Emerging Creatives: Curating a toolkit of skills

Starting out as an Emerging Creative, I had no idea where to begin in such a vast and diverse company like Walk the Plank. With experts in their fields sitting just a desk away, it felt like I had a manual to the creative world at my fingertips. Over the past few months, I’ve had an incredible opportunity to curate my own toolkit of skills, learning from the talents of everyone around me and discovering how I can shape my own creative practice within a mix of unique perspectives. 

Projects like the Rochdale Boroughwide Housing ‘A Day to Remember’ festival gave me the chance to put these skills into practice. I aided producers in ensuring that the festival truly spoke to the local community, attending meetings, brainstorming sessions, and even attending a coffee morning with residents to generate ideas. Seeing the project evolve from initial discussions to its final form was invaluable, and it showed me the power of collaboration and the importance of understanding the audience. 

Beyond individual projects, I’ve rotated through different departments, sitting in on meetings, supporting tasks, and learning just how much time, energy, and attention to detail goes into every aspect of each project. Experiencing this breadth has been brilliant, allowing me to reflect on and absorb skills from every corner of the company. 

As I move into the next few months of my placement, I hope to continue this immersive approach through learning, contributing, and further shaping my own creative voice, while working alongside an incredible group of people. 

Going into this role with Walk the Plank, I was aware that I wanted to be involved in the arts, and I was beginning to learn about what working within this sector involves, but it was challenging to see how to get to where I hoped to be. I wanted to gain experience and try as many things out as possible. 

Being an Emerging Creative has given me a lot of new opportunities. One of the key moments from my first three months was being a Production Assistant on Manchester Day. Getting to work on the live event, knowing that I had been a part of its creation process, made me feel really proud. It was super interesting to see the different permutations a project goes through, even on the day of its delivery, as everyone adapts to unexpected changes. Another key moment was when I got to spend a week in the workshop helping with Lost Village preparations and then go to the festival with some of the builds that I had worked on. Seeing them in situ with performers interacting with them was an amazing feeling. On Lost Village I worked well with the team and performed lots of roles under pressure, learning how to problem-solve as the show adapted over time. 

This placement has been very valuable for me. I’ve been able to take on new roles and skills, as well as developing those which are already important to me. The whole Walk the Plank team are supportive and generous with their knowledge sharing, whether that’s as part of an informal chat or through a more structured opportunity. I look forward to being involved in more of what Walk the Plank creates, and interacting with new people, places and ideas along the way.