To me, anyone whom has made an intentional practice of taking the time to make something beautiful is someone worth learning from. Like with food, there is ’empty calorie’ beauty and the kind of beauty that nourishes as a result of spending gestational time ‘in the dirt’, so to speak. I’m interested in the latter: the courageous souls who speak their own up-and-down journeys through tangible craft and are aware of that connection.

Is this you or someone you know? You might be a good fit for Nurture.

I design Nurture teams like I design menus: with a delicious symphony of creative flavours that ends up being more than the sum of its parts. The people whom I choose to facilitate, photograph and sponsor the “Self Care Starter Kit” gift bags at Nurture are intentionally curated. It’s a mix of intuitive gut sense and tangible evidence of their devotion to their craft.

I always have my feelers up for the kind of women who create with their hands in such a way as to access their souls (with the scars and victories to prove it).

I wrote this post because I want to work with you! I’m interested in stocking the Nurture ‘talent pantry’ with a variety of inspiring creators so I can best mix and match flavours of inspiration to curate the teams for our twice-yearly retreats and the collaborative contents of our Nurture gift bags.

Ingredients for a Nurture Collaborator:

– two shakes familiar with the fact that working with your hands is a portal to your heart and that sometimes your heart has difficult things to say

– hefty scoop of turning to your craft like an alchemist: taking what your heart says and transmuting it, through your own brand of creativity, into something you can have a dialogue with

– litres of creating out of an inner compulsion that told you you must. That parts of you would wither if you didn’t express your stories through a creative act

– ribbons of passionate impulse that lead perhaps to creating a business out of this creating; one where those who come in contact with your work or product also experience the unapologetic essence of its maker

I want to invite you to share not only your skills, but how your creative process shows up like a potent metaphor in your life.

Nurture workshops are an invitation for attendees to steep in your rich processes and what you have learned about yourself through your craft, not to learn the craft, per se. It’s the medium, not the message. I want to move and inspire others towards their own creativity by creating the space for you to share how your creativity has moved and inspired you.

Nurture applications are open and evergreen.

I’m especially excited to hear from you if you read the above and got a surge of that ‘yes, this is me!’ energy. Apply here, or send to a friend you think would be a good fit!

A note: historically, Nurture facilitators tend to be the kind of creators whose craft is tangible. There have been exceptions where we’ve  featured more esoteric creative arts, but that is rare. We focus on the direct connection between making with our hands and the workshops require some form of tangible takeaway item. If you practice a more esoteric art and have a compelling case for how that can be translated to the tangible (while meeting all of the other requirements), we are totally open to hearing from you!

Photo of Nurture facilitator Stacey Sproule (Nurture Spring 2019) by Katie Harrison.