Groundwork

Groundwork was a pilot professional development and peer mentoring retreat for New Brunswick artists that took place from July 3-10, 2026.

The week-long retreat had three elements:

During the day, participants took 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 among the professional development workshops were 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 was the informal networking opportunity. The retreat was at Camp Pascobac, a true summer camp experience. Participants stayed in bunkhouses on-site. This sustained proximity led to organic networking opportunities after the day’s sessions, when the participants ate dinner together, or sat around a campfire, talking about their lives and creative practices.