Advice for Artistic Directors
I interviewed some of the UK’s top Artistic Directors this year; here’s what they told me.
On Getting the Job
My best preparation for application and interview was joining a board.
I was temping until I became an Artistic Director at 38.
I became an Artistic Director because I wanted a home; and a home is a space for people.
My career is built on initiative, persistence, stamina, debt and the boxes I climbed out of.
On Being an Artistic Director
Being an Artistic Director can be lonely; so your relationship with the Executive Director is crucial.
The most important transferrable skill from being a Director to an Artistic Director is your ability to hold space for other people.
Be ready to lose a third of your funding, audiences and staff.
The most important thing a theatre can do is hold the work of the artist.
What I love most about my theatre is that it’s got soul.
I saw an opportunity to make my theatre a home to the community.
The same thing that keeps me up at night gets me up in the morning: leaving the theatre in a better place than I found it.
Advice for Artistic Directors
Keep a good Chair close. Keep a bad Chair closer.
Risk for risk’s sake is pointless.
As an Artistic Director, you can be the change you want to see.
You need to be available knowing you may never be called upon.
Do less, but do it as well as you can.
On What I’d Do Differently
I wish I had been brave about saying no.
I wish I had worked in organisations where the Artistic Director had caring responsibilities.
On the Future of Artistic Directors
We should be looking inwards - then doing something about what we see.
The Artistic Directors of the future will be entrepreneurs, hustlers and collaborators.
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I’ve got a whole raft of live online Q and As lined up for 2024 with British Theatre’s most inspiring Cultural Leaders. And they’re completely free.
If you’d like more of this, why don’t you join me?
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