Tell us about yourself?
My name is James Reilly, I am 24 years old based in wigan, and I started my kickstart role with the Artz Centre in the summer. Before starting my work here, I studied at a drama school doing a masters degree in acting at The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. Furthermore, I spent two years acting, directing, and producing plays, and currently, I perform professionally for regional theatre companies and independent films. I am often described as James The Clown around the Artz Centre because of my experience as a clown in theatre, which means I often portray fools on stage and screen, and whilst being a clown, I make sure cabbages are in as much of my work as possible, and of course it also applies to working at the Artz Centre.
What is your job role from day to day at the Artz centre?
My working week consists of usually 25 hours over four days, and I facilitate the marketing of our social media accounts. When working on social media marketing, I often focus on visual marketing such as videos, as I believe it is the most engaging for potential audiences and showcases the amazing work of our students. From time to time, I also assist facilitation of drama workshops drawing upon my skills in the industry, such as the improvisation camp earlier in the year. I would also like to think my job role consists of managing the chaos that is colin the cabbage at the Artz Centre, who has practically become a mascot here at the Artz Centre; however, he can be a diva.
What has been the most rewarding part of the job so far?
I have enjoyed the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience of the arts amongst all age range groups when facilitating areas of drama and engaging with conversations about performance with groups attending sessions. During the holiday camp The Master Un-Planned, I facilitated improvisation and clowning workshops whilst also helping produce the event alongside Joe, Mark, and Claire. Without question, I found this the most rewarding experience because I felt like I contributed to developing young peoples understanding of improvisation, particularly with the theory of crow (character, relationship, objective, world). I was unbelievably proud of the whole group when it came to the performance night after seeing them grow throughout the week, and it was a very emotional feeling to experience.
What challenges have you faced?
Through the kickstart scheme, I have found learning to stick to structured marketing plans and timetables difficult. Also, I needed to learn how to manage my time, particularly when I was facilitating holiday camps, because I still had to market shows produced in the next few weeks, and I often found it hard to manage all that time. Also, Jay Duxbury is extremely distracting, and I also believe he has an obsession with me. However, how could I blame him and at least he knows how to press the button on the coffee machine, which makes my working week less challenging when I get provided with vanilla lattes.
What have you learnt from this experience?
Being around the young people at the Artz Centre made me realise I should not fear things I believe I am not capable of doing. Observing our groups growing in confidence and often breaking comfort zones these past few months has made me want to take on new challenges and set new goals in the arts industry and outside it. I have learnt not to live with fear but to walk towards the unknown, with the belief that I can achieve and be proud of the results.
What’s next?
Using the experience from these past few months, I hope to establish all the marketing techniques I have learnt from this process whenever I produce my work as a theatre-maker. I will utilise structured marketing strategies, timetables, and content variation when producing theatre or film. I also enjoyed facilitating specialist workshops in areas of comedy and would love to explore this further in other areas of theatre and film I have experience. As mentioned above, I will also strive to challenge myself in the arts industry and not let fear and lack of confidence be a barrier in front of me; instead, I will walk into new situations in the arts industry with belief and aiming high.