The new Executive Director of Northern Stage, Kate Denby, reflects on those who have guided and inspired her career.
Andrew Scott
Aged 14 I joined Swing Bridge Singers, a youth choir in Newcastle led by the brilliant, joyful Andrew Scott, known affectionately as Scottee. Scottee has a simple policy: no auditions, no requirement to read music, no membership fee, no register, and absolutely no parents committee – just fun, friendship and six-part harmony. As teenagers we felt genuine ownership of the choir: if we needed to raise money to travel to a competition, we’d go busking at Grey’s Monument in our bright yellow T-shirts. It was a great lesson in self-reliance. Scottee put so much of his own time into creating this wonderful space in which we felt we truly belonged, and that sense of empowerment stayed with me long after I left to go to university. Over 250 ex-Swing Bridge Singers returned for the 20th Anniversary concert at the Sage Gateshead in 2008, a testament to Scottee’s impact on us all.
Gary Dunning
After leaving university with a degree in PR and no idea about a future career I applied for an internship in New York. In an incredible stroke of luck I was placed with the Big Apple Circus. Gary was the Executive Director – a job I didn’t know existed before I started there – and my year as his assistant proved to be the best foundation in arts management I could have asked for. Anything that went to his desk passed mine first, and I soaked up as much as I could. Gary always took the time to explain how the creative programming, box office and marketing, and community programmes fitted into a big picture, and looking after a 35-person board, I saw the vital role the Board played in advocating and fundraising for the company. I left New York knowing I wanted his job someday.
Nicholai La Barrie
Nicholai was Head of Youth Arts at Oval House in south London when I joined the company as Administrator. He always described his role as directing theatre with a company of actors who happened to be under 18. Nicholai instilled in those young people a belief that they had a right to tell their stories. I’d sometimes walk into the café and hear a group in passionate conversation about the work they were making, with a degree of sophistication that could be found in any professional company. Nine years on, it is fantastic to see several are now establishing professional careers of their own as directors, actors and writers.
Natalie Abrahami & Carrie Cracknell
Joining the Gate Theatre felt terrifying at first: it’s a small theatre with a big reputation. For the first six months I was sure someone would figure out that I was making it up as I went along. But Natalie and Carrie created an environment in which, if the artistic ambition was high, so was the belief that we could find a way to make it happen – even if we didn’t quite know how just yet. After a few months as General Manager they asked me to become Executive Producer. Over the next three years I learned from them how to make theatre. Not only the creative and logistical aspects of putting on a production or running a company, but also how to be brave, and tenacious, and ambitious.
Pat Weller & Lee Corner
I moved to Hull Truck as Producer in 2012, and during a period of transition at the company Pat and Lee provided an enormous amount of support both to the company and to me personally. They are completely different characters but equally brilliant role models: confident, wise and generous of spirit. If I go on to become half the woman they are, I’ll retire happy. In the meantime, I’ll keep asking ‘What would Pat and Lee do?’
Kate Denby is Executive Director of Northern Stage.
www.northernstage.co.uk
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