I was delighted to be invited to speak with rural promoters at the weekend, as part of their Leadership course with the Social Enterprise Academy. I've worked on and off with rural promoters for many years now and I love hearing about their work, what is happening in their communities and why it matters. I consider myself to be a product of rural promoters - if it wasn't for the work I did with the Promoters Arts Network (PAN, now The Touring Network) I wouldn't have the values, the passion and knowledge of the rural creative sector that I have today. 

I shared my journey with them, about the moment I applied to the Clore Fellowship and the circumstances which I've worked through over the last few years. We spoke about serendipity, something I notice a lot in my life - those 'sliding doors' moments when things align to take you on a path towards something which will be important to your growth. 

We looked at the need to invest in culture first, the power of the collective voice, why it matters and the impact of arts and culture in our communities. 

I was asked to share some leadership learning and I wanted to share them again. These resonate with me however I'd love to hear more - what have you learned on your own leadership journey?

Leadership Learning

1. Be curious, talk to people - you never know if they have something to say that will inspire or connect you.
2. Attend events that keep your mind open - networking is important but that doesn’t mean you have to stay within your sector all the time.
3. Find what feeds you - take time out to recharge and feed yourself, whether that is a weekend in London at Galleries or climbing a hill - take the time to remind yourself what inspires and drives you.
4. Just stay in the room - sometimes you don’t need to push on doors to make them open (or close!), it’s ok to just sit with it for a while.
5. Trust your values - think about what matters to you and how that aligns with what is being asked of you. 
6. Be authentic - it might seem obvious but people connect to authenticity. Don’t listen to impostor syndrome when it tells you you aren’t good enough. You are, you are the only one that knows what you know. Be authentic and share your journey. 
7. You think differently - not everyone sees the world the way you do. That doesn’t make your opinions or ideas any less valid. What might seem obvious to you might be innovative to someone else - celebrate thinking differently.
8. What’s the 1%? - The difference between winning a Gold medal and a Silver medal in the Olympics can be less than 1 second. Athletes train to improve by 1% because it can make that much of a difference. Where can you make the 1% difference? What does it look like?
9. Call it out - if you see something which isn’t representative, call it out. A panel made up entirely of men isn’t representative of our society, a ‘National’ company working in the central belt isn’t really national. Raise awareness of how it should change.
10. ​You are not alone - whatever your leadership style, you need people around you - a reliable board, a network of support, team members or volunteers. You can not do everything. Ask for help, delegate and support others too. Even leaders need support.  

Two years ago I was preparing for the first of my Clore Leadership Programme residencies, supported by Creative Scotland. I was about to embark on a year-long Leadership Fellowship, with 24 other cultural leaders from the U.K and across the world. When I left to start the residential in Oxford at the end of September 2017 I had been busy working with my co-founder on the Rural Touring Agency which was increasingly busy while working out how to progress Play Pieces Arts in the face of another unsuccessful funding application. It was a time of transition but one I was ready for.

Now, two years on, I find myself preparing for another residential later this month, although this time it is in Lampedusa, a small island off the coast of Sicily and I’ll be there with 500 young people from across Europe. How I found myself here has been a challenge, with pain, hurt and a journey of self-realisation. Without the opportunity 2 years ago to take the much-needed time to reflect on my work, my life and how I want to support the cultural sector, without the Clore Fellowship, I wouldn’t be doing what I am now.

My current role is with Highland One World, a Development Education Centre based in Inverness. As the Global Youth Officer, I am responsible for developing 9 creative youth activist groups in the North of Scotland, from the Highlands, across to Moray and through to Aberdeen. I meet inspiring creative young people who are passionate about making a positive impact on the world around them both locally and globally. My work, as I see it, is to support them to explore how you create empathy through creativity, to raise awareness of the issues of migration and the sustainable development goals in a meaningful way. I love my job. Sometimes the fact that this is what I do makes me stop and catch my breath because had it not been for my secondment opportunity, provided by the Clore Fellowship, I wouldn’t have realised how much this matters to me.

The secondment is a core part of the Fellowship and there was much excitement when the list of secondment opportunities arrived in our inboxes. At the time I felt I had to select a position in Scotland but I was encouraged by the Fellowship manager Sharon Armstrong-Williams to think one-step-beyond my comfort zone. She was right and a very astute person. She was also the person who handed me the much-needed tissues during my appalling interview. I knew I could trust Sharon. Yes I could travel to Edinburgh or Glasgow in 3 and a half hours but where else could I get to from Inverness in that time? London, Manchester and Bristol are the answers. I asked if I could work with Bristol Old Vic - I thought the experience of working at the oldest continuous working theatre in the English-speaking world would really stretch me, when I’d been used to putting on theatre in a pub or village hall. What I learned rather quickly that despite the heritage and brilliant work it is exactly like any other theatre, it’s just a question of scale. I loved working on the Ferment project, digging deep into the history and impact the wonderful initiative has created for theatre-makers in the South West of England, seeing many parallels with what is needed in Scotland to redistribute creativity across the regions. I was enjoying the work and yet I wasn’t sure what I wanted to take away from the experience of my time in Bristol.     

The answer came when I went to Mayfest, and saw “Now in the Time to Say Nothing”. This has quite simply had the most profound effect on me, more than any other piece of theatre I’ve seen. The immersive experience of seeing the war in Syria through the eyes of a young woman, moving into the middle of the floor with the strangers in the audience to simulate cross the ocean in a dinghy to T.V screens and headsets which keep us at an uncomfortable distance from what is happening. I left the Arnolfini knowing that I wanted to do something creative and something meaningful next.

The opportunity to have mentor support is another gift of the Clore Fellowship and my mighty mentor Orla O'Loughlin helped me understand so much about how to progress. During a conversation I used the tired cliché  of pushing on doors to find which one was meant to open. She asked me "have you ever thought about just sitting in the room for a while?". It became my new mantra, just sit in the room for while. 

The Fellowship came to an official end in June 2018 and the next few months were the most challenging of my life. Confusion, exhaustion and a feeling of tremendous pressure. Another reason the Clore Fellowship was so significant at this time was the support of a coach. Some of the Fellows had coaches throughout the year and someone had recommended to me that I save my time for after the Fellowship and the transition beyond. What a blessing this advice was. During the weeks and months to follow I acknowledged that the confusion, exhaustion and pressure were having a negative impact on my mental health. I was struggling and accepted  I couldn’t go on like this. I was confused because I didn’t know where to put my ideas any more. I was exhausted because I had been doing too much work during a year which was meant to be reflective and the pressure was something I was putting on myself because I didn’t want to let people down.  

I got help and it has been the best step I could take. If I’m honest with myself, I should have asked for help 5 years ago but however long it takes you, it’s the best step you can make.

A few months later I’m happily working my way through my AHRC research project, another aspect of my life I am now grateful to Clore for the opportunity. I was feeling passionate about the sector again, I no longer wanted to run and hide, I wanted to put my energy to work. 

One thing we heard a lot during the Clore Fellowship was people being told that a job was opening up and that it was “their job” and they got it and that was that. The cynic in me thought some narrative must be missing from these tales. However, one evening my friend sent me a link to a job with Highland One World and said “this is your job.” She was right - it was a job that was meaningful and creative. I wanted it. A role I’d never heard of with an organisation I’d never heard of but it was exactly what I was seeking. The Chair of Clore during our Fellowship was Sandy Nairne who shared with us that we should never apply for a job we don’t want to do. Now, that sounds simple enough but the reality is you need to know what job you want to do because then your passion will shine through when you apply. As Paulo Ceolho says in The Alchemist, a book which helped me during this challenging time; “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

So in a couple of weeks, I’ll be in Lampedusa with creative youth activists from all over Europe, understanding what it means to be on the front line of the Mediterranean Sea, where migrants arrive and seek help. To understand what that means for communities and what that means for our understanding as compassionate people. The group of Change-Makers I support will take their learning back to Scotland and share it with their peers, and then together they will create a piece of work which will be meaningful, create empathy and inspire action. 
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I am beyond grateful for the opportunity the Clore Fellowship gave me. The space to explore and overcome the struggles over the last two years because I realise now how each step was moving towards this role, this work which brings me so much joy and I believe so much in. I can’t not wait to share with you the further work of these young creative activists.

This paper explores how the existence of a rural creative hub can support the development of authentic, high-quality theatre.

With increasing pressure on public funding, support agencies and artists are exploring how sharing resources can help develop sustainable models of creative practice. One example of this are ‘Creative Hubs’, which are intended to allow those working across the creative and cultural industries, in any given geographical area, to come together and work collaboratively, often within the context of a shared building. However, in a rural context, resources and infrastructures associated with creative hubs can be fragmented and challenging. Often there is not one central, physical ‘hub’ but rather a connected network of individuals collaborating in various ways. Understanding the various models of networks is important because some of those working in the creative and cultural industries are finding the lack of opportunities and sustainable working in cities has resulted in an attempt to create employment and work in rural regions. As such, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the role that rural ‘hubs’ can play in supporting theatre-makers to produce high-quality, authentic theatre.

Examining three case studies, conducted through interviews and focus groups in Dumfries and Galloway (Scotland) Devon (England) and Holstebro (Denmark) this paper will explore the different ways in which rural locations have created different models of the ‘creative hub’, In particular, the discussion will focus on the extent to which authentic rural theatre creation has been facilitated through the practice of these ‘hubs’ and the networks they create and depend upon. Although some of these are unique to their location the paper concludes that on a policy level there is much that local authorities and national funding bodies can learn from the organic, artist-led hubs that have pioneered change through culture in these rural areas.
Keywords: rural, theatre, creative hubs, counter-urbanisation, cultural policy