Arts Alive: how to guide for artists

The school you’re partnered with should get in touch with you as early as possible to chat through plans. If you haven’t heard anything and want to check in, please do email us at arts.alive@scottishbooktrust.com.

You might want to talk about:

• What you both expect from the session(s) or residency and what you would like to achieve
• The subject, content and approach, including format
• How long the session(s) will be and what the timetable is
• The invoice and expenses processes
• Any equipment that you need such as a microphone, projector, space for children to move etc., and what to do if these aren’t available
• Anything specific to your practice you think may be useful for the school to know.

Now the real planning can begin! It's time to start putting the different elements of your session or residency into place. Not all of the points below will be relevant to you, but this checklist is a useful place to start.

• Travel and accommodation: are you confident about where you’re going and where you’ll stay? If not, please do get in touch with your school contact for guidance. We also have some travel booking advice which may come in handy.
• Preparation for the participants: is there anything you’d like the children taking part to have done before you arrive? Please send through any suggested reading or exercises with plenty of notice.
• Protecting children: all events involving children should be planned with safeguarding in mind. We know you are likely to have your own policies through your National Performing Company, but you can also refer to our child protection policy and digital child protection policy for guidance
• Cancelling a session: we understand that many things are in flux at the moment but we strongly suggest trying to reorganise or reschedule a session where possible. We will support you in making this possible in any way we can. In the unfortunate event of having to cancel, please give the school as much notice as you can. If you have already paid for travel and accommodation, please email arts.alive@scottishbooktrust.com as soon as possible.

Have fun! Do let your contact at the school know if you need anything on the day to make the session more comfortable or enjoyable for yourself and everyone involved.

• Your contact at the school should have given you a copy of the Arts Alive claim form with their details included (this may be in person or by email). Please fill in your details and email it to arts.alive@scottishbooktrust.com so we can arrange payment and reimburse expenses
• Please let us know how the session went by completing a short online evaluation form. Your feedback will be confidential
• If you encountered any issues or the session didn't go as planned, we’d be grateful for your feedback - from both the schools and artists on the programme. You can let us know on the evaluation form, or call or email if you feel more comfortable. We'll always do our best to try to resolve a situation