A Pitch In Heat

This week I have been staring at unwieldy forms; submitting an Arts Council England application on behalf of Original Theatre Company, navigating the wordy Register of Training Organisations due-diligence and quality assurance pages, drafting another bid on leadership & management training. I end up conquering, even befriending, these endless boxes but I have to set the right conditions. Glastonbury coverage and muggy heat are not helpful conditions.

I am a conqueror. Just a hot one.

This evening I have been at the first ever Brighton RSAEngage event, an event for current and prospective Fellows of the Royal Society of The Arts to gather and drink wine and talk about changing the world. I have been a Fellow for 3 days, but felt more included than I have ever done when muscling my way in to these sort of seemingly important chinwags. It was informal and friendly; I felt able to talk to anyone, and everyone was equally flagging in the evening heat. My elevator pitch is not yet refined and goes something like: “I am an education consultant and I also work with creative and cultural organizations and the non-profit and charity sector and I support growth and strategy and help leaders be brilliant at what that they do and that is at the core of my offer, to help organisations that want to make a difference be brilliant, and that is through strategy and fundraising and coaching and consulting, I am interested in values-led leadership and how education can be broken apart and restitched as well as how the arts can fulfill a mandate for social change and I like people and I like cheese and and and and”.

I could do with some editing.

It could have been an empty talking shop, a bit elitist, a bit privileged - I’ve done those before - but it avoided this. Most people seemed as wide-eyed as me, but with a ‘thing’ that they believe in to talk about.

I might have excitedly said I will do some things with some interesting organisations - and that's what is incredibly motivating at the moment; there are some really god things happening. I met the CEO of ditchthelabel.org, a high-profile anti-bullying charity and we’re hopefully going for coffee. I enjoyed picking the brains of Naomi, who is a community theatre specialist, working with BAC and the Old Vic, who wants to establish a People’s Theatre that appeals to the 92% of people who never go to the theatre. I chatted with Lewis, who is an intern at a management consultancy that wants to transform a kiosk next to a windmill in Rottingdean into a conservation and environment education centre. I caught up with Rose who trains school governors. I spoke with Nick, a former Ofsted director, who now helps run a mentoring network for vulnerable young women and we talked about setting one up for boys. I heard from Nigel, who runs a new arts venue in Haywards Heath. I briefly introduced myself to Rowan, Director of Research & Innovation at the RSA who compelled us all to stick our noses into the deals being made about Brighton’s devolved money (the City Deal that will bring millions to the city in exchange for rapid economic growth - she is expecting an email from me about wanting to get involved. Somehow).

I’ll write soon about ‘what’ I’m doing and the philosophies that underpin it, but the scoping is still very rewarding.