I have a rich dream life, usually a strange and very enjoyable juxtaposition of mundane and completely surreal – little taxis made of jelly running around the floor, magpies with corkscrew tails, and then once in a while I wake up having ‘invented’ something. In the night my head has moved into work mode and developed a project to a level where I can get up and write it down fully formed. The Diploma in Creative Producing arrived fully formed on Sat 28th March and on 5th April I announced it in the zoom cloud at the National Student Drama Festival.
Today is Boxing Day, and I hope everyone has managed to invent a different Christmas which still offers space for sharing love, friendship, and hope for the future. I have yet more wonderful additions to my reading shelf (and I will not be including the 1200 pages of Brexit agreement…I hope our leaders will do that for us.) We managed to connect with all our relatives from Australia to Colorado, carefully timing our zoom-ins to connect at breakfast almost everywhere. A lovely day in a quiet household here in lockdown Scotland. Sad not to be going on our reading retreat to Mousehole, but accepting it is for the best.
And this morning I woke up again having written this blog in my head, and prepared a list of the things that needed to happen to re-launch CGO Surgeries, and bring into the daylight some new CGO Group Workshops.
Back in 2007 by Associate Producer, Tom Atkins, and I started monthly ‘surgeries’ for any creative artists or small companies, across any artform, to meet in the foyer of the National Theatre in London and talk about their challenges. 13 years on they still continue, although Tom now has a serious grownup career. I have run CGO Surgeries in Manchester, Glasgow, Colchester, Tokyo and regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This morning my dream reminded me that I had let them slip in this cloud-based year, just offering them on demand.
So – New Year’s (Dream) Resolution 1: 2nd Friday of the month starting Fri 8th January Pay What You Can CGO Surgeries – email me for a timeslot. 50 minutes of 1-2-1 cloud-based exploration of where you are, and where you want to go. chris [at] chrisgrady [dot] org
And now to the other overnight decision – to start small CGO Group Workshops especially for SPAs – that wonderful new off-Broadway acronym for Self Producing Artists. They will draw on aspects of my books Your Life in Theatre and The Anatomy of your Creativity. A small gathering of 4-6 creatives who are making stuff happen, or are determined to make stuff happen, across any artform. I will focus my push with Marketing colleague Emily Ingram towards the live & visual arts rather than the recorded/broadcast arts
New Year’s (Dream) Resolution 2: 4th Friday every other month 3-5pm Fri 26th Feb, Fri 23rd April (Shakespeare’s Birthday), and thereafter. If there is demand we can make it monthly. Again cloud-based and to start let’s see how it goes on Pay What You Can. To book a space email me chris [at] chrisgrady [dot] org
Now to get a page on my website sorted to explain more about the workshops and get all the dates for the work up in a calendar, or something similar.
My task tomorrow is to get the adverts and promotions around for the 2nd cohort of the DipCP. We have made 5 offers so far. There are a maximum of 12 places available. Next round of interviews will be on Mon 18th January. If an intensive 16 week Diploma in the art of Creative Producing interests you, or you know anyone who would/might find it valuable please send this Blog to them.
Thank you to all of those who have signed to receive these Blogs. In this strange time of invention and immense self-generation of energy, it is lovely to hear from you and to know that some of what I’m writing about, be it work or life, resonates.
Here’s to ending 2020, and turning some new pages…and welcoming new dreams into my nighttime.