https://www.dearartist.eu/letters daily 0.75 2026-04-23 https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/siun-okane monthly 0.5 2026-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/268e7edf-d164-44ff-a68a-b4144238c6d9/Letter+by+Siun+O%27Kane.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Be gentle with yourself! - Dear Artist, Firstly, you got this! Pursuing a life/career as a creative is so many things, so many deaths and rebirhts but I hope your journey is filled with joy and lots of belly laughs. This is going to sound cliché but try and enjoy the journey rather than solely focusing on the destination. Yes, I know you want to get signed with that one particular agent, you need to work with that one director who you have admired since you were a teen or you just need to book that role before you are considered “too old”. It’s so great to have goals and ambitious dreams but also know that life is happening right now. You are an artist right now – not when x, y, z happens. This might sound obvious but be gentle with yourself. To create great work, you must be gentle. It can feel scary and vulnerable at times but you can do this. Keep it simple, show up every day for your craft, get 8 hours of sleep and eat 3 meal a day – you got this. I believe in you + your artistry, Siún https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/3d5be7b3-c101-4adc-a8b2-6d24dd29c0c6/Siun+O%27Kane+for+Dear+Artist.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Be gentle with yourself! - I met Siún O’Kane in November 2025 at the PAF Connects event at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. We sat together at Axis Ballymun where Siún participated in the letter-writing and interview session for the Dear Artist project. Lian Bell. Photographed by Weronika Maria Kuśmider, December 2025. https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/cathal monthly 0.5 2026-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/2d59827f-c253-44a3-969a-125003b4ce74/Cathal+McGuire+letter+for+artists.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Trust your own taste! - Dear Artist, A few things I’ve learned: Mentorship is incredibly useful if you can find the right mentors for you – they need to be someone you can trust enough to be honest with and for, just to be honest with you. Find someone who’s good at getting funding and ask them how they do it. Redoing successful funding applications can really help, but if you can talk to someone who knows how these things work about your specific project, so much the better. Being able to teach what you’re good at can be very handy, especially if you have the gift of being able to work with children. Beware instrumentalisation: our work doesn’t exist to fill out a box on a form or make people better at some aspects of ordinary life – it exists to be art, and that is always reason enough. And try not to worry if your career makes no sense from the outside – you know how all the wires connect around the back where no one else sees. Just keep going and let others try and work it out when you have a body of work out in the world. And trust your own taste, your own wild impulses and strange hunches. Good luck! – Cathal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/f85b9409-6e22-4c9c-9fd4-24a06b2e89a4/Cathal+McGuire.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Trust your own taste! - I met Cathal McGuire in December 2025 at Axis Ballymun where he presented his work-in-progress developed within the Axis Assemble Bursary program, blending classic ghost stories with live cameras and object theatre. Lian Bell. Photographed by Weronika Maria Kuśmider, December 2025. https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/brendanshanahan monthly 0.5 2026-03-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/590d2d50-5777-4e51-886a-cb5e9085fe1b/Brendan+Shanahan+letter+Dear+Artist.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Make decisions calmly. Dear Artist, My name is Brendan Shanahan from Ireland. I am a singer-songwriter with very few followers. I've been around for a long, long, long time. Humour and positive thinking are fundamental to my sustainability. Things do not always work out the way we may want them to, but things are never over. There's always another door, always another opportunity. I have come to realise that. I am now in the place where I'm meant to be. That sustains me. I know that I will be in a different place next week, or maybe the same place where I am now. So what? The important thing is to believe in me and to engage in the things that I should engage in for better or worse. Money is important but not vital. I am creative, which means that I should create irrespective of money. Creating is Godlike, unique to only you. And if you believe that, then create. Otherwise, you will be holding yourself back and settling for something less than what you are meant to be. I am a professional, which means that it's important that I get paid for what I do. I know that I'm good at what I do and deserve to be paid. I am also realistic, and it is necessary at times to compromise and to be aware that nobody is indispensable, and there is always another artist ready to take your place. I have lost my temper sometimes, and I've always lost it as a result. Make decisions calmly and never in anger when it comes to business. One’s future is never behind you. Regards, Brendan Shanahan https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/ea70dc82-5c53-4f40-ab1e-624b6582f86d/Projekt+bez+nazwy+%284%29.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Make decisions calmly. - I met with Brendan Shanahan at Axis Ballymun in Dublin in November 2025. We talked about the importance of knowing our level of work, having good reasons and a deadline, and walking away after the job is done. Lian Bell. Photographed by Weronika Maria Kuśmider, December 2025. https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/lianbell monthly 0.5 2026-03-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/af9644dd-24ac-4fef-9df7-971613372258/Letter+Lian+Bell.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Keep Going! - Dear Artist, k eep going! Take the time to remember what you love about your art. Let that stay at the centre of your practice. And go outside for a walk when there is sunshine! – Lian Bell https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/1772294739982-BH53FGB81LCI329CHW77/Lian+Bell.png Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Keep Going! - I met with Lian Bell in Dublin in December 2025 to talk about sustainability of theatre careers in Ireland. Lian Bell. Photographed by Weronika Maria Kuśmider, December 2025. https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/aoife monthly 0.5 2026-02-28 https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/guidelines monthly 0.5 2026-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/1772292621045-MZ0XODMB4UFPF33TOPB2/Dear+Artist+guidelinesjpg Letters to Artists - Dear Artist, Write Your Letter! - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/category/Motivation monthly 0.5 https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/category/Funding monthly 0.5 https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/category/All+Artists monthly 0.5 https://www.dearartist.eu/letters/category/Performing+Arts monthly 0.5 https://www.dearartist.eu/submit daily 0.75 2026-04-23 https://www.dearartist.eu/about daily 1.0 2026-03-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/7e0029ef-a797-4d6f-914d-93296a9ff32d/KPO_barwy+RP_NextGenerationEU_poziom_zestawienie_podstawowe_EN_+CMYK.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/699ad0e93396d146ca81f7d9/07799019-469f-41f7-bed9-2c8489cefb16/Weronika+Maria+Kus%CC%81mider%2C+photograph+by+Conor+Horgan+1136.jpg