Nowt so Queer as Creatives

One thing I love about the creative industry is the willingness to help others learn and develop the skills to become excellent. Whether it’s through teaching new ideas, collaborating on projects or even meeting up for a coffee we’re leading the industry one mug at a time.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the ‘Play, Work, Stay’ training conference led by Great Place: Lakes and Dales designed to help young creatives establish and evolve techniques to further their careers. Based near settle, the conference focused on northern talent, encouraging young people that they don’t need to go to London to be a successful creative.

With more media companies than ever relocating out of the London bubble, this is the perfect time to be up north, not least for the scenery! Channel 4 is set to move its headquarters to Leeds in 2020, and Manchester’s Media City is already fully thriving. Then there are the smaller businesses, nestled amongst the dales but doing equally important work: telling the stories we want to hear and making art accessible where posh galleries are seldom seen.

So, if anything, the North of England is exactly where we want to be right now!

One workshop of the conference involved a mindfulness walk. As it had been raining during the morning I assumed it would be muddy and gloomy, groggy and foggy. However, I was pleasantly surprised. As I strolled through the grass around the Dalesbridge site, I realised that its very rare that we get to just take a walk in the countryside. It occurred to me that this is what work-life balance must feel like.

Curator Alex Zawadski gave a profound talk on how ‘Art isn’t just something you hang on a wall’. She’s correct. Beyond art installations and exhibitions or documentaries and films, art is part of everyday life. Art is defined as being the creative use of a skill. Helping refugees is an art, stopping homelessness is an art and protesting climate change is also an art. Mind. Blown.

Lastly, a workshop that will stay with me was Pitch Perfect with Dana Segal, a Senior Partner at the Management Centre. Dana taught us about how to deliver the perfect pitch when presenting or proposing an idea. We learnt about gestures and exactly how long to hold eye contact when addressing a group of people. As one of my favourite speakers of the conference, I was really encouraged by what she taught.

In the words of the hosts: Live More, Do More.

Massive shoutout to Artistic Photographer Mary Woolf for her fantastic talent.