ARTISTIC WELLBEING INITIATIVE
PAUSE. BREATHE. FEEL.
EXPERIENCE. REFLECT. CREATE.
The AWI is an artist/psychologist-led artistic wellbeing initiative founded by moi, Vanessa Lustig in 2020 under the name Artistic Creativity Initiative, and has since rebranded as Artistic Wellbeing Initiative to better reflect services offered.
I offer private, 1:1 sessions to increase mental and emotional wellbeing in your artistic practice as well as in your lifestyle as an artist.
The initial goal of this initiative was to explore artistic creativity and identify psychological tools that may aid artists to be more productive in their practices, via a short-term psychological study. This study was successful in identifying the need for specific psychological tools that can increase wellbeing in artistic populations. It also identified that wellbeing for artists may be conceptualized differently than for lay persons.
This project has now morphed into it’s current long-term interests and goals:
- Empower artists of all levels by helping creative individuals to develop the tools and methodologies that can lead them to greater mental and emotional wellbeing in ther artistic practice and lifestyle. A flourishing artist, and a flourishing practice are the end goals. This is currently carried out exclusively via 1:1 private coaching.
- The exploration of what psychological wellbeing is for the artistic community, through further positive psychology informed research.
Being an artist is a calling that we cannot “switch off” after “work hours”. We are artists, 24/7, 365 days of the year- with all the emotional and mental ups and downs that come with that!
Have you ever observed that time is our most prized possession as artists?
It is the one thing we cannot make more of, when it’s gone, it’s gone. Here are some familiar scenarios all of us have experience at any given moment: You’re in your studio or work space, and you’re in those rare moments of flow, and time goes by so quickly. Or, you struggle and are constantly overwhelmed, and lose time not knowing where to begin. Or something in between. It can be so effortless at times, and so exhausting at others that you wonder how you can keep it up. Or, you juggle multiple jobs with your art practice, and find them absorbing most of your time, while your practice gathers dust, wistfully thinking about all those unfinished projects you wish you had time for.... And you wonder how you can figure it out, as you feel the constantly impending burnout... It’s a LOT, and sometimes feels like a rollercoaster of emotions and mental states, am I right?
Give yourself a moment of quiet to speak sincerely to yourself, and ask yourself: - What are your current/future goals, dreams, struggles?
- What do you long for and want the most in your practice?
- What would wellbeing look like for you as an artist?
- Are you ready to put their your time to the highest and best use?
- As an artist, are you ready to create your own path towards creative, artistic wellbeing?
Take a deep breath, and allow yourself to dream and imagine big, bigger, biggest.
1:1 PRIVATE ARTISTIC WELLBEING COACHING
1:1 coaching with me means that you want to acheive a high level of mental and emotional wellbeing in your practice. You realize the value of working with a coach, the value of added inspiration and support, accompaniment, accountability, for transforming and levelling up- whether its finishing strong, or starting by levelling up, or anything in between.
Coaching you towards higher wellbeing in your artistic path is a process that will be filled with hard work, tough moments of self-reckoning, terrifying clarity, and both sadness and healing. And as we move forwards, more and more frequent aha moments, increased clarity, increased self-motivation, resilience and grit, and many more level-ups that will accurately reflect what obtaining wellbeing as an artist means to you. Levelling up our art practice is a labor of creativity and love, because our practices embody who we are as artists.
As we work together, you will become aware that we do not focus on identifying “what’s wrong with you”, and we will not go into you past history. This is the basis of more traditional, medical models of psychology- and this is not therapy! In our work together, we will identify what makes you thrive and flourish, learn how to cultivate that and develop it, and finally how to sustain that in your present and future creative practice.
We will be working with what you bring to coaching sessions in the present, mining our way together towards the future that you long for, by creating obtainable goals for you specifically, and develop mental and emotional wellbeing tools for specifically adapted to you and your artistic practice, so that you can be your best creative self, and be prepared both mentally or emotionally for all the possibilities that can occur in your artictic practice that may throw you off balance.
INQUIRIES
For inquiries regarding private artistic wellbeing coaching for yourself, use the following contact form, and I will get back to you ASAP!
Please feel comfortable to ask any coaching-related question you may have, I’d love to hear from you, and have a conversation together. Tell me whats going on, what you need and long for, and we can see about working together. No charge, just a 30min pre-coaching call. ︎
Vanessa Lustig
Multidisciplinary artist & coach to high-functioning artists of all disciplines
P.S. Please note that I do not offer group courses or one-size-fits-all handouts or downloadables, or anything of this sort, because there is no one-size-fits-all in the arts. Each artist is a unique individual, that requires a uniquely adapted approach, and uniquely adapted tools.