The creator

The maker central, state secretary of culture Gunay Uslu has fortunately made this a major point of her policy. One of her concerns is the labor market position, which for many makers is lousy. It is good that this is being worked on, because it is often anything but easy for makers to keep their heads above water. The maker struggles. We saw that in our series "Startup.

Since November 2021, starting visual artists in this magazine wrote letters to each other, telling about starting their lives as artists. We asked them to write two such letters and respond to each other. In addition, each letter asked a question of you.

The letters were about finding balance, struggling with being a maker, finding inspiration, making too much hay, finding your path and your passion

For about a year and a half we were able to follow the ups and downs of these six artists and get a glimpse into the start-up of their careers. Something that of course involved ups and downs. In this BK Information appears the last letter in this series of twelve.

The letters were about finding balance, struggling with being a maker, finding inspiration, making too much hay, finding your path and your passion. And questions were asked: Is it nice when things happen naturally? What is success for an artist and what is a successful artist? What if you can't work as a maker for a while and how do you move on after that? Did I make the right choices? How do you deal with failure? What do you do when you just don't know where to look? How do you look at yourself?

All artists who participated in the column dared to be vulnerable and wrote openly and honestly about what occupied their minds. I have a lot of respect for that and want to thank Lauren Raaijmakers, Leonie Fernhout, Jelle van Kuilenburg, Repelsteeltje, Hannah Meijer and Loes van Reijmersdal very much for their contributions and the way they cooperated with us. I would also like to thank the readers who took the trouble to respond, it was very much appreciated each time.

Do you have ideas about a column you would like to read in BK Information

We will keep in touch with the letter writers, but we will stop this column after two rounds and start looking for new ideas. We already have some things in mind, but would also like to ask you: do you have ideas about a column you would like to read in BK Information?

A response can be mailed to redactie@bk-info.nl

Read the twelve letters all over again? You can do that at BKinformation.co.uk/articles/theme/startup