Just over 12 months ago the idea of being told to stay at home and wear masks everywhere you go was almost laughable yet after a year of yo-yo-ing in and out of lockdowns, tiers and restrictions (oh my!) the whole lockdown lifestyle has become second nature. That’s not to say it has been without it’s challenges, the world has definitely had to adapt to this new way of life and countless companies have sadly been lost to this global pandemic, yet here I am a brand new employee of a not for profit performing arts school in Skelmersdale.
By all odds I should not be writing this blog post today, I had fully written off the idea of an apprenticeship at the Artz Centre, or anywhere else for that matter the moment we were put into the first lockdown but somehow we managed to pull through and I now get to call this my job. Reflecting on the year we’ve just had; it’s actually incredible how we’ve managed to come through this whole thing even stronger than before and it is 100% down to the community the centre has built over the years.
Seeing how the whole Artz community came together during this pandemic is nothing short of eye-watering. The donations, the fundraising initiatives, the way the whole team got behind us and began to come up with new ways to generate revenue, it’s been amazing and I genuinely don’t think I’d be where I am now if it wasn’t for the coronavirus which almost seems counter-intuitive, but its true.
All that being said, it’s not been an easy ride, working from home for months on end was soul destroying, especially when you are trying to learn a trade like design and marketing – it’s nearly impossible to do from behind a zoom camera.
I mean there’s only so much experience you can get from being sat at your kitchen table!
The pandemic has taught me a lot though. It’s taught me that things don’t always go to plan and that you need to be okay with that. It’s given me the time to really think about what I want and start planning and working towards that. Most importantly it’s taught me so much about this family that I have been adopted into and for that time that we’ve had to learn all these things I will be forever grateful.
But, that time is now (thankfully) nearly over we returned to sessions this week which was so fun and I can’t wait for us to be running around like headless chickens getting ready for our next show week! So until then I will savour these last few weeks of solitude and start getting ready for the culture shock that returning life back to normal will bring.
See you then!
Charlotte xx