Pilot complete: did Emergent help Day Eve Komet?

The first year of Emergent is drawing to a close and we are preparing to open applications for year two. We thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with the artists shortlisted for our hybrid residency programme for early career artists, delivered in partnership with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts, Gateshead, to get their feedback and insight.

When we first met Day Eve Komet last year, it was a moment of change within their practice. Read on to find out how Emergent supported them through these evolutions...

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Day Eve Komet is writer, performer, multi-disciplinary artist and world maker. They create immersive multidisciplinary worlds that create a dream-like experience for audiences. They are a shapeshifting time-travelling individual that explores the world through liminal space with fervor and colour.

Day Eve Komet

Shortlisted artist for the Emergent 2022 Cohort

A photograph of a small white walled gallery space covered in blocks of coloured paint across the walls and floor. A mirror is stood at the far end of the room. Why did you apply to Emergent?

I was in deep financial stress, as many artists know and experience and came across the Emergent programme and it spoke directly to me. As a disabled artist, there are so many barriers I experience and the Emergent programme felt perfect for me.

What lessons about your practice - or anything else - has Emergent offered you?

I have just moved back to the UK after many years abroad and was finding it rather hard to enmesh myself back into the London cultural scene. Emergent helped me streamline my focus and allowed me to see what/ how to apply for what I wanted and needed to further my career prospects.

 A portrait painting of a skull like object with bunches in their hair above their head. A read circle is arranged behind the skull on a black background.
A bright blue square image with a grey skull with an open top. Red and black wiggly lines come out of the head with yellow text overlayed on it that reads

Do you feel like your practice or career have improved at all as a result of Emergent?

Emergent helped me to apply for a Developing Your Creative Practice grant through Arts Council England and they also supported me in applying for the SPRINT Festival which is run by Camden’s People’s Theatre. I was successful in my SPRINT application and will be performing a working progress of my play ‘Where do your monsters hide?’. I do not think this would have been possible without Emergent.

We know terms like ‘emerging’ can create barriers for some artists. What does being described as an ‘emerging artist’ mean to you?

I do not believe in labels and call myself an artist - I do not know when these labels become relevant or necessary. It feels rather systematic than organic.

Screenshot of a game-like application on a black screen. To the left is an image of a globe and to the right is a piece of text including
Day Eve with glitter on their face looks directly at the camera. In the foreground they hold a painted rock in one hand.

What’s next for you?

To continue what I do: working and developing my play as well as my other projects.

Emergent is a project aimed at addressing and tackling the entrenched marginalisation and under-representation of disabled people in the arts sector and wider society. The main focus is creatives at an early stage in their career (including re-emerging artists) who need support in order to continue.

Designed as a hybrid programme, we believe this format is important as we move away from the pandemic conditions, to find that much has changed, and new ways of working and making art are happening. By 'hybrid,' we mean including both in-place and online ways of working, including the making of new artworks and the sharing of creative experiences with audiences.

Alongside the selected Emergent Awardee, a selection of shortlisted artists receive tailored artist support for the duration of the programme.

Artist Support at Shape

As part of our mission to support disabled creatives and change the cultural landscape for the better, we regularly commission new works either as part of our main Arts Council England-funded programme or as one-off projects. On our website you can explore our recent collaborations and commissions and find out more about the artists behind them. 

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Banner Image Description: A black non-binary person with short dreadlocks and gold glitter covering their face, they sit close to the camera wearing a white shirt and holding a sunflower that is slightly out of focus.

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