community or members thereof?
Circle 3 - College, Non-creative work, Other non-creative hobbies or social groups
Did you go to college? Why? Why not? How did art/creativity manifest during that time of your life?
What jobs have you had outside of art/creativity? What relationships did you cultive in those environments? Are any of them relevant to you today?
Do you go to yoga? Or a gym workout class? Part of church? Or activist group? Or volunteer somewhere?
Are you currently a full time artist, or still work at a supplemental and helpful gig?
Circle 4 - Love Life
Current relationship status?
If single, are you dating? How do you manage boundaries and expectations as it relates to your career, creativity and art?
If in a relationship, how do you navigate your creative and non-creative time?
If you are married and/or with children, let’s talk about them here in Circle 4 as opposed to Circle 1. [In my opinion, the day to day relationship and decisions you make with your partner and/or for your children has a different energy than how you speak with your parents or siblings. Maybe I’m wrong. Let’s talk about it either way.]
Circle 5 - Professional creative relationships and Other creative collaborators
How does your professional creative life look, work, happen? Clients? Partnerships? Audition? Highered for the gig?
When was the moment you felt like a “professional?” Who was involved or helped you to that moment?
Have you had mentors?
Current collaborators? Dream collaborations?
Is there any crossover? Have professional connections become dear personal friendships?
Note: these are sample questions and ideas. Each interview will certainly be different.
Estimated Episode Time: 1 hour
Our actual recording time will be longer (est 75-90 mins), but the goal of an edited episode will be the 60 minute mark (minus ad breaks):
Intro - 6 minutes
Circle 1 - 8 minutes
Circle 2 - 8 minutes
[Break]
Circle 3 - 8 minutes
Circle 4 - 8 minutes
[Break]
Circle 5 - 8 minutes
Personal reflection and last questions on life balance - 8 minutes
Outro - 6 minutes
Who knows?
I’m open to the timing being flexible. Different Circles may generate longer answers or stories while others may not. We’ll play it by ear. If the content is great and conversation flows, I’m not afraid or ashamed to publish a 90 minute+ episode. Alternatively, a conversation can be shorter and that’s okay too.
A Structured Conversation - Will it work?
Most podcasts with artists flow in and out of various areas of interest, and include shoptalk or industry talk. For Circle 5, I’m hoping to make it a structured conversation where we focus on one group of relationships at a time, or essentially talk about one Circle at a time and then move on to the next. Is it possible to only talk about your family and not mention your childhood friends at the same time? I have no idea until we try. Let’s see what happens…
The Focus is You
Feel free to share stories and anecdotes, as I’d love to hear more from you then from me. I’ll interject similar experiences or sentiments from time to time, but this will truly be an interview about you.
Art, life, creative balance…how is it all going? I hope it’s a revelatory conversation and experience for everyone: listenters, me and you! Thank you again for being willing to participate and record an episode. I’m looking forward to it!