Are you an artist who writes?
Or a writer who arts?
Mentoring for writers of all stripes, ages, and abilities.
Expand and deepen your understanding of writing with Dr. James Miller and Dr. Anna Johnson. These two published authors and experienced university lecturers hold workshops, Intensive Writing Mentoring Residencies, and one to one mentoring at RuptureXIBIT, working alongside our art mentors Kate Howe and Sally Minns.
Why Rupture Writing?
Rupture believes everyone is an artist, with art existing in many forms. Rupture presents workshops and events that draw inspiration from the free-flowing, interdisciplinary salons of the past, emphasizing that art is a dynamic response to impulse and experience rather than something able to be rigidly defined.
At Rupture, artistic practice is fluid and ever-evolving. Artists are encouraged to explore, question, and allow their work to emerge naturally. Writing is essential in this process, clarifying thinking and deepening understanding. By embracing writing, artists can refine their creative expression without the constraints of external validation.
Rupture fosters this exploration through Practice Development weekends, offering workshops on examining and expanding artistic practices, followed by writing sessions with published authors. Writing and art are intertwined—through writing, artists can make sense of their work, reflect on their practice, and push creative boundaries.
Meet the Writing Mentors - Dr. James Miller, Dr. Anna Johnson & Kate Howe
James and methodology:
“My practice as a mentor aims to be as free as possible from pre-determined ideas or assumptions; I treat each writer as distinct and individual and aim to work with them to help them best realise their ideas. Within this space, I have a three fold approach:
1. Diagnostic. We ask. Where are you at? What are you writing? What do you want to achieve with your writing? Where are you on your writing journey? Are you a beginner looking for more fundamental guidance and support or an adept who needs a final push to produce work of a publishable standard?
2. Practical. We look at your technique and style - how can we improve the words on the page? How can we improve the structure and impact of the piece? How can we make the piece work better? How can we make your writing sharper, more original, more distinct, more creative?
3. Existential/ fundamental. Is this what you want to write? What are you really writing about? We go deep to really try and figure out - what is your story? What is the problem that your work is speaking to? Sometimes this can require painful forms of growth - abandoning inauthentic projects that you've outgrown and are holding you back, having the courage to address what it is you really want to write about.
Within this lose framework, Rupture's pragmatic, non judgement, experimental ethos offers the perfect space to explore, evolve and develop your work.
We see all the Arts as part of the same practice - whether prose or poetry, painting, sculpture or music, cultural theory or philosophy - we look at transferring and cross pollinating practices and approaches to help best realise your self as a writer.
James is available for a free 20 minute one to one consultation, works individually with writing mentoring clients, and offers a reader/comment service. Book Now
Anna and methodology:
As a mentor, I believe it’s my job to hold a space that nurtures conversation, exploration and action. I aim, always, to recognise the vulnerability of sharing what you create, or hope to create, and especially the parts of your practice that you might be struggling with. As such, I aim to build a mentoring relationship that feels as safe and explorative as it does rigorous and productive.
There is a space opened up by conversation that allows us to see things anew, to find paths that we hadn’t realised were there, and to better understand our practice. Mentoring is a chance to have those conversations, a chance for us to learn together what your particular practice needs in this moment.
Out of this conversational space, I create tailored writing activities to encourage new ways of working, build skills, or focus your thoughts on a particular issue. These exercises feed the continued conversation as we get deeper into our exploration of your practice. They often lead to new work or new ways of working.
This looping process of conversation and action can be used short-term, to shift a creative block for instance, or as a longer process of ongoing exploration, depending on what works for you and your practice.
Rupture’s ethos of practice as foundational to creativity, of open communication, and ongoing discovery, aligns perfectly with my aims as a mentor. I have no secret formula for creativity, no one-size-fits-all template for practice – instead, I believe we can work together to discover more about your practice, and to develop skills and understanding that will move it forward.
Contact our team to enquire about mentoring or to arrange a complimentary 20 minute session with Anna.
RuptureXBIT welcomes writers to develop their practice during an affordable four-week intensive writing mentoring residency.
"We offer the Templum space for 4 weeks with two mentoring sessions and a chance to be part of the community here at Rupture on a daily basis. We believe just like visual artists, writers need space and sometimes that needs to be somewhere other than your home or a cafe. A destination where you have uninterrupted time and space but are in close proximity to other creatives who are immersed in their creative practices - there is a rhythm to our working practices that can be very contagious!"
RuptureXIBIT provides a space to experiment, present work-in-progress, and exchange ideas across disciplines in an environment free from hierarchy. Experimental can mean many things. It may be testing new approaches, developing unfamiliar methods, or asking more of your writing practice.
We welcome proposals from writers who wish to grow through experimentation and public exchange. At RuptureXIBIT, we believe the most exciting work often comes from risk-taking and innovation.
We are a laboratory for ideas, a supportive environment for testing boundaries, and a platform for new voices to emerge.
This intensive writing mentoring residency consists of four weeks of writing space in our Templum, 2x 60 minute mentoring sessions with Kate or Anna and the opportunity to be part of our studio community.
It includes access to our workshops and the more informal support that comes with working from RuptureXIBIT. Plus, we offer promotion of the writing residency and any events across numerous platforms and full support from our experienced in-house team. Access to the space is available 8am-8pm 7 days per week and the space has capacity for up to three writers at a time.
Price: £525. (Additional mentoring sessions and reading can be added on)..
How to Apply?
To apply for the Intensive Writing Mentoring Residency we require the following:
A written proposal for your residency (up to 500 words). This describes your concept for your residency.
A statement (up to 500 words) about why or how your practice will benefit from a writing mentoring residency at the RuptureXIBIT. This is where you can talk about how you hope to push yourself and your writing practice.
We ask that you include the following with the proposal, should we accept your application:
Writers bio (max 250 words)
A brief description of your current work and practice (150 - 200 words)
A brief description of your proposal for use on our website and social media (up to 250 words)
Self Portrait Image to be used on our website and social media (jpg, 5MB max)
Ready for more?
Discover our Intensive Mentoring Residency for Writers
Group Writing Show
The Group Writing Show is a platform for writers to share work in progress, test new ideas, and experience the power of writing in community.
Each show brings together a group of writers who present excerpts of their work—unfinished, experimental, or newly developed—followed by conversation with the audience. The focus is not on polished outcomes but on the process of writing itself: how ideas form, shift, and expand through sharing.
At RuptureXIBIT, we believe writing grows stronger when it is spoken aloud, witnessed, and discussed. The Group Writing Show creates space for dialogue across genres, disciplines, and audiences, offering writers the chance to reflect, experiment, and connect.
Watch this space for news on our upcoming group writing shows! Join our newsletter to stay connected.
Once a quarter, we host invited artists and writers for a residency.
These residencies offer space and time for artists with established practices to interrogate or explore new work.
No final work needs to be produced, writers can choose to hold a reading, workshop or performance if they would like to.
Know someone who this is the perfect fit for? Nominate a writer now.