What is Practice Practice?

Practice Practice is a community-based arts education project co-founded by Isa Rodriguez and Dylan Cale Jones.

Working at the intersection of art, creativity, and everyday life, we publish accessible resources for artists to help them build balanced, resilient creative practices.

Art and creativity are in crisis. Our government is dismantling arts programs—including museums and libraries—while aggressively censoring creative expression, sending the contradicting messages that creativity is simultaneously insignificant and threatening to our society. Popular culture cultivates the myth that artists are different from everyday people and that creativity is separate from everyday life. The mainstream art world insists that the production of profitable art is more important than anything else in an artist’s life, including relationships, health, and ecological well-being.

These harmful and unrealistic expectations of creative practice don’t work for most artists. Artistic production is one form of creativity in a constellation of creative practices that build a meaningful and fulfilling life. Our work encourages artists to practice rest, reflection, and community engagement as intentionally and rigorously as they practice their craft. We empower artists to embrace their unique needs, desires, and experiences. We want artists to define what creative practice and artistic success means for themselves.

Our work asserts that creativity, in all its forms, is the material basis for experiencing and influencing the world. We present creativity as a technology for liberation, and believe creative practice is a tool for making meaningful social change. Creative practice nurtures imagination, critical thinking, resilience, and self-determination. These skills are necessary to meet the critical challenges of this cultural and historical moment. 

Creating networks of support and community for artists has never been more vital. Our work helps artists find support in a time when they are increasingly under-resourced and isolated. By connecting artists with the resources and community they need, we amplify the positive impacts they have on the world. Practice Practice helps artists build balanced, resilient practices, so that they can keep creating their art. 

Resources:

Workbook

Practice Practice: How to Keep Creating is a workbook for creative people (like you!). As the cornerstone of our project, it is designed to nourish your creativity and help you reconnect to your unique creative practice. We offer practical advice and tackle sticky subjects with care and humor. Learn to change your work habits, find collaborators, avoid burnout, and enjoy creating. Define creativity for yourself and build a practice that fits YOU!

Available in print and accessible PDFs. Visit our store!

You can also find the workbook at Printed Matter (NYC), Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection (Chicago, IL), and University of Arizona libraries (Tucson, AZ).

Podcast

 On Practice Practice Podcast, we speak to artists about how creative practice intersects with their lives. We’ve interviewed artists who identify as neuro-divergent, non-binary, Queer, Black, Indigenous, Latine, and disabled. Although these artists have different backgrounds and use different mediums, they’ve all faced similar issues sustaining their practices.

How do you make great art, do laundry, make dinner, and pick up your kids from school? How does creativity support your well-being? What does it mean to be a successful artist? We tackle these questions in candid conversations with curious, creative people. 

Transcripts are available in the archive!

Newsletter

We publish a free bi-weekly newsletter with questions, exercises, interviews and articles about building resilient creative practices. Our newsletter is thoughtful and supportive. Signing up is simple! Enter your email.