Weeknote 2025/07
Am I Coming Into View Or Disappearing?
Fox in partial shadow : Queen Mary’s Park, Carshalton
A few weeks ago (Weeknote 2025/04) I wrote about a conversation Nick Court and I had on the subject of momentum. Since then - I’ve kept that conversation in my mind, and continued to act on it, with intriguing results. I’m currently busier than I’ve been for a while - and I hesitate as I write that down - because busyness is a double edged sword.
Assessing
In my role as Programme Manager for Arts Network Sutton - I support our Vice Chair on our annual grants programme. We award a series of small grants to local creative practitioners to enable them to design and deliver impactful community focused work. My role in this is to read and assess the submissions, and as part of a panel, interview the applicants. We’re a small charity so we choose to make the time to interview as this process helps the artists bring their story to life, and helps us understand and question their process. We then evaluate all we’ve heard and learned, and make the tough decisions on which projects we can support in the coming year, and those we have to say no to. Everyone is given feedback once the decisions have been made. Importantly, those who are unsuccessful are told why. This is hard, labour intensive, worthwhile work. Most funders wouldn’t and/or couldn’t choose to do this, but we do.
Familiarising
In my new role with SACCO, I’m trying to get to grips with many things. Tech, process, culture, accountability, responsibility, communication and more. All this while the organisation does its thing with a level of familiarity I can currently only dream about. These early times can feel a bit disconcerting, and they’re also really useful for asking the kind of lovely questions that newness and a lack of understanding brings.
Cultivating and Weeding
In parallel with all the above, I’m also having good early conversations with several people about subjects like visual minutes, creative workshops, street art, and more. In among all this - Carole and I are part way through an attempt to reinvigorate a 30 square metre patch of weed, ivy, and bramble infested garden. Blending the mental with the physical is tiring and yet invigorating. Making progress, knowing when to take a break, adapting plans, we’re getting there. I’m loving this, and as momentum builds and continues, I need to make decisions about where to invest my precious time. Just like we are in the garden right now, I need to think about, and do more digging and weeding. I’ll leave it there for now - and close with a photo of another gardener I met this past week - this one was busy digging for his supper.
Green Woodpecker on Oaks Track, Carshalton