Groundwork is a pilot professional development and peer mentoring retreat for New Brunswick artists that will take place from July 3-10, 2026. We’ve selected our peer mentors and are now ready to open up applications for participants!
The week-long retreat will have three elements: during the day, participants will take part in a number of professional development workshops in subjects such as marketing and branding, budgeting, and business development, run by ArtsLink staff and industry professionals who have experience working with artists.
Spread amongst the professional development workshops will be a number of artist-run workshops with one on one peer-mentoring opportunities:
- Writing and speaking about your work with writer and ArtsLink NB Programming Director Jericho Knopp
- Grant-writing with printmaker and grant writer Natt Cann
- Longevity and sustainability in your art practice with visual artist Theresa MacKnight
- Collaboration in practice with musician Charles Harding
- Creative wellbeing with illustrator Kaitlin Hoyt
The third element of the retreat is the informal networking opportunity. The retreat will be at Camp Pascobac, a true summer camp experience. Participants will all stay in bunkhouses on-site. This sustained proximity will lead to organic networking opportunities after the day’s sessions, when the participants eat dinner together, or sit around a campfire, talking about their lives and creative practices.
