Since 2025, I have been involved in the Yorkshire Sound Womxn Network (YSWN) and the Bradford Sound Womxn Network (BSWN), connected groups aiming to provide women and gender diverse people who are interested in sound with recourses and opportunities. I was commissioned by the groups in 2025 through an open call to create a new installation responding to gender and the environment to be shown as part of Bradford City of Culture 2025, and returned to work with them for an exhibition in April 2026.
The YSWN and BSWN have allowed me to professionally exhibit work, be paid for such exhibitions, network with other sound artists from my home town, given me exposure on social media within other sound art communities. It has become very important to me that my practice is both based in London and Bradford, as I now have realised I do not want be a London-centric artist.
Through these commissions I have learnt logistical skills that have allowed me to understand the realities of being a paid artist. I have become familiar with invoicing and contracts, and what this means for workers rights and receiving payment on time. I have now created my own invoice template that I plan to use going forwad.
I have also learnt about what it means to work for others and be paid for art and how this can have its challenges. For example, the promotional materials used for the exhibition have not always represented my work the way I would prefer it to, this was frustrating. However, I have learnt from this that to ensure this doesn’t happen again, I will send my own preferred images to the event organiser and start a conversation about promoting the event and social media content.