I had the pleasure of speaking with renowned musician and composer Daniel Smith this month about his new organization, Artists Seeking Transcendence, and the exciting events occurring in 2021! I wanted to know the inspiration behind the organization and learn what each online event has to offer artists of all backgrounds, around the world. If you know Daniel Smith and/or have had the opportunity to listen to him speak about creativity/the arts in any capacity, you can imagine that I left the conversation feeling pumped about his new organization. I really think the workshops held by Artists Seeking Transcendence will reinvigorate emerging and seasoned artists, providing clarity regarding their creative practice in the new year.

The inspiration behind Artists Seeking Transcendence
Art and philosophy were always tied for Daniel; art was "the pursuit of a life well-lived." As young as 12, Daniel recalls philosophizing about life, wisdom, and kindness with his friends on the back of a yellow school bus on their way to a band performance. While some things about that memory feel a bit silly to Daniel now, it's where he marks the realization that "artistic expression is inextricably tied to furthering one's own humanity."

Let's fast-forward to just a few years ago. Daniel began speaking with award-winning dancer/choreographer and FSU Associate Professor of Dance, Gwen Welliver, about how arts education is incomplete. Arts education spends so much time on technique, but much like the saying 'power and money don't change you, they reveal you,' "when you are trained to have technical skills as an artist, you are learning how to communicate and express, but that's a means of revealing who you are. So, who you are is often the limiting factor toward generating profound, meaningful art." As an artist who went through an undergraduate in dance, I extremely relate to the latter statement. It took years within the institution, and growing up outside of the institution, to place less focus on my technique and more focus on the things I needed to express. My technique was always there, and my voice was as well, but I was far more skilled at calling upon my technique than my voice due to my training. 
 
Daniel believes that "enriching one’s self is not ancillary to arts training, it is arts training," and he's on a mission seeking the betterment of art by seeking the betterment of the artist themselves. Thus, the creation of Artists Seeking Transcendence. 

The 6 core character attributes explored through 6 separate workshops 
Daniel acknowledges that categorizing human attributes is always a dicey task. The core character attributes were influenced by several schools of thought and picked as a means for structuring the workshops in a clear way that cultivates a sense of gratitude in individuals' art-making, providing inspiration and motivation. Each workshop will focus on one of six core character attributes, which are: 

1. happiness 
2. wisdom
3. courage 
4. humanity 
5. justice
6. temperance 

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of human attributes. 

Daniel also emphasizes that all of these attributes are interrelated, that one makes little sense without another. While each workshop will focus on one attribute, it will be discussed in relation to the others. As stated on the website, the workshops will investigate "philosophical and scientific understandings of these virtues and mentor artists as they wrestle with rich, enduring questions in the pursuits of bettering themselves and expanding their capacity to make impactful art." 

What skills and lessons can artists expect to leave each event with?
Artists Seeking Transcendence and its workshops provide a "platform to dig deep into these enormous questions, these enduring questions, about who we are, why we’re [making art], and how to do what we’re doing as well as we can do it." Artists can expect to receive three major things from each event:

1. Knowledge from experts in the fields of science and philosophy regarding each core attribute.
2. Artistic mentorship from nationally renowned artists
3. The inspiration and tools to maximize your potential as a person and artist.

The workshops are connected in important ways to each other; however, each is designed as a stand-alone experience, you won't miss out on the conversation by just attending one or two events. The names of prominent artists and leading experts in philosophy and science will be revealed early-on in 2021. Make sure you're following Artists Seeking Transcendence on Facebook (linked) and Instagram (@artistsseekingtranscendence) to stay in the loop! One speaker, Philosopher/Author Dr. Michael Bishop, will kick off the first workshop discussing Happiness. You can find a description of this workshop and the others at https://www.artistsseekingtranscendence.com/.

Accessibility 
Daniel recognizes that not everyone can take a full day off to attend a workshop. He hopes to build interest in the organization in 2021 and create events spread out over a few days in the future. He also has plans to offer in-person events (yay!) once such gatherings can safely take place. Workshops are not necessarily aimed at older age groups; rather, those wishing to attend should have a certain level of maturity of thought and desire to really crack open their mind concerning art-making.
 
Daniel also wishes to emphasize that he doesn't want the cost to be prohibitive to anyone and asks folks to reach out if they don't have the funds. There are two financial relief schemes in place:

1. Reduced rates to high-school and college students.
2. A scholarship fun. You can donate here.

Conclusion
Artists Seeking Transcendence is blazing a path towards a future where we educate the whole artist, mind, body, and soul. The successive, monthly events beginning in February 2021 offer a wealth of knowledge to artists of all kinds, at various stages in their practice. If you're looking for a way to find curiosity and pleasure in your practice once more, give yourself some love and book a place on one or more of their events exploring happiness, wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, and temperance.

I'm really excited to kick off this workshop series that will be spread over 3 months! It's an honor to be commissioned to lead a movement workshop in support of mental well-being through two great organizations: Arts and Health Hub and RCPsych Arts Special Interest Group. You can find the link here and read about the other two artists/workshops!
...
Kayla McClellan will be running a workshop in November focusing on sound walking. “This practice essentially aims to ‘rediscover and reactivate our sense of hearing’ (Westerkamp, 1974). I fuse Soundwalking with bodily/spatial awareness and memory: reinforced by creating a memory map after completing my walk.
Kayla is an international multidisciplinary artist and dance scientist from Florida. She received her BFA Dance Degree in 2017 from Florida State University and her MFA Dance Science Degree from London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2019. McClellan has also been granted a UK Global Talent visa, endorsed by Arts Council, due to her arts and research work created around the world. Among McClellan’s artistic and scientific endeavors in the UK/US, she has created relationships in the Netherlands while working with organizations and dance companies like Fiber and ICK Amsterdam. McClellan ultimately desires to serve whatever community she resides in by connecting with individuals through her artistic practice and research.

Introduction
So, you’re interested in the UK Global Talent visa. Wonderful! I hope this post about my journey to receiving mine will help you understand the process better. Please note that I am NOT an immigration advisor and cannot advise you on any choices/decisions. As well, every visa process changes all the time. You’ll read more about my experience with this in my following post. This means, reading about my journey might help you better understand yours, but your journey will be vastly different, especially if you’re not in the performance art sector; thus, this is NOT a replicable, one-way golden ticket to the visa. Okay, now that I’ve sufficiently covered my butt, let’s get to it.
 
It’s not enough to want this more than anything in the world or to be wildly talented with tons of experience. You need two of the most valuable resources that exist: money and time. I don’t come from an affluent family—I came to the UK collecting student loan debt that was to pay for my master’s degree and get me through two years of living. Throughout my degree, I worked the 20 hours a week admitted to people on a UK student visa. I saved as much of it as I could & renegotiated my loans after two terms so that it wouldn’t be such an exorbitant amount (but, let’s be real, knocking a few thousand pounds off the loans did nothing to put an actual dent in them; rather, it made me feel responsible? Sort of at ease? None of the above really, but I did it.). I then began saving the rest of my work money throughout the year and a half solely for food and some fun, but mostly because I always had the goal to try to stay in the UK as a working artist after my degree.
 
Let’s talk about my privilege in all of this before we get into the full costs and drama of it all. I’m a white person from what immigration calls a “low-risk” country, America. My financially poor past is made way less of a problem due to having supportive parents (and whiteness) that told me the world was at my feet and I could do anything. I also didn’t have anyone in the U.S. that I needed to take care of. I have a loving partner in the UK whose family was also able to help me when things got really sticky with COVID-19.
 
Costs
 You must be prepared for the costs. You must have the money AND MORE because there will always be unexpected costs. Always.
 
Expected Costs:

• UK health surcharge for 5 years £2000 (this number goes up even more as of Oct. 1st, 2020)  :(
• Stage 1 application to Arts Council: £456
• Stage 2 application to the Home Office (inclusive of biometrics): £171.20

 
Unexpected Costs:

• Immigration Lawyer: £200
• Paying for an immigration appointment (even at a core center): £135
• Return train ticket to London for immigration appointment: £27.80
• 6 months London housing while stuck due to COVID-19 with no income: £1,992

 
Total: £4982 (£2354.8 more than I originally expected)
 
And to be honest, there’s probably more unexpected expenses that I’ve blocked out of my memory.
 
Maybe needless to say, it’s amazing to have this visa, but I need a job quick because my savings are exhausted. Let me know if you need a performer/choreographer/Pilates instructor/copy writer and/or proofreader/arts administrator/arts lecturer.
 
The Dramatic Process
It probably doesn’t help that I’m generally a hyper-passionate person. But honestly, this process took over a year (all while I was finishing my MFA degree, experiencing huge spikes in my panic/depressive disorder, and making no money for the last half of it) and put me and my loved ones through some of the deepest depths of hell I’ve ever experienced. Told y’all I can be super passionate/emotional, but ignore the language and focus on what I’m trying to tell you: please be prepared for a long, arduous process with little reinforcement. Find people who love you and can help you along the way because you will need so much help. I would love to help you when I can, so here’s one person in your corner. Loving lesson: if you follow the government procedures to a T, relax as much as possible during your times of waiting. You’ve done everything right and this journey is not (usually) full of people out to get you—it’s simply a bureaucratic operation that involves a ton of confusion and anticipating answers. I got into a bad headspace regarding all the confusion and many times thought that something dreadful would happen to me. But each time, I did my research, returned to the procedure, saved every email correspondence, and returned to my year of practicing patience (or really, reeeeeally trying to). Hopefully, I can help you with some of the confusion by walking you through my process.
 
It all Started with a Work Visa—Something I Soon Realized was Unattainable
I tried to get a work visa from July 2019 to January 2020. It is not a viable path for artists or even researchers/lecturers (if you’ve made it happen somehow, congratulations and please share your secrets because I’m sure there’s someone that wants to go that route). I applied for nearly 60 jobs, in performance/arts admin/arts education, while also finishing my dissertation and desperately figuring out what I would do if I had to leave the country. None of the positions met the salary requirement, or, the organization wasn’t willing to use their certificate of sponsorship. That last part only makes sense if you’ve looked at the work visa route and I won’t get into that process. Basically, I wasted a ton of time and tears thinking that people would want/be able to employ me in the UK when I studied in the country. However, I do think things happen in mystical ways and my months of trying to get a work visa, and probably annoying everyone I spoke to about it, paid off. I went to a reading for a project put on by my friend’s MFA class and when she was done reading her piece she immediately whisked me away saying, “my friend just got this visa I’ve never heard of, come talk to her!” So, in January 2020, just days before my student visa was about to end, I learned about the magical UK Global Talent Visa.
 
A swift shift
A second whirl-wind began. I decided I’d go to Amsterdam for the month of February to do some soul searching, but also to give myself some time to research this visa without having to travel all the way back to the US. Here’s the quick run-down of it (please note again, these things change all the time and you should still read the government documents in totality):

• Unlike a work visa, you don’t have to have a job opportunity to receive a UK Global Talent Visa
• There are 2 types of visas under the Global Talent Migrant Scheme: Global Talent (confusing name, right?) for established artists and Global Promise for promising artists (this was my route since I was just coming out of my master’s degree and didn’t have as much performance/making experience)
• You can apply to stay up to 5 years (if you do 5 years, you can try for settlement afterwards)
• You can work as many jobs as you need to and don’t have to tell the home office when you change jobs
• You can’t leave the country for more than 6 months over a year or you could lose the visa
• The application process is in 2 parts. You apply to Arts Council first. If they deem you a promising artist and endorse you, you then move on to the 2nd application: the immigration application. THE 2ND APPLICATION USUALLY HAS TO BE DONE FROM YOUR HOME COUNTRY. I could do it in the UK because I got stuck here after visiting my partner in March and COVID-19 shut down the world.

                          *That’s partly why the process was dramatic. As stated earlier, I couldn’t work and
                           had to pay rent without the ability to get government assistance from the US,
                          because I wasn’t there, or the UK, because you’re never eligible for public funds even                              if you have a visa. I was also doing a lot of waiting, anxious that I was going to be                                      breaking some rule because they were changing day by day at that time.*
 
I originally was researching the Exceptional Talent Visa in February 2020, because that’s what the Global Talent Visa used to be, and it changed mid-Feb 2020. I only found out by visiting the govt. website. Check the website frequently, I can’t say it enough. There were many other hiccups, but we can talk about those in person if you’d like because I’m too paranoid to write about them haha. Hopefully, they weren’t issues that many others will have to deal with.
 
What you need (Global Promise) for the Arts Council Application
You need to provide evidence in at least 2 out of the 3 categories set by Arts Council. However, you cannot submit more than 10 pieces of evidence. Each piece of evidence needs to include the date/place/organization. The categories and what I sent in are detailed below:

• At least 2 reviews from UK or international work in the last 5 years; they can be reviews of work that you were in, but not specifically mentioned in as well. If that’s the case, you need to have the choreographer or head of the project write a letter detailing your role in the work. I submitted:

                    1. A screen-shot of a review of my own virtual dance work Nearly
                    2. A screen shot of a review of INsync: Harmonic Dissonance in Amsterdam + a                                                    letter from the principle researcher/director

• At least 1 award demonstrating excellence in the last 5 years. I wasn’t going to submit anything for this category because they usually want non-university pieces of evidence; however, if you went to a conservatoire and received a monetary award from them, the committee will use their own discretion regarding its value. I sent:

                    1. A screen shot of a time-coded, dated email from my school’s principal confirming                                     my monetary conservatoire award

• Different pieces of evidence that you were part of professional engagements in the past 5 years in one or more countries. I chose:

                     1. A screen-shot of the COTVN residency program I was part of in                                                                       Amsterdam. I also included a brief description of the residency, my work I                                                    created, and a link to the program notes.
                    2. A screen-shot of the CCL residency program I was part of in                                                                               Amsterdam. I also included a brief description of the residency, my work I                                                    created, and a link to the program notes.
                    3. A screen-shot of the Young Artist Feedback Forum program where I presented                                         work in London. I also included a brief description of the forum, my work I                                                 created, and a link to the program notes.
                     4. A screen-shot of the dance program I created with a collaborator in FL: take                                                        down, a dismantling of process. I also included a brief description of the program,                                           my work I created, and a link to the program notes.
                     5. A screen-shot of my TEDxFSU talk in FL, a brief explanation of the performance                                      lecture, and a link to the presentation.
                     6. A screen-shot evidencing that I was published in a journal for a dance/movement                                     therapy project I did in my undergraduate degree
 
Notice I only sent 9 pieces of evidence. Better to send quality over quantity, as a good friend reminded me.
 
YOU ALSO NEED 3 LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION:
           

• 1 from someone with a senior management position relevant to your career in the UK
• 1 from someone with a senior management position relevant to your career in another country
• 1 from an individual (still choose wisely, make it relevant to your career & they can also have a high-up position)

 
For me, the letters were the hardest pieces of evidence to obtain. You never know how much time someone will have on their hands, so do most of the prep work for them and allow enough time to receive them before you want to submit. They also need to send you their full CV to attach to their letters to prove their status/position.
 
I also tied up the entire application with a cover page and table of contents because I’m extra and wanted to make everything as easy to find as possible.
 
My application timeline
I heard about the visa at the end of January 2020. I began researching the visa and collecting my evidence in February 2020. I sent my first application to Arts Council on May 14th, 2020. I Received my endorsement on July 10th, 2020. I sent my second application to immigration on July 31st, 2020. My immigration appointment was set for August 7th, 2020. I received confirmation that my Global Talent Migrant application was successful on August 13th, 2020. Your timeline might be different.
 
Conclusion
It’s a long, difficult, EXPENSIVE process, but worth it if your intuition tells you that you need to be in the UK as an artist. I hope this post helps you get started on the application, but please remember that you need to fully and frequently read the documents on the government website. Follow the directions, put in the work, add your personal flare, and have confidence in yourself.
 
Link to Government and Arts Council Websites:
https://www.gov.uk/global-talent?fbclid=IwAR2IFpSbNygaqFgfoSaiTbXu3z81PxVy2AgSDpmx_yg16Ed0XlM6dZlw_7E
 
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/global-talent-visa?fbclid=IwAR0328gq0WbZh78JZnZIJmWOy5-uht5NFpCPvkXsfAvxO2G6epbsm1SimsM#section-1

Please click on the photo below to access the promotional video for my new work, "Nearly." Premeiring April 15th, 2020 at 4pm GMT/11am EST on my Instagram Live feed.

Instagram Handle: kayla_mccl

Nearly is a culmination of 3 years living between countries. Inspired by Anne Carson’s chapter “Distances” in Autobiography of Red, McClellan’s new work is a meditation on isolation and relationship. The piece considers imagined and real distances—exploring the effects of them on her mind and body. Nearly engages with the world’s present human blueprint: 2 meters apart, don’t come any closer. In a hungry attempt to foster connection with the earth and others, the performance is set outside of McClellan’s London flat and broadcasted over Instagram live. 

​I'm really excited to kick off this workshop series that will be spread over 3 months! It's an honor to be commissioned to lead a movement workshop in support of mental well-being through two great organizations: Arts and Health Hub and RCPsych Arts Special Interest Group. You can find the link here and read about the other artists as well!
...
Kayla McClellan will be running a workshop in November focusing on sound walking. “This practice essentially aims to ‘rediscover and reactivate our sense of hearing’ (Westerkamp, 1974). I fuse Soundwalking with bodily/spatial awareness and memory: reinforced by creating a memory map after completing my walk.
​
Kayla is an international multidisciplinary artist and dance scientist from Florida. She received her BFA Dance Degree in 2017 from Florida State University and her MFA Dance Science Degree from London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2019. McClellan has also been granted a UK Global Talent visa, endorsed by Arts Council, due to her arts and research work created around the world. Among McClellan’s artistic and scientific endeavors in the UK/US, she has created relationships in the Netherlands while working with organizations and dance companies like Fiber and ICK Amsterdam. McClellan ultimately desires to serve whatever community she resides in by connecting with individuals through her artistic practice and research.