I’ve only been living in Edinburgh a couple of months – immersing myself in the process of finding what’s out there.  Having relocated quite a few times, I know from experience that this process is usually daunting and difficult.  But Edinburgh has what seems to be “an embarrassment of riches” for an artist newly arrived in town.

One of these “riches” is Creative Edinburgh which boasts the largest network of creatives in the city.  Their aim is to help “individuals and businesses create, collaborate and stay connected at every stage of their careers”.  Sounds good to me and the best part is that in doing so they organise really fun events.

On Tuesday night (21 March 2017) I had my first experience of one such an event, going along to a “Talking Heads” evening.  These are regular happenings, for which the Creative Edinburgh team brings together up to ten speakers from a wide range of creative industries to give lightening (definition = really fast and illuminating, no time to get bored) talks on their experiences of making things happen in their chosen field.

The networking part of the evening was way up the spectrum of informality – beer, wine and pizza providing the backdrop to all the chat.  Enjoyable and inspiring – what more could you want?  And thank you to Anna at Creative Edinburgh, who encouraged me to come along and who, on my arrival at the venue, greeted me with a  beautiful, welcoming smile and encouraging comments about my work.  Sometimes that’s all you need to keep believing in what you do.