a.way
Beratung für Kreative
Alina Gause
When I was 8 years old, I took to the piano and at the same time began writing songs. In doing so, the “second person” in me – the creative – was born, to use my own terminology. I sang and played music, and even made films as a child – this was my world. At 14, I was selected to sing alongside Konstantin Wecker, Udo Lindenberg, Spliff, and Mercedes Sosa at the Waldbühne amphitheater in Berlin, and at 19 I represented Germany as a finalist in the “Second Golden Kite World Song Festival” in Malaysia. I sang, played, and wrote, knowing nothing about the market artists have to serve if they want to make a living from their work. My only interest was in doing all I could do to improve.
So I spent four-and-a-half years completing my training in dance, acting, and singing in Berlin.
I wanted to get better and at the same time I also gained
Foto: Sabine Hillbrand
professional experience, working in Berlin at the Maxim Gorki Theater and the Theater des Westens, in Stuttgart and Freiburg, as well as in film, television, and studio productions. Singing, dancing, and playing music for 15 years, of which not enough hours were dedicated to what I had come to expect from art. It was frustrating: the houses, roles, and fees got bigger, but my sense of satisfaction did not. I had to change something, although I didn’t know what.
I had already played a solo evening at the Ku-Damm Theater – consisting of Cocteau and jazz standards, mostly. I decided to try my hand at writing music and lyrics, and, sure enough: the houses were smaller, as were the fees, but the satisfaction was much greater. This burgeoning awareness led me to a number of subsequent decisions.
I studied psychology, wrote my own stage productions, and started a family.
I was now able to bring my 20 years of experience onstage and off, in film and studio productions, together in an comprehensive, integrated way with my training as a psychologist.
As a licensed psychologist, I had an array of tools at my disposal, which I used to develop a consulting concept for creative persons and their processes.
I published my first book (“Warum Künstler die glücklicheren Menschen sein könnten,” or “Why artists could be the happier ones”) and in 2009 established “a.way – Consulting for Artists” in Berlin. I gave lectures on why I think artists need to stay at the forefront of current trends. On aspects of the creative sector where, in my view, things have gone wrong or been led astray. On what shame and vulnerability have to do with it. I wrote and published articles and columns about this. Was interviewed on how to realize one’s goals and dreams. And I wrote a second book: “Kompass für Künstler” (“A compass for artists”, published by Springer Verlag). In 2016, a teaching position at Berlin’s University of the Arts was added to the roster.
I am currently working on my third book about creatives and looking forward to the release of my CD “Winter im Mai” (“Winter in May”), which consists entirely of my own songs.