Chris Grady on The Importance of Nurturing the Creatives of Tomorrow

Chris Grady runs CGO Institute supporting and training creative producers of the future after 40+ years working in the marketing and management of theatres and festivals. He works with UK and International producers forging connections and increasing awareness of different creative landscapes.

He writes for the Mobius blog on the importance of nuturing young creatives and helping them approach the current changes, challenges and restrictions in our industry with confidence and passion.

Most weeks I open The Stage Newspaper with trepidation. It is rightly filled with stories of the challenges and dangers of the world in which we wish to work as creative beings. This week we see the focus on trying to protect writers from the scraping of the AI machine which seems to conflict exactly with our own, and the world’s, copyright protection law. It can easily sap the energy and enthusiasm of my colleagues across the industry. It is right that SOLT, Equity lead the challenge into the heart of Parliament and I trust, in time, there will be a good news break through.

Meanwhile I am trying to enbolden, encourage, mentor and teach new creatives who wish to come into the industry. Whilst wanting them to be informed, I almost wish they would not read The Stage for a few years. To be successful as new creatives they have to believe in their own invincibility, at least for a while. Those of us who started at school or college making shows didn’t know what we didn’t know. We didn’t know it was hard. We didn’t know our crazy idea to take a show to EdFringe or to tour a company of 25 students over 20 dates across the whole of the UK was barking. We just did it.

I was with an inspiring graduating class from a BA performance programme this week. They are on the edge of their professional careers, but already some know too much and think too hard. My task is to try to help them to be less overwhelmed and realise that they should, can, indeed must dream. Creatives today need to make their own magic. Actors must think of themselves as theatremakers and not sit at home hoping someone will suddenly offer them a stable performance contract and worrying about all the reasons they may not.

My call to everyone who guides the next generation into a creative future is to, please, be positive. Although we may have had 20, 30, 40 or actually 50 years’ experience of the thrills and spills of theatre, we all started with a level of childlike naivety. Most of the most successful creative theatremakers started with an impossible (or at least a naively unrealistic) idea, and they tried it. We need to remember our energy, our wish to change the world, our wish to make theatre which inspires, and our wish to upset the setup of the old guard. Then we can inspire the next generation to find a way to work with big tec and all the massive challenges facing our world – and still make magic.

The wonderful Sybil Pearson of the Tisch School taught bookwriters of musical theatre “the tools not the rules” of the job. Yes, there are some rules, like copyright, but even those are being broken down and we may need to create new ones going forward. But what we can offer emerging creatives are the tools they need to help them make a difference in the world.

The tools which I feel are most important are involved in three main areas.

First, how do I know myself best – what tools can I use to understand what is important in my life going forward? How do I prioritise creative time without burnout? How do I harness the special skills which I may have forgotten that I have? How do I keep myself healthy?

Second, how do I reach out to friends with whom I might work and gain support from, and indeed how do I offer support to my peers and colleagues going forward? Theatremaking is a collaborative not a competitive art. And talking of people I know, who is out there in my wider circle who might cheer me on, or who might give me some money to help make my crazy idea happen? Who do I think could help be my mentor, or help give me guidance? Who are the gatekeepers who I could get to know and ask for help?

Thirdly, who do I want to make this work for? Who are the perfect audience or participatory world who will benefit from what I do? I can’t change the world overnight, but I can make a difference to a few people every performance. The tool of character mapping your audience and really understanding the slow impact that engagement with creative practice can bring to societies and communities. These are tools which can be taught.

The theatre is about a magical engagement between a group of professionally skilled creatives and a group of audience or participants. At that moment of interaction, we are doing what we do best, and we are offering gifts that are welcomed. We may not get awards or riches. We may not get acclaim or even thanks sometimes. But that moment of magic keeps us going.

My call to all those who teach new creatives, or take interns or mentees under their wing, or run programmes for young artists or playwrights is foster the magic. Offer tools, including AI reshaped for positive use. Help them be the changemakers of individual lives, help them not to be bogged down with the immensity of the global challenge or the threats which are daily and weekly shared in the news. We have a job to do, and need childlike enthusiasm and, maybe naïve, belief to make a difference.

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