CHRIS GRADY is a facilitator, workshop leader and trainer specialising in the support of the next generation of aspirational creative producers and creative practitioners. He is a qualified life support coach working with sole traders and small businesses, across the creative arts and the wellness industry, nationally and internationally. Alongside this he works with associates in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Korea on the development of new training and development paths for theatre producers and theatremakers.
Chris’ CGO Institute offers bespoke Diploma courses for creative disciplines, working with many of the graduates on new projects, as well as leading producer networks and research projects linked to creativity and connection.
The organisation offers a wide range of coaching methods to those who wish to get their personal and professional lives moving in the direction they want, supported by over 30 years of personal experience in marketing and business management for SMEs, charities and the creative industries.
Chris and Dr Kath Burlinson work closely with other experienced business coaches, to deliver one-on-one sessions, group seminars and surgery sessions in the UK as well as by Skype from their Edinburgh and London base, and in person internationally.
The CGO’s new Diploma in Creative Producing is open to aspiring creative producers of theatre and the performing arts locally, nationally, and internationally. The course is Cloud-based, run from Scotland, for a limited number of practitioners who will work together and learn from a range of established arts professionals.
Chris is also behind the Producers’ Pool, a free networking organisation for creative producers training in, working in, or managing the UK theatre and creative industries. It is there to bring producers together and answer two ongoing questions: “what do you need” right now which someone might be able to help with, or maybe point you in the right direction for the answer; and “what can you offer” to an individual or this community of creative beings. Since September 2015 CGO has managed the group, growing it to a membership of more than 600.
In the same week that a third cohort of producers joins the Diploma in Creative Producing, Chris chats to Musical Theatre Review.
Can you tell us more about the CGO Institute and how it came about?
I’ve run CGO since 2007 after my five years at Cameron Mackintosh. It was designed to offer coaching and support services to small companies and emerging artists. Over the years we have run programmes for training musical theatre writers, we have run monthly 1-2-1 sessions from our ‘office’ in the foyer of the National Theatre, and undertaken some great projects connecting international producers together. Alongside this I created the MA in Creative Producing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts which I ran for three cycles before moving to Edinburgh and handing over to Pam Fraser Solomon. I am delighted that this course goes from strength to strength.
When was the Diploma in Creative Producing first created?
From 2017 I was in deep discussion to create an MA for Creative Producing in Scotland, and at last we were close to getting it to happen when Covid locked down every new idea and much of the infrastructure of education establishments. On 28 March 2020 I woke up and decided to get on and do something myself. I formed the CGO Institute as a brand identity for CGO, gathered a faculty of 20 amazing teachers, and wrote the outline for a Diploma in Creative Producing.
It grew from everything I had learned over the years of writing, teaching, and reviewing the MAs but it had three fundamental differences: (a) It was planned using Zoom and so could happen throughout the pandemic with students from all over the world; (b) It was free of the many challenges of working inside the academic frameworks, so the course could flex to meet the needs of students, and we could keep it small – because no one was pushing us to get more and more revenue/students; (c) We didn’t need a building or big support staff and so the cost of the programme could be below £3,000 rather than upwards of £9,000.
We launched the course in a workshop at NSDF online on 1 April, and the first cohort joined us on 1 November. So far 17 producers have gone out into the world with a DipCP to their name – and I couldn’t be more excited to see them getting stuck into the industry.
How would you describe the course to potential ‘students’?
It is a programme where we look at the fundamental tools and rules of producing – understanding budgeting, marketing, project management, the ecology of the industry, team leadership, and of course fundraising – whether seeking to make not-for-profit or fringe work or launch commercial West End projects. In parallel we help each of the small cohort of producers to understand themselves better – how they work in teams on projects, the artforms they want to work in, who they can connect with to build networks, and how to develop themselves with the support of an individual mentor and a course tutor.
The faculty of 20 international mentors is impressive. Can you offer an idea of the kind of figures that take on these roles and what areas in producing and creative development are covered?
The faculty is wonderful and immensely supportive. The members are all working professionals, some relatively early in their career but specialists in a particular field, and others who have run major institutions and offer a wonderful overview of the industry and the need for creativity in our world. Alongside and within the faculty we have created a Guardian group in order to have a support/challenge for us to explore Equality and Diversity across the nine protected characteristics, and the intersectionality between them and other forms of disadvantage. We explore all live performing arts, and as we meet each student we look at who might additionally be drawn into the programme to offer their wisdom.
Each producer then has a personal mentor who is chosen in discussion, and so far not a single high-profile, very busy person we have asked has said no. They get that people exploring their practice need some time with those who are best placed to help them understand the opportunities and challenges. It is one of my favourite (and scariest) moments as I reach out to expert individuals I have never met or worked with, and ask them whether they will help. So far so good.
How has the pandemic affected what the CGO Institute offers? What challenges have there been in moving courses online. Is the latest diploma online as well?
It is strange to say that the pandemic has, in effect, been the driver to make me create this course which had been in my head for a while (especially during the time of struggling with the endless paperwork of formal academia). The challenge has been to get some traction for a new project. From a standing start, with no capital (and no freelance/self employed support for me), no staff or office, we had to get the word out there and get people interested.
Over the last year I have had the help of three press and PR experts and we have put out three different press announcements, as well as writing to all the individual press and contacts we have. No one has carried a news story about it. I guess the media was and still is just too overwhelmed with crisis and bad new stories – that has been tough to realise. As an unaccredited course it has also been difficult to get listed in some of the obvious websites and places where potential applicants might look. Slowly we are being accepted as a new way of learning and getting onto these sites.
We will stay online with this course. It is structured that way and offers great advantages for students and faculty. We can all join from anywhere in the world and work together. We will explore finding ways to meet on the ground, and I will encourage producers to meet their mentors locally where possible.
Seventeen aspiring producers have completed the course and are working internationally. Can you offer some examples?
It is a tough time for anyone entering the industry. There seem to be many many applicants for jobs in the producing and management fields in organisations – not least because new entrants will be competing with so many who were made redundant as a result of Covid.
Some of our 17 have started their own production companies, for example Liam McIntosh Productions and Oatmilk Productions in the Netherlands. Both Liam and Niels van Doormalen met in the first cohort and share a passion for commercial musical theatre. Joanna Morley has been with the Albany Theatre and now joins Oily Cart. Allegra Nespoli is joining Curious Seed in Newcastle whilst her cohort colleague Andy Grange is settled in with the Wycombe Swan.
Two of the cohort return to their final year studies – Lewis Forman at Edinburgh University and Jasmine Juti-Smith at Wimbledon School of Art, having balanced the April-July course with their preparations for their fourth year. Camille Koosyial was on the course as part of her professional development with Lung Theatre. These are just 8 examples from the 17 who are all moving forward in their chosen producing and management careers. Rights have been secured for new plays, revivals of work with a new twist, international work in a new territory.
As a part-time (but intensive) Cloud-based course we are delighted to welcome people who have been based so far for their studies or ‘hail from’ in France, New York, Italy, Malaysia, Estonia, Scotland, the Netherlands and England. They have ranged from 21 years old to 20-plus years in the business and redirecting their world. They are passionate about political theatre, climate activism, new writing, musical theatre, sustainable environmentally-based festivals, pantomime, making people think and making people laugh.
The come from existing careers including choreography, design, lighting, teaching, screenwriting and stage management. Some will only produce other people’s work, others will write or create their own pieces of work as well as producer for others. They have one thing in common, a respect for the role of producing and ‘making stuff happen’ and a pleasure in collaboration in class and outward into the world.
And so… On 1 November 2021 the third cohort of producers joins me on Zoom to meet each other and the faculty who will guide them through 16 weeks of exploration and skill gaining. And already we have the first applications and enquiries coming in for the April-July 2022 course which will have a maximum of 12 producers on it. I look forward to ‘casting’ this next producing cohort.
Background:
Chris Grady has previously run, built, marketed and created theatres and festivals over 40 years. He has worked in senior marketing and management at Bristol Hippodrome (assistant theatre manager), Plymouth Theatre Royal (head of marketing), Edinburgh International Festival and Traverse Theatres (head of marketing), Highland Hospice (appeal co-ordinator), Buxton Opera House (CEO and programmer/founding director of the festival of musicals), London Vivian Ellis Prize, Society of London Theatre Stagefair, New Musicals Alliance (founder), Musical Theatre Network (founder), Cardiff BBC Wales (Musicals Festival/Voice of Musical Theatre), Keswick Theatre By The Lake (co-project build co-ordinator), Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal (head of marketing and development), and internationally as head of licensing for Cameron Mackintosh.
Chris has published Your Life in the Theatre – a self-help career guide or the arts. He was commissioned to write an e-book The Anatomy of Your Creativity targeted at the business manager and leader in need of some creative support and inspiration.
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