001: This Wild Song - a podcast of honest conversations about art, business and life

This Wild Song (TWS) celebrates Australian female visual artists through portraits, interviews, exhibition and events. Created by Melbourne artist Ilona Nelson, this long term and large scale project seeks to address gender equality in a positive way and support Australian based artists.  Gender inequality is still prevalent in the arts: 74% of visual art graduates are women yet only 34% of museum exhibitions are by women for example.  Melbourne artist Elvis Richardson has a fantastic project called The Countess Report where she gathers data on gender representation in Australian contemporary arts, you can see her research at thecountessreport.com.au Ilona found after hosting only the second TWS forum the same questions kept being asked: If you could start again, what would you do differently?  How do you run your arts business?  How do you structure your days?   How do you fit in your practice when you’re a parent?  Are formal qualifications necessary for a successful career?  And so, she decided to create this podcast to answer these questions.  Plus we’ll also discuss self care, representation, self promotion and women in the arts.  The podcast is a series of honest conversations with TWS artists about art, business and life.  It’s designed to be a resource for artists by addressing the realities and practicalities of being a professional artist, and the ‘business’ of art. In this episode Ilona shares the story of TWS of how it began and has evolved over the years, the concept behind the portraits, and how she has financially supported the project.    / Learn more about the project and TWS artists at thiswildsong.com.au / Follow us on instagram @thiswildsong   Music: Rapture by Myfawny Hunter myfanwyhunter.com Editing: Alana Helbig alanahelbig.com   To support TWS and continue the conversation go to patreon.com/thiswildsong If you like what you hear please Subscribe, Review and Share!