These sessions will be a container for establishing a holistic and intuitively informed creative practice. I seek to create an open-ended and nonjudgmental space in which to explore your concerns and questions about living a life as a creative person. My goal is always to help creative people work out the values and priorities that will set the standard for their creative and professional decisions.
Making a living out of creative work is demanding, financially and emotionally. It is often confusing, and even more so for those who are marginalized (e.g., neurodivergent, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+). Some questions I have discussed with creatives often are: How can I learn to finish more projects? How can I sustain myself financially with my arts practice? Is it worth it to go to school? Can you help me with this grant application? These more concrete questions might lead to larger questions, like: How do I work through a creative blockage? How do I know what type of work I should be making? What is my purpose as an artist? What is my unique contribution to the world?
My goal is to help creatives establish an emotionally-aligned practice that informs the direction of current and future projects, such that this creative practice ultimately brings a sense of overall well-being. My goal is never to help artists achieve more traditional professional goals, such as visibility or fame, except to the extent that those goals reflect a more holistic assessment of one’s creative life and what will bring long-term satisfaction.
I apply my experience as an independent curator, literature professor, Buddhist eco-chaplain, and creative professional to cultivate a safe and unique space of discussion and reflection. I have experience working with writers (in any genre), arts workers, visual artists, musicians, film/video-makers, and sound/digital media artists. In essence, these sessions are suitable for creative practitioners of any kind.
If you’re interested in working together, but are unsure if this is the right format for you, please feel free to schedule a free 15-minute consultation using the menu below. If you’re ready to move forward, you may book a single session or a bundle of sessions (best for working through more complex issues).
Sessions are available on a sliding scale. Please choose the price point that aligns most with your current economic circumstances, keeping in mind that paying more allows me to offer sessions at a lower price point for those who need it.
If you are interested in meeting in person, please reach out via email before booking at studio.agduplan@gmail.com. Meetings must occur within Berkshire County, MA.
A chaplain is like a spiritual friend. Unlike a teacher, coach, or therapist, a chaplain is there primarily just to listen, not necessarily to offer guidance. A chaplain also makes space for the exploration of existential questions, especially as they arise around life’s meaning and one’s individual purpose, death and illness, identity, and navigating relationships. A chaplain may offer companionship during a difficult time or participate in a celebratory moment, too! My training is as a Buddhist eco-chaplain. Eco-chaplains, in particular, help to bridge human life and the more-than-human world. I draw principles from Joanna Macy’s “work that reconnects,” eco-dharma, and environmental justice to inform my approach as a chaplain. My sense is that our individual well-being is tied to the extent to which we understand our individual lives as being bound up with the lives of all the beings around us, and the environment as a whole.
While each chaplain usually has a spiritual/religious practice of their own, we are trained to interact with a broad range of spiritual practitioners outside our own tradition. Chaplains participate in the spiritual traditions of those they offer support to by taking part in shared ritual, prayer, meditation, or simply listening. Chaplains can also provide support to those who don't practice any kind of spiritual tradition at all, and even those who have had negative experiences with religion in the past. This brings us back to the beginning: a chaplain is like a friend of sorts, one who is particularly good at listening.
If you are interested in trying it out, feel free to book a free first session below. Future sessions are offered on a sliding scale. Please choose the option that works best for you, keeping in mind that paying more allows me to offer sessions to others at lower price points who need it.
Extended sessions, which last 90 minutes, offer the opportunity for practicing with meditation, prayer, or some other form of ritual during the session. When scheduling, please indicate what type of practice you might be interested in engaging in. Normal sessions (45 minutes) are simply an opportunity to talk in an open-ended way. You do not need to prepare in any way for these sessions.
If you are interested in meeting in person, please reach out via email before booking at studio.agduplan@gmail.com. Meetings must be held within Berkshire County, MA.
I feel incredibly lucky and have so much gratitude for getting to learn from and share space with An. I couldn't believe it when taking a multi-session class with An, Research-Based Practice for Creative Writers, that they shared their Calendy link, offering office hours for anyone in the class—I almost immediately took them up on their generosity, and we met. I still cannot believe how An is changing/shaping my life (this sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not).
- Testimonial from Georgia
- Testimonial from Georgia
Anaïs Duplan is one of the most humble, kind, creative and insightful people we have had the pleasure of writing and collaborating with. The creative writing workshop, Decolonizing the Creative Voice, was a playful and potent portal into the disrobing of dominant white supremacist values and patterning internalized and imposed on our creative musings.
-Testimonial from Evie
-Testimonial from Evie
An has guided and mentored me by asking questions that have encouraged me to consider my work in entirely new ways; by sharing texts and authors that I continue to reference and look to for inspiration; and most of all, by modeling a way of engaging with poetry that is new and revelatory to me.
- Testimonial from J. Miakoda
- Testimonial from J. Miakoda
