Making It Work: A panel discussion and Q&A on being a freelance creative.

Join us for a panel talk discussing the experiences of being a freelance artist with artists Amelia Frances Wood, Rosie Vohra and Anne-Marie Atkinson, chaired by Arts Director of Sunnybank Mills, Anna Turzynski. The life of an artist is one that is often shrouded in mystery and seems financially unattainable. We’re bringing together artists and creatives with different experiences and levels of freelance work in the arts, to open up a dialogue around the realities, challenges and positives of working as an artist. Bring your thoughts, questions or talking points for an opportunity to get insight from those who have experienced the freelance art world first hand.

Refreshments available, doors from 18:00.
Panel including a break and Q&A, 18:30 - 20:30.

Rosie Vohra is a multidisciplinary artist based in Leeds, whose practice spans painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. Her work draws inspiration from diverse sources such as literature, music, film, collected imagery, and everyday observations. Vohra's approach to making resembles collage, combining disparate elements to create new meanings and emphasising the perpetual state of transition in life. Central themes in Vohra's work include identity, belonging, feminism, heritage, and the interplay between the human and nonhuman. She studied at the Royal Drawing School in 2014, where she received the Sir Denis Mahon Award, following her Fine Art degree at Leeds Art University from 2010 to 2013.
As a freelance artist, Vohra has sustained her practice through various roles, including teaching, care work, and scenic painting.

Amelia Frances Wood explores creating ‘in-between’ spaces that serve as a portal to ‘other worlds’ unlike the ones we can see and touch. These worlds aim to reflect upon the material traces we each leave behind, that both reveal and conceal personal histories, through story-telling, memory, dreams and unearthed mementos. The artist chooses to work with materials that hold a weighted memory such as clay, wood, fabric, earthly material and found objects to create anthropomorphic sculptures. These sculptures reference the body, earth, ritual, and symbolic objects.
As a freelance artist, Wood has sustained her career through public sculpture commissions, exhibiting group and solo, selling work as well as running creative workshops and teaching.

Anne-Marie Atkinson's interdisciplinary practice includes photography, installation, mark-making, and digital media, with a socially engaged focus. She is particularly driven to work with people experiencing structural disadvantage, those not traditionally represented by or included in cultural spaces, and young or inexperienced artists seeking to develop their careers. She has recently been working on a practice-led PhD to research learning disabled people's creative development, and she is a Fine Art Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Anne-Marie began freelancing straight after her undergraduate degree in 2011 and has worked with The Tetley, Leeds Art Gallery, Pyramid, Venture Arts, Manchester Art Gallery, Health for All, and many others. She understands the challenges of a portfolio career that balances commissions, funding applications, part-time work, further study, and continued practice development.

Anne-Marie Atkinson's interdisciplinary practice includes photography, installation, mark-making, and digital media, with a socially engaged focus. She is particularly driven to work with people experiencing structural disadvantage, those not traditionally represented by or included in cultural spaces, and young or inexperienced artists seeking to develop their careers. She has recently been working on a practice-led PhD to research learning disabled people's creative development, and she is a Fine Art Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Anne-Marie began freelancing straight after her undergraduate degree in 2011 and has worked with The Tetley, Leeds Art Gallery, Pyramid, Venture Arts, Manchester Art Gallery, Health for All, and many others. She understands the challenges of a portfolio career that balances commissions, funding applications, part-time work, further study, and continued practice development.

Anna Turzynski is the new Arts Director at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, Leeds. She oversees the gallery, shop, artist studios and incredible events programme across the mills. Previously, a Senior Producer at LEEDS 2023: Year of Culture, Anna produced signature projects including The WOW Barn, The Awakening & The Gifting. She spent ten years working as a freelance producer in Leeds, working for companies like Compass Live Art, Leeds Playhouse and East Street Arts. As well as artists such as Ellie Harrison and Hannah Buckley. Her expertise lies in large scale cross-artform producing and bringing work to unconventional spaces. After growing up in Brighton, Anna moved to Leeds to study Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and has championed the city ever since. She is passionate about making arts and culture more accessible to people and encouraging future generations of artists and producers to thrive in the industry.