with Abena Adu-Boateng
We were proud to partner with Creative Access to host Dance Consortium’s first administrative traineeship. This role was generously supported by the Mo Siewcharran Memorial Fund, which supports creative organisations and is driven by its mission to champion people from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in publishing, music and theatre.
Read on to find out more about our brilliant trainee Abena Adu-Boateng’s experience as she reflects on the seven months she spent working with Dance Consortium.
After my experiences with the Arts in university – more specifically the Performing Arts – I knew that I wanted to go into administration or some aspect of production which would help me to help build the same sense of community that I had found in university. After initially seeing the job post on Creative Access, I was drawn to the structure of the organisation, and I felt it aligned strongly with my values of building a stronger community and network within the Arts. Seeing that Dance Consortium was a not-for-profit company drew me to the role as I felt that the organisation would not only focus on how much money a tour would make, but how it would be able to bring diverse works to diverse audiences. The job description involved work I had never heard of before and I thought it would be a great first step into the industry I had grown interested in.
Throughout the traineeship, I managed to get a deep understanding of what it means to take large-scale tours around the country as well as understanding the various facets required to make a tour work, from visas and hotels to engaging staff and audiences in the various venues to help build a stronger consortium. It has also given me the opportunity to see the values of various contributors to a project and how these are balanced to make a vision come to life.
The traineeship afforded me the opportunity to work with the core Dance Consortium team as well as with various freelancers. In the core team I was able to see how meetings with executives from various theatres and arts organisations are conducted as well as the strategies they have in place in their respective venues to help the theatre and touring ecology. I was also able to work within production, organising the transport and hotels, which gave me the opportunity to experience the level of organisation needed to get people from A to B. It was also interesting to work on the engagement side of things, which I had never worked on before, seeing the kinds of strategies and opportunities available within the consortium to work with their audiences. It was also interesting to see initiatives outside of the tours, such as Dance Consortium’s Future Leaders programme and workshops with other companies that had toured with Dance Consortium previously. Working with the tour manager Emily on the ground gave me an insight into a different side of the touring industry and I learned how to be more proactive and organised in unexpected situations.
The experience of working across the consortium’s venues gave me a behind-the-scenes look into how various venues are structured, from funding to outreach. It was interesting to see how the different methods of funding affected the ways in which venues operate as well as some of their priorities when it comes to their ability to pursue certain projects. I was able to meet various kinds of people from all departments of a theatre, including programming, engagement, technical teams and even executives. They all had different opinions and ways of working and it was interesting to see how their backgrounds, as well as their current roles, have shaped the ways in which they approach working at their venue. The traineeship allowed me to ask them all sorts of questions and they were all very friendly and receptive to whatever questions I had.
As part of my traineeship, I was also able to meet some companies that would be touring with Dance Consortium in the future. It was interesting to see how those conversations worked regarding their specific requirements and how the work could be actualised in the various venues, accounting for the different quirks they had.
During the traineeship I had two very memorable moments. The first day of the MÁM tour at the Lowry was very memorable for me, as it was very rewarding to see the culmination of the previous month’s work come to fruition as well as it being my first time on tour. There were many things I learnt coming up to that moment and I was able to see how things worked backstage.
The second was with the Trocks tour. I got to sit on the side of the stage when they were in Wolverhampton and watch the dancers coming in and out of the wings. The hustle and bustle behind-the-scenes solidified that I was truly interested in working in production. Knowing that I contributed to such a big project was a very rewarding moment. I also got to see the show being called from the sidelines by the Production Manager Shelby – she’s an icon!
Since finishing the traineeship with Dance Consortium I have moved on to work at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre – one of the member venues – as a Programming and Producing Co-ordinator. My traineeship with Dance Consortium has allowed me to explore different aspects of touring and I think programming and producing were the roles I was drawn to the most. During my traineeship I built the confidence I needed to socialise with various groups of people, developed organisation and administrative skills – through trial and error – as well as receiving guidance from the team. All in all, I think the traineeship has truly given me the springboard I needed to explore the pathway I was curious about and the confidence to continue on this path and see where it takes me.
