Studio Karakashyan is a production company specializing in dance, film & artist development. The Artist Development Masterclasses are a program aiming to help develop a practical set of skills and confidence in the practices of the emerging artists in Bulgaria and those who wish to network with various other creatives. In such way the studio is providing an opportunity for a community to be developed within the currently changing artistic field in Bulgaria.
I have attended 3 classes so far and I must say that they are getting better and better with each next class. In this article I will share some insides from the last class and why I believe what Kosta is doing is useful to the creative community in Sofia and not only.
The last class engaged our attention with the topic of how to build a portfolio and create the so needed digital presence.
Leads of the class were
Kosta Karakashyan, director, choreographer, studio founder of @studiokarakshyan and an active influencer of projects and community work here in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Vihra Shopova, Life Design Coach at @authentic.lifedesign and dancer.
Boris Urumov, DOP, photographer, visual storyteller, marketing & content creator, also based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
They shared what is important to have in a portfolio, how to define the main function an artist can showcase in their CV, how to talk about your own work and engage emotionally with your projects.
The class was divided into 3 parts.
Part 1:
The class always starts with an ice breaker lead by the main lead of the class. In this case is was Kosta.
Everyone is free to share what they do, what they are interested and this time everyone had to share what they hide about themselves in the world. Really liked the last part of the ice breaker as many of the artists normally don't share it all wit people, however, this gentle exercise can make you face a fear and just talk about it. When the ice breaker finished the energy in the room was relaxed and surely made people share more of themselves and made the environment save.
Part 2:
The lecture. Again lead by Kosta with the help of Vihra Shopova. So here we have three artists with developed practices as leads, who are also in the process of developing their new and fresh ideas with us.
The highlight of the lecture pointed at the following:
The processes and what do we like when working on a project;
What did I like about this project and what I didn't or what was for me and what wasn't;
Did I learn something new this time / in this project;
The final product - is important, but if we focus on the process and the progress the time spend with other who are working on the project, becomes much more enjoyable and frankly it makes us see the positives and focus on the learning curves;
How to embraces the work we do and see ourselves in it;
How to positively represent the people we work with and become ambassadors of the work we all do in a project.
Here Alexander Tsekoff also added the 3 stages each project consists of:
The idea - the creative and brainstorm part. Here the idea is born and tailed.
The technique / the materializing - Here we think about what needs doing and converting the idea into a plan with actions we can take in order to bring life to the idea.
The realization - Here we start acting according to the plan. Or simply said taking ACTION to realize the results we want.
Part 3:
This part involved everyone is taking a portrait image done by @borisurumov right after the lecture ended.
Everyone had a chance to go over their CV and the text part of their portfolio by Vihra Shopova. Something like an overview how you have shaped in works what you do and how it can be done better if needed.
Kosta on the other had was responsible for having a look at the visual representation of a portfolio.
So, all in all, this was full on workshop of THE HOW TO represent yourself online and verbally as well as execute a project.
Nicely structured and nicely executed.
With the masterclasses you also get to be part of a closed FB Group where you can mingle and share work, ideas and so on with the people who have attended the workshops so far. In a few works, be part of a creative community off and on line.
Best part of the classes is the mingling part at the end. As mentioned at the beginning each class is becoming better and better. Perhaps the artist see the advantage of talking about their work, their plans, their desires and want to make contact with each other lives, just to see we are all on the same both. Here comes the supportive energy which is one of the main factors in this development program. It is diverse and the artists are diverse.
We have people from plenty of fields out there, such as, photography, film production, dance, singing, teaching, career coaching and events management. Let's keep attending and supporting each other in our mutual development and growth.
If you want to learn more about the organizers, partners and artists from this program you do that here:
Kosta Karakashyan & Studio Karakashyan | Organizer and Lead Lecturer
Vihra Shopova | Lecturer @authentic.lifedesign
Boris Urumov | Lecturer and Photographer
Alexander Tsekoff | Creative Director & Partner
Martin Krivano | Events Partner and part of Plentix.co
Kitchen59 | Space and Event Partner
Story Tap is a proud broadcasting support of the Artist Development Masterclasses.
Follow @story_tap on IG and Facebook