Convener:
Chris Grady
Participants:
Dan Woods, Clara Giraud, Rebecca
Atkinson Lord, Lizzie Crarer, C
Saddleton, Imogen Butler Cole, Gary Horsman, Danny Braverman, Simon Pittman,
Bethany Haynes, Danny Betz Heinemann
(with apologies to all for misspelling from your email addresses)
Summary
of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
People joined through the 90 minutes for three
reasons: curiosity, because they were “elders” or fast becoming them, or
because they wondered as “emerging artists” how best to tap into elders. [My “ “ phrases to paraphrase various
descriptions offered across the circle]
There were three challenges to the underlying premise:
Why is it just young people who need advice/guidance
championing ?
Young people should get on and do it, and not
need/seek/rely on past experience
Paper Pushers can be creative too & “use” is an
unhelpful term.
Areas of exploration:
a) There is one artist advisor at Oval House funded by ACE – could there be
more ?
b) We should not prioritise early career artists – why not look at a 20yr
old mentoring a 70yr old [check out Authentic Artist / Tender Age project ref.
here]
c) We need to be part of breaking the wider cultural taboos of age
d) Lifelong learning seems to be a term and an aspiration which we don’t
hear as much any more. All focus on 1st
degree and education in early 20’s – rather than continuing interest in
continuing education
e) One expression that older people shouldn’t be seen as a “mine” to be
used, although a wider feeling that they were a valuable resource.
f) Very important to say it is possible to make exciting work at any age.
g) Young theatremakers tend to team up with young producers and so there is
not a lot of shared experience available
h) Emerging artists tend to read/see talks by experienced successful people
talking about their success – maybe we’d learn more from some failures. People
know the names of the celebrities in the arts and cultural sector, they don’t
know who might be really valuable from the backroom boys and girls to mentor
and give advice.
i) We need to understand what was better/worse before in the industry to
help current practitioners put it into perspective. “there’s a real gaping hole
in my understanding”
j) Reinventing the wheel can be envigorating, and everyone has to learn to
start with – but time can be saved. [At this point there was a perfect example
– one theatrmaker talking about creating Bengali/English bi-lingual children’s
theatre, and one of the elders wondering what had happened to the actors
involved in a similar project at the Half Moon half a lifetime ago – they
connected and will find experiences and people to share.]
k) Are there other people out there doing CGO type surgeries * see below.
Noone seemed to know of others.
l) Younger artists should get out there, see work, prop up the bar in
theatres and the spaces they hope to inhabit, talk to people, congratulate the
director/boss/elder – everyone needs praise, and everyone likes to be asked
their opinions and offer advice. Use that human trait to make connections.
m) Discussion on the loneliness of the solo artis/creator/company, and how
valuable it is at times to be able to work in the same room as others and just
share ideas, check copywriting, scream and laugh together.
n) Concern that much of the “wisdom” of how to do it is all now on the web
and for some who don’t spend long drawing info down from the web, there is a
missing element of human contact just chatting about challenges
Quick Proposals:
- What about finding more people who do what CGO does
- What about finding some funding to make this more available rather than just a charity/free offer of time [as Oval House]
- What about finding a room where creative individuals can work together and bounce ideas off [I’m sure these exist – let’s share knowledge]
- What about a Blog of artistic/creative producer cock-ups for learning. [I will start writing some of them down on my CGO blog]
CGO Surgery
For anyone who would be interested. This is a free
offer for any creative to come and have a creative conversation for 1 hour in
my “office” at the National Theatre, once a month [well a café table in the
Lyttleton which has been my base for 5+ years].
Anyone who wants a slot, email me and I will try and accommodate. Next
one Sat Mar 3rd and then monthly/ish after that. Dates on my website
www.chrisgrady.org.
Final thoughts
a) I love Jen S’s suggestion to get a few trusted mentors to write a phrase
about how they see you and what you give them by your existence. It is so
heartening to read that people do rate you. I did it using Linked In. I sent
out a note saying will you recommend me?
I got some lovely stuff and it read a bit like an obituary [I am saving
it carefully with my will to pass onto the Stage when needed]
b) I was asked did I have one piece of advice for an emerging artist –
really difficult because that’s too generalized question. Three thoughts. Follow your dream. You have
most of the answers inside you – you just may need a bit of help getting them
out. You probably know (or are one degree of separation away from) every person
you need to know at each stage of your journey – you just have to do a bit of
lateral thinking about how to engage with them.
Thanks for a lovely slow-burn discursive session. I
have not caught everything because there are some really interesting side-chats
about specifics.
Chris
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