somewhere to talk
Somewhere To Talk are one on one advisory sessions for artists to receive focused, tailored advice for an artistic project or consider the next steps in their practise. The sessions are free to attend and confidential.
Who are the sessions for?
The sessions are intended for artists based in Scotland who work in, or have an interest to work in, experimental performance & Live Art.
Sessions with the TMS team are open to artists at any level of experience, who are not currently in full time education.
Who are we?
The sessions will predominantly be led by Festival Manager Karl Taylor and Event Producer Alex Misick.
Karl Taylor / Festival Manager ( He/Him)
Karl is a producer and curator for Live Art and contemporary performance who has worked with arts organisations around the world, including Artsadmin, Live Art Development Agency, Duckie, Liberty Festival of Disability Arts & Mons European Capital of Culture. He has also produced the work of independent artists such as Lucy McCormick, Tania El Khoury & Scottee.
From 2017 - 2025 he was director of BUZZCUT, having worked there since 2015. BUZZCUT is an organisation supporting the development and presentation of radical performance in Scotland. In his time there he transformed the organisation from a DIY collective into a permanent fixture of the Scottish cultural landscape, mentoring, advocating & supporting hundreds of artists in the development of their projects and international networks.
He has a degree in Performance from Queen Mary University of London and is on the board of Wunderbar (Gateshead). Karl joined Take Me Somewhere in 2017.
Alex Misick / Event Producer (he/him)
Alex is a multidisciplinary producer for performance, visual art, residencies and other cross arts projects who takes an artist-centred approach. After graduating from the Glasgow School of Art’s Environmental Art course, he worked in the programme team of the Centre for Contemporary Art Glasgow for over 8 years as both Programme Coordinator and Projects Producer across events, exhibitions and in developing a new online space; CCA Annex.
Prior to this he worked with other emerging and established arts organisations from the John Hansard Gallery in Southampton to the redevelopment of The Pipe Factory in Glasgow’s East End. He has been invited to speak at Kunsthal Ghent and to mentor on Cove Park’s Youth Arts Bursary programme.
Alongside Take Me Somewhere, he currently works on a variety of freelance arts and active travel projects.
How will they work?
The sessions last 45 minutes and can take place in person at South Block, 60-64 Osborne St, Glasgow G1 5QH or online via Zoom. (Sessions with guest facilitators are always via Zoom)
We will ask you to let us know what you want to talk about in advance. We will then let you know whether or not we feel that we have the skills or knowledge to be able to support you. We may not have all the answers off the top of our head, but we normally know who to ask - so if you let us know what you want to talk about we can do a bit of research.
The sessions are free and allocated on a first come, first served basis, however if we don’t feel we are the right people to offer you the right support we may come back to you via email with alternative suggestions.
We are able to provide BSL Interpretation and/or captioning on request. If you have any other access requirements please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate.
We will send you an evaluation form & equalities monitoring form after the session which are required to fill out.
What can we discuss in the sessions?
The sessions will be led by your particular needs and questions. Things we can discuss include;
How to get your artistic idea ‘off the ground’ - planning a timeline, helping you articulate what you would like to do and identifying what partners, funding & support do you need in place to realise your vision?
Producing milestones to consider when planning your project, including contracting, risk assessments, PRS forms etc.
If you are feeling a bit lost professionally we can act as a sounding board and help you lay out a route forward. We can also discuss long-term strategy for practise sustainability, including what organisational or access support structures may work for you.
We can advise on available funding routes, or spend time helping you bullet-point key points in a funding application, or read a draft of an existing application & offering feedback. As the session is only 45 minutes we would need to be specific, i.e. looking at one key question you are stuck on, or skim reading the whole application and offering general thoughts.
We can advise on possible networks, contexts or partners for the development or ongoing touring of your project, both within Scotland, the UK & internationally.
The sessions are a chance to draw on the expertise of the TMS team to support your project in the wider world. Therefore, they are not a process to pitch work to present in Take Me Somewhere’s Festival but you can contact us on producing@takemesomewhere.co.uk if there is a project you’d like to share wth us.