Recently I was engaged in an online discussion in which one of the people expressed frustration at the lack of mentors and potential fellow mastermind group participants in her community. She lives in a college town, but isn’t a college student, and she feels as though there is dearth of folks with whom she could connect, to feed her artist-process.

When I replied to her with what I felt was a fabulous suggestion for a starting point, she was relieved and thrilled, as well as filled with a little, “Why didn’t *I* think of that” action. 😉

So, even though our exchange didn’t start with an email to my column’s inbox, I figured I’d share the goodness with y’all, in case there’s anyone else out there feeling like they’re striking out, as they look for people with whom to connect.

First, if you live anywhere near a college or university, check to see if there’s an entertainment department, a drama club, a film/TV division of the journalism concentration. Sure, big universities with entire colleges dedicated to film, TV, journalism, acting, and entertainment studies are easy to target. But if your local school only has an English department with one literature professor who *sometimes* teaches “The Classics of the Theatre,” you’re still gonna be okay!

There will be a professor out there — and students attending the school — who are hungry for connections with fellow artists. They may be harder to find in a university that doesn’t have some fancy, state-of-the-art theatre or a high-tech production studio for the student news, but they’re there!

Find the person who teaches the class that includes a little Shakespeare. Take her to coffee. Ask where she jams with fellow creatives. There’s probably a group that gets together for poetry readings or discussions of new plays, and that’s your starting point for connecting with people with whom you could BUILD a production hub, an artist’s collective, a safe space to try out new material and build toward a larger creative community. Look for flyers posted at coffee houses. Ask around at the music department or visual art department, because they’re probably buddies with the other frustrated actors in the midst who don’t have a formal network.

Whenever I hear actors talk about a geographical-based lack of opportunity to connect with fellow artists, to create footage, to build a career, I call bullshit. Today? No limits. Wherever you are, you can FIND a way to create work, to build a community, to thrive as an artist.

What creative ways have you plugged in, despite what may have seemed like “limitations” at first? Lemme hear from y’all! Let’s share our toys and help build the industry we want to be a part of, no matter where we live.

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001656.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.