The quote above may be an exaggeration, but Andrew Simonet (Headlong Dance Theater, more.), the founder of Artists U, told me yesterday that the project is extremely focused on helping performing artists use the tools they already have to advance their artistic work and lead a balanced life at the same time.

Artists U won't write grants for you, and they won't sort out your finances, but they'll support and guide you while you do it for yourself. This year, the nomination process is open for the first time, and letters of intent are due tomorrow (that's Saturday, June 20).

I talked to Andrew yesterday about the brief history of Artists U, what the program's like for participants, and how sometimes artists need to get out of their own way to find success.

Why did you start Artists U?
In Headlong, all three of us started spending time answering other artists' questions about running an organization, fundraising, PR, because in the scheme of things we relatively have our shit together. We were spending a lot of time giving advice, but it was inefficient, and was like giving people fish rather than teaching them to fish.

I became one of the facilitators of Creative Capital, and that was an inspiration. They have great tools, practices and approaches that are very positive and uplifting and use the skills that artists already have; they're both very forgiving and very rigorous. Talking to Nick Stuccio, we envisioned something local, and longer, lasting for a year. Creative Capital is a weekend that's like a big revival meeting and gets everybody inspired, but a lot of work artists need to do takes time to implement. So I talked to Nick about that and then LINC [Leveraging Investments in Creativity] was coming to Philadelphia and we pitched it, and along with my first two facilitators, Jennifer Childs and Janera Solomon, we planned the curriculum. It was hard but it was great.

What was hard about it?
Artists are tough. We resist change, we love being negative, we're incredibly capable but we're really complainy. For artists who are talented, a lot of what's standing in their way is themselves. It's not the only thing; there are real challenges. But that's the tough part: getting our own bullshit out of the way.

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Speaking of Artists U, that project was founded by one Andrew Simonet, also of Headlong Dance Theater (who's new work more. is coming to this fall's Live Arts Festival).

For a little taste of Headlong, watch the very cool excerpts above, from their 2004 Live Arts production Hotel Pool.

--Nicholas Gilewicz