Name Bea Udeh
Title BRIT (Black Regional Initiative in Theatre) Programme Producer
Organisation Nottingham Playhouse
How long in present post? 4 months
t: 0115 947 4361
e: beatriceu@nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
What does your organisation do? It?s a regional producing theatre that programmes around nine home grown productions a year, runs a full education programme and is the only theatre in the region to produce it?s own main stage children?s production outside the Christmas period. It is also currently the home of the Eclipse theatre.
What does your job involve? I engage African and Caribbean people with Nottingham Playhouse by developing theatre activities and supporting the development of theatre arts practitioners. I look at how small-scale theatre companies can tour to Nottinghamshire, and also liaise with the eight other theatres that make up the BRIT network.
Who did you previously work for? I have worked as a freelance arts consultant and media researcher and presenter, with clients including BBC East Midlands, Arts Council of England, Junction Arts and Arts Training Central.
What do you enjoy most about your present post? I love the variety of activities, such as meeting new artists, directing others to in-house or external information points, and developing projects that support productions at the Playhouse.
What do you find most difficult in your present post? There are never enough hours in the day ? especially as I work 20 hours a week.
What is your career ambition? To develop a sustainable African and Caribbean youth theatre in Nottinghamshire.
Who has influenced your career to date the most? Gill Johnson at New Audiences at Arts Council England, for sorting the flit from the float; and Rootsies past and present.
If you could have done any job, what would it be? The hectic busy-Bea life I?m leading. The various jobs ? voluntary and not - means that I?m doing exactly what I want to do.
If you had three wishes for the future of the arts, what would they be?
- for the arts in education to be valued as a subject in itself, rather than a touchy-feely add-on for difficult-to-manage children.
- for more people to recognise that they are creative and can turn that creativity into a physical theatre piece, a script, a new media fusion?
- on a local level for people to see more of their cultural reflections in the arts at all levels.