During my first presentation I wanted to firstly recap what I had been up to since we last saw each other, as we finished in May so it was a long time to go without hearing how people's projects had been going.
Included in my presentation were the tasks we had been asked to think about during the week, including practitioners which may be useful in our field or of whom we admire, job adverts which may appeal to us and companies to look at. I then went on to explain what I would like to do in regards to furthering my work from last semester and planning a project for this semester, and as I have said before I would like to have more substantial work by the end of this semester rather than just a research project.
Companies:
Jude Theatre Company
Rideout
Geese Theatre UK
TiPP
Borderlines/ Youth Theatre at the New Vic Theatre
Reveal Theatre Company
Stoke Rep Theatre- The
Young Rep
Stafford Gatehouse Theatre – Youth Section
Daneside Theatre- Venue for
Community Arts Groups
I think this module will be a massive challenge for me in terms of getting my head around the things involved in setting up my own company. I need to set points to research and manage my time well.
Generating ideas is something I feel I have struggled with in the past and since doing exercises on the course I think I have become more comfortable with the way in which I get all my ideas down to try and from cohesive projects.
I started by revisiting where I left off at the end of the last module. The previous project for me had been mainly about researching what kind of Applied Theatre and Community Theatre is happening in the area, and providing myself with more information about this so as to build a base for future projects and goals. My work experience interlinked and overlapped with the module and aided in my research of the sector, I spent a lot of time speaking to people who work in the community theatre environment about why and how it is so important.
I wanted to be able to link the base research I have done to something more solid, and produce a final outcome that leads toward the kind of career I would like to have by the end of this MA.
I thought of what I wanted my main goal to be at the end of the process and that would be having my own company and being a successful freelance practitioner offering my services to schools for workshops and classes. I think the idea of offering workshops to schools as extracurricular work is something I could use as a starting point for my work, and then when I became more comfortable and familiar with funding, marketing, and contacts, I could then offer workshops to a wider range of groups in the community such as the ones I have been working with on a voluntary basis, including young offenders, home schooled children and disabled adults. I then tried to work my way back from that as a process of how to get to that end goal, thinking about the research I had previously undertaken and the contacts and links I had made within the area.
My Own Company/ Freelance Practitioner:
Keeping in with the Community- What is happening? Events? Current Climate for Applied Theatre?
What is available for Youngsters/Adults/Elderly within the Community?
Contacts- New Vic Theatre, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Regent Theatre and Victoria Hall
InterACT- More Experience, Becoming a registered organisation January 2013- possible freelance work?
The Education System- Research into Arts in Education, Theatre in Education links with Community Theatre
Ideas of Workshops- tailored to the curriculum for after school drama workshops?
Marketing- Learn how to market myself as a brand, as a company, as a professional- Company Name? Brand? Information Pack for Schools?
Schools in the area- Budget for extra curricular activities?
Funding- Learn about funding for small businesses? Funding for individuals in the arts?
After throwing a few ideas around I decided to do some basic research on some of the things I had thought about. Whilst at University the first time I did my dissertation on Theatre in Education and during that time did a lot of research about why the arts are important for learning, and looked into many companies that were working in the Applied Theatre environment at that time.
Thinking more about the Education Sector in terms of where my work as a Freelance Artist could lead, I was led back to thinking about the divide between education and creativity. Whilst doing some initial research the first thing that interested me was a talk by Ken Robinson on the TED website, he is a well known figure in the world of education and this specific talk was on the subject of 'schools kill creativity', since then I have been trying to work my way through some of the other talks he has given that are on the website as a starting point for my research on this module. He provides interesting views on the way education systems work, and how in all education systems, not just in the UK but worldwide, the arts subjects seem to be at the bottom of the scale as far as 'important' subjects are concerned.
There is though a clear difference between arts available to those in the education sector, and arts available to community groups. Through my research on community in the last module, and my planned research into education and creativity in this module, I hope that I will be able to offer workshops to both those in education and in the community and once I have undertaken more research to add support to my ideas I hope to be able to put together a proposal for my company, marketing, budget, schools and groups I could market to and an information pack stating aims and goals of the company.
Over the summer period all has been quiet for me on the blogging front, so as we begin this new module I am looking forward to getting back into it, as it is not a form of reflection I had chosen to use before embarking on this MA but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring my thoughts and reflecting in this way during the previous modules.
Upon receiving the email about the details of the new module, Creative,Technical, Business and Digital Skills my initial thought was panic. At times during the last module I felt very overwhelmed by my thoughts and all the ideas I wanted to put into practice but not knowing how.
Once I had read the email a few times I began to generate some ideas together for what I might like to explore on this module. Although having somewhat a lot of freedom within the modules to explore different pathways and projects is daunting at first, once I get my ideas in check and have time to reflect I always feel excited about things ahead.
During this next module I am looking forward to linking my ideas and research from last semester about community theatre and importance of community with wider research into theatre in education, and looking into arts available with schools, and exploring applied theatre further with a view to marketing myself as a freelance drama facilitator.
