It was a lively discussion where the panellists talked through many different topics on creative work and collaboration. Chatting to our guests after the panel, it was clear that they were left inspired and came away with some fresh ideas to apply to their own creative practice.

Topics included our panellists' first creative commissions, their approach to pitching for work, what they look for when working with others, why it’s important to collaborate, examples of successful collaborations (Shutter Gallery even got a mention - a Made By Tottenham funded project which saw the shutters of a number of local shops get spray painted with bright coloured designs in collaboration with Bud Studio and over 20 local artists), whether skill sharing is useful, and finally, working with, inspiring and supporting young people to show them that the creative industry is a viable career path.

Here’s a few snippets from our panellists:

Teelo Vasiliou: ““The creative industry is a hussle - you have to stay on your toes.”

When it comes to deciding who to collaborate or work with he added: “I tend to look for people with the skills that I don’t have”.

Hanna Benihoud: “If both parties get something they want out of the relationship I think that is key to making collaborations work, otherwise one person ends up doing all the heavy lifting and it can not feel great.”

Bee Veronica Moore: “It’s really important to make sure that you all have the same passion, that you like each other, and that you have the same dream or end goal. You might start off thinking you all want the same thing, but at the end of it if one person wants to do X and you want to do Y, it’s not going to work.”

Hanna Benihoud: “I use collaboration as a business strategy because when you want to do larger scale projects, public art tends to need a lot of money and people often get nervous about giving it to one person on their own as it feels like more of a risk to them. So I create little collectives or cherry pick freelancers to team up with and go for the gig.”

On the benefits of working with people with different skills, Albert Agwa said: “Outsource to experts, it will pay off.”

Albert talked about what he looks for when working with other artists: “Passion is really important. The artists we work with all love what they do, and they’re fun to be around as well.”

Bee explained why she enjoys collaborating with others: “As a creative you are often working on your own, so one of the nice things about collaborating is that you get to work with other people on a specific project, even just for a short time.”

These quotes were from just a small part of the discussion that was had at our event - all our panellists had so much to say and everyone walked away with a smile on their face. We would like to thank our panellists for such a brilliant and inspiring conversation, The Gessner, Way of Life, for hosting and all our talented guests who attended.

If you are interested in more local creative events in Tottenham and Haringey, or would like to submit your own event, check out our new events listings page here: https://madebytottenham.com/ev...