Career, Plan, Development

Career, Plan, Development is a long-term project with coach Stella Sideli supporting ambitious sustainable career growth for Primary’s residents and members, helping them to work towards achievable goals and develop 1, 3 or 5 year career plans. Activity includes:

o   Bi-yearly check-ins with the 16 artists, to support development of a career plan, evaluate progress and review next steps.

o   Yearly group in-person sessions (over breakfast), conversation-led opportunity to fire questions at Stella + a peer-to-peer support and learning element.

o   Workshop on 'resilience' - how to deal with rejections and unsuccessful applications, meetings - a mix of coaching and providing practical advice.

Stella is working with residents and members who are interested in this approach to their own artistic and professional development. Sessions combine coaching techniques with mentoring, utilising Stella’s skills and knowledge as a contemporary art curator, arts advisor and coach in the arts.

Stella Sideli is an independent curator, writer, researcher, consultant, and coach in the arts, based in London and Palermo (IT), and working in the UK, Europe and the Mediterranean. Her research focuses on feminist, queer theories and the ethics of curating; she also researches the shapeshifting meaning of materiality in the current ultra-connected human condition, with attention to images, sound and movement. Stella has curated public and artist development programmes at Somerset House, SPACE Studios and Tenderpixel gallery in London UK and independently in UK and EU. 

Recent projects include: Temporary Compositions, with Abbas Zahedi, Phoebe Davies, Joe Namy, Sonya Dyer, Somerset House, London UK (2021-2022); Create, Capture, Organise, Pluralise, with Josiane M.H. Pozi, Majed Aslam, Ilona Sagar, Col Self in collaboration with Farvash and vvxxii (Sp0re), Somerset House, London UK (2021); I Should Be Doing Something Else Right Now, with Maeve Brennan, Vivienne Griffin, rkss & Laura Fox, Rhea Storr, Sam Williams & Roly Porter, Somerset House, London UK (2020-2021); The Distance is Nowhere, with Paul Maheke, Sophie Mallett, GAM Palermo IT (2018); Nimiia Cétiï, Jenna Sutela, Somerset House, London UK (both 2018); A Gesture Towards Transformation with Aimar Arriola, Nicole Bachmann, Omer Fast, Pedro G. Romero, Paul Maheke, Amalia Pica at Tenderpixel, London, UK (2017); Unknown Tongues, off-site sound event at Five Miles, London UK (2017); Tropical Hangover, with Salvatore Arancio, Zuzanna Czebatul, Rowena Harris, Laure Prouvost, Suzanne Treister at Tenderpixel, London UK (2017).