Dear Artist,
Not this time...
Rejection, Resilience & Reimagining the Artist’s Journey
An Online Gathering by Creatives for World Mental Health Awareness Month
This October, as part of World Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re holding space for a conversation that’s both tender and necessary. The idea is simple: vulnerability isn’t weakness. It’s often the bravest thing we can bring to the table.
Rejection is an old companion for artists. It shows up in our inboxes dressed in polite, clipped phrases - “We regret to inform you...” - words that may appear harmless but can shake confidence, derail momentum, and whisper doubts about whether we belong at all. Still, the real story begins after the no. Where do we carry the sting? How do we recycle the disappointment into something that sustains rather than silences us?
This online gathering is a small attempt at rewriting that narrative. Instead of letting those letters close doors, we want to hold them up as raw material, as strange, uninvited gifts that might lead to unexpected beginnings.
We’re inviting visual artists from across disciplines of the visual arts to share stories that still bears the fingerprints of rejection, or that wrestles with failure and the uneasy lessons it leaves behind. Alongside these presentations, we’ll have open discussions, journaling sessions, and workshops where honesty is encouraged, and strategies are swapped.
It’s not about easy answers or quick fixes. Anyone who has been at this for a while knows those don’t exist. This gathering is about community, about hearing another voice say, “Yes, I've been rejected too,” and realising that behind every rejection notice is someone still sketching, composing, rehearsing, applying again.
Dates: 15 – 16 October 2026
Venue: Online
Format: Presentations, group discussions, workshops, and performances
What This Gathering Speaks To
Rejection leaves marks. In the arts, it’s not just about a declined application or a “not this time” email - it’s about the way those moments echo doubt. They tug at confidence, spark endless comparisons, and quietly chip away at a sense of belonging. Building a sustainable career in this landscape often means walking hand in hand with doubt, with fatigue, with the haunting question: am I enough? And yet, resilience often looks like applying again, sketching again, walking back into the studio even when the last door closed.
What We Hope For
This space is less about offering solutions and more about holding space together. A place where rejection isn’t brushed off or hidden, but unpacked and reframed. The aim is to normalise conversations around failure, self-doubt, and exhaustion, not as weaknesses, but as shared parts of the artist’s journey. We want artists to feel validated, to know that a “no” is not a verdict on their worth or potential. We’re also opening the door for artworks born out of rejection itself. Works that show how pain can become process, and how vulnerability can find its voice.
How We’ll Gather
Think of it as a mix of storytelling, art, and honest dialogue. For example, an artists will share personal rejection letters (the kind that sting, the kind that sit unopened for weeks) alongside the works that rose from them. There will be pieces about disappointment and repair, about rebuilding joy after a collapse. Group dialogues will open up difficult intersections; how rejection ties into race, gender, and class, and why it doesn’t land on everyone equally. And alongside it all, we’ll share mental health resources, reminders that you don’t have to push endlessly, that rest and reinvention are also valid ways forward.
themes
Rejection &
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We Regret to Inform You…
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No Reply Is Also a Reply
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Rejection Letters, Unwritten Futures
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Ink of Refusal: Writing Through the No
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Almost doesn't count
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Declined, But Not Denied
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Return to Sender: Letters of Refusal, Acts of Defiance
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Failed Again, Failed Better (after Beckett)
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Unchosen, Unseen, Unstoppable
Resilience
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Am I Enough?
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Letters, Labels & Loss
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No as a Long Sentence
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The Rejection Room
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But We Persist
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The Weight of Not Being Chosen
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You Were Never Meant to Fit In
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Still Here: After the Letters Came
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Rejection is Not a Mirror
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Burned Letters, Blossomed Selves
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This Letter Does Not Define Me
We would be honoured if you joined us as contributing artist who can respond to rejection, recovery, and the complicated relationship between art-making and mental wellness. We’d love to hear you reflect on your work - how it may have been shaped, interrupted, or even sharpened by rejection - and to share the strategies you’ve found for navigating vulnerability while still moving forward with intent.
The event will include:
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Artist talks and presentations
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Discussions with question and answer conversation from artists
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A collective discussion space for artists to share their stories and strategies
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A safe, supportive platform to speak freely on the emotional labor of being an artist
Event Dates: 15 – 16 October 2026
Location: Online (register to receive the links to follow upon release of the program)
Participation Format: presentation/talk + group discussion Presentations + performances
This is an artist led project and we are trying our best to find sponsors to support this event. Your donation will help greatly.
LEARN ABOUT HOW YOU CAN PARTNER WITH US AS A BRAND
We invite your brand to partner with us on this unique gathering, a space where artists, curators, and cultural workers come together to reflect on the silent weight of rejection, the emotional toll of sustainability in the arts, and the courage it takes to keep creating. Your partnership would directly support the artists and presenters who are offering not only their creative practice but also their emotional generosity in sharing these vulnerable parts of their journeys. By joining us, you help ensure they are honored and compensated with care. What Your Brand Gains in Partnership Visibility: Your brand featured across a curated digital campaign during World Mental Health Month - appearing in all graphics, press releases, event visuals, and documentation. Extended Reach: Targeted coverage before, during, and after the event across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn - amplified by our collective artist networks. Alignment with Advocacy: A direct link to mental health awareness in the arts, positioning Your Brand as a key supporter of conversations that are urgent, human, and globally relevant. Community Trust: Strengthened relationships with artists, curators, and cultural institutions who already recognise Your Brand as a vital supporter of contemporary practice. Why This Partnership Matters: This gathering is more than an event; it’s a catalyst for ongoing conversations around care, sustainability, and the inner lives of artists. With Your Brand support, we can ensure that those who share their time and stories are properly compensated, while also showing the wider community that you invest in artists’ well-being, not just their moments of visible success. Together, we can model what a culture of care in the visual arts might look like.