On 11th April I wrote a blog entitled Looking for Trainee Unicorns in which I explored the need to uncover the creative producers of the future – the inventors, employers and facilitators of the future. In the last 4 months I have been building a faculty of teachers and diversity guardians, and undertaking many workshops entitled ‘Producing – Proper Job – Honest’ (PPJH).
This week I am delighted to have been able to confirm with a team of future producers, who have signed up for the first CGO Institute Diploma in Creative Producing, that we have enough of a cohort to be assured the first course can run from November 2nd.
I couldn’t be more pleased by the interest in the course over this strange lockdown period. It is never easy to start something new, especially when the world is so uncertain. Each PPJH from the first at the National Student Drama Festival in May to the most recent for the graduates of the University of West of Scotland, have generated interest from one or more person to apply to study with us. The world needs more producers, and steadily I am finding some amazing future creative theatremakers.
If anyone is reading this and wondering whether a 16 week cloud-based Diploma in Creative Producing is what they need to kickstart their creative plan, then do have a look on the website http://www.chrisgrady.org/cgo-institute-for-creative-producing/ and get in touch fast. The next (and probably final) interview date is Tue 8th September when we have 2 more places we could award.
The course has attracted UK and International applicants, those with a first degree and those without, those at the start of their career and those who are redirecting their efforts after success in another field. It is cloud-based, 2 days dedicated classes a week, and you can find out much more on the website or getting in touch. Soon I will open applications for the next course starting in April 2021. I already have enquiries for that.
My last few days have been spent preparing a grant application which could help me fast track two parallel programmes which are designed to uncover an even more diverse and glorious array of unicorns across Scotland. It is a programme which seeks to reach communities where producers may not yet know there is a career for them, and a need for them. It is aimed to attract interest from divergent voices who can help to change the landscape of stories that are told, managements that employ, and audiences who engage – one show and one job at a time. If anyone reading this thinks ‘theatre is not for me’, or ‘my stories are never told on stage’ or ‘I never see people like me in the theatre’, then the programme I have been working on is designed to make a difference.
Today I press ‘send’ on a rather daunting application form which (I hope) is completed sufficiently clearly to be attractive to the reader. I hope the fund has some money to make available. And now I just have to cross my fingers for 8 weeks whilst the assessment process moves forward.
To anyone out there filling in similar forms, I empathise with you. For the myriad readers of these forms in so many grant giving offices, I thank you for wading through them. Now my job is to stop thinking about it, get on with championing the Diploma in Creative Producing, and writing some lesson plans.
Thank you to all readers of my Blog who have sent me such encouraging notes, and who have shared information with others about this new re-invention of my world. I am most grateful. And please keep doing it. Thanks