ARTIST LAB
CREATIVE & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Hi-ARTS ARTIST LAB is a workshop series designed to equip our community with skills and knowledge that support their creative growth and career development.
Whether you are an emerging artist, an aspiring professional, or simply exploring new artistic practices, there is an ARTIST LAB for you. Led by working artists and industry professionals, each session offers a practical and hands-on learning experience.
In addition to refining creative techniques, ARTIST LAB offers guidance on essential career-building skills such as marketing, pitching, and navigating the arts industry. Each session is crafted to help artists sustain and expand their practice while fostering connections within the Hi-ARTS community.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your craft, gain new perspectives, or strengthen the business side of your artistry, the ARTIST LAB Series is here to support your journey. Learn more below and step into the lab today.
2026-27 ARTIST LAB Workshops
Pitch Prep with Hi-ARTS
with Robyn Ayers
“Pitch Prep with Hi-ARTS” is a hands-on workshop for emerging, early-career, and mid-career artists. Facilitated by Hi-ARTS Team Members, this workshop guides artists through generating and editing written materials in advance of the upcoming application and audition season.
Come learn how to put your best foot forward in any introduction and how to best advocate for yourself and your work. After attending both sessions, participants will have completed a biography, artist statement, project proposal, and developmental timeline. Participants can expect experiential learning methodology that utilizes solo prompts, group brainstorming activities, individual coaching, and an editing process.
All Hi-ARTS staff are working artists, and leverage these experiences alongside their work as arts administrators to facilitate the development of both creative and practical written materials for artists.
Pitch Prep, Part One: Artist Bio & Statement
Thursday, November 12th: 4-7pm
Pitch Prep, Part Two: Project Proposals
Thursday, November 19th: 4-7pm
Hi-ARTS | 10 Lafayette Ave. Brooklyn, NY
$5-20 | Limited Capacity
Required Materials: personal laptop or other digital word processor/means of drafting materials. Note: participants are welcome to either bring pre-existing drafts of written materials or start completely from scratch.
Limited Capacity | Tickets go on sale soon!
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Hi-ARTS Program Manager
they/themRobyn is a Harlem-based movement artist and arts administrator. They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Fordham University & The Ailey School, which they obtained summa cum laude with majors in dance and philosophy. Robyn’s performance career takes them across formal stages, site-specific installation, and dance for film; exploring the relational, the wild, and the magical. Highlights include appearances at New York Live Arts, CPR-Center for Performance Research, Performance Space NY, Nitehawk Cinema, and on NOWNESS. Currently, Robyn dances for Hivewild under the direction of Katherine Maxwell, alongside other freelance projects.
In addition to their creative practice, Robyn works in arts programming and management. Supported by their background in library sciences and curriculum design, they design and implement artist residencies, manage company operations and production, and facilitate professional development workshops. Robyn’s administrative ethos exists in the collaborative space between technical writing, project management, experiential learning, and creative storytelling. When they’re not doing any of the above, Robyn can be found sitting by the ocean with their nose in a book.
ARTIST LAB Archive
The Well-Rounded Filmmaker with Director Brandi Webb
Acting: Breaking Mental Barries with Trina Asideu
Rhythm, Roots & Remembrance with Cheri L. Stokes