Balancing Work and Self Care
As a small staff at Red Salmon Arts, we are often talking about self-care, about how busy we feel, and we are transparent with each other about our work capacity, which can change from week to week. Many people that have worked with RSA over the years have multiple jobs or projects, especially as artists and cultural organizers. While we do our absolute best to carry out the vision of the organization, some staff have started to wonder if there is anything we can do to get ahead of the stress and thrive as an organization.
That has been one of our main goals to explore in the Impact Accelerator Lab. We’ve talked with our mentors at allgo, a statewide queer people of color organization, and La Peña, a Latino arts organization, which have given us great advice. Both organizations have been in Austin for over twenty years. Priscilla Hale from allgo explained that social justice non-profit work never ends, that there is always another task you can do, so you have to make sure to take breaks. Cynthia Pérez from Le Peña was very firm and stated that we need to work smart not hard.
We look forward to continue presenting our work from the lab to our mentors so we can find a balance that will help staff avoid any burnout and instead for more time to secure funding for RSA’s programs.
