Getting my first paid job in the theatre

What I learned about networking from Stand & Be Counted Theatre.

Written by Ruth Vassallo

To all the students, 

For those of you who want tips with no context, skip to the indented sections of this blog. For people like me, who want all the details all the time, here is a blog describing how I got my first paid job in the creative industry with Stand and Be Counted Theatre. 

Yesterday, I participated in Culture Central’s Networking 101 workshop. It became apparent that, like me, students feel such urgency and desperation to make contacts that they will try to connect with anyone, with any link to the arts, as though they are the lifeguard who will save them from a stormy sea. Whilst this ‘hussle’ is admirable and in no way a ‘bad thing’, my experience with SBC has taught me that ‘smart’ networking will get you further. What do I mean? Well, I don’t think there is a better way to explain myself than to describe my journey with SBC. 

Whilst chatting with my hairdresser (shout out to Georgina at Swithins) I discovered that she knew a producer named John Tomlinson, who she described as the “nicest” and most “genuine guy”. What a great opportunity, for someone who is desperate to dig their teeth into all things theatre, right?  Yes, absolutely... but, at the time, I was early into my penultimate year at university and, knowing myself, I knew that my degree took priority. 

First tip: It is OK to prioritise your opportunities. Yes, timing is important for the people you are contacting but it is also essential for you. After all, your objective is to be your best self so that maybe, possibly, hopefully they will want to employ you.  Unless (gasp) someone dies, contacts remain a resource and, sometimes, the back burner is a beautiful place to let an opportunity simmer. 

After graduating in the middle of a global pandemic, I had not forgotten about John and, if I’m honest, I was pretty desperate for someone in ‘show-biz’ to save me from my doubts and fears of what was already a hard enough industry to tackle and now seemed impossible. 

Before I contacted him, I did my research. I discovered that John is the producer of Sheffield Theatres, the largest regional theatre complex outside of London. WOWZER. My inner fangirl was already in awe. I was ready to jump onto that phone call and beg for shadowing or volunteer opportunities that could help ‘get my foot in’ big style. But, I had to ask myself, why would he be interested? What do I have in common with someone so gosh-darn successful?

Second tip: Find common values. One of the best pieces of advice that ever I got, was to unearth the values of people you contact. See what drives their work and ask yourself if this vibes with your values. 

After listening to a few of John’s interviews and reading a lot of articles about his work, I understood that, like me, John was super hard-working. But, perhaps more important, was his drive to make the theatre a safe space for the community. As well as being a renowned producer, John was a co-founder of Stand and Be Counted Theatre company, the first theatre company of sanctuary in the UK. The company makes work with and for asylum seekers and refugees, holding workshops to boost their confidence, increase their employability and help them to integrate into society. As the daughter of two immigrant parents, I too want art to celebrate the diversity this country has to offer and I feel it’s my duty to make other immigrants feel welcome into a country with so many opportunities. I already had so much I wanted to talk about. 

As someone with so many interests and dreams, I want to ask every question and keep every single door open. However, when you are speaking to someone important, keep it relevant and be specific.

Third tip: The phone call or tea break they offer is an investment of their time, so use it wisely. Ask questions that relate to their experience. Know what you want. Ask how you can get it. Know what you can offer. Offer it. 

I can’t remember the exact details of the 1 hour and 30 minute phone call that I had with John but I remember buzzing off the walls afterward. I found a company that I was excited and passionate about. I found a company that are genuinely keen to welcome newcomers into the industry. I had waited until I could invest time to shadow SBC and it had paid off. After two weeks of shadowing a few meetings, they asked me if I wanted to be their Creative Assistant. This was my first paid (what?) yes, PAID theatre gig - ever… and trust me when I say I have volunteered and shadowed people for the last 6 years.  I very well know how lucky I am to have been offered a freelance gig at SBC during lockdown but something SBC taught me is how to know my own worth. 

Fourth tip: Know your worth. Art is a real job. As my good friend ‘Miss Is’, also known as ‘impostor syndrome’, will deny, you deserve to be paid. As awkward as it is, the best way to get around this is to set a two-week volunteer cap. That way, if the company isn’t in a financial place to hire you then you aren’t being taken advantage of. Meanwhile, you can show your worth, make some contacts and it’s likely that they will remember you when a vacancy does arise. 

In conclusion, whilst getting lots of contact details and having one conversation is great, what counts is maintaining and developing a contact into a relationship. If you wait, have a reason bigger than fear.

What it’s like working as a Creative Assistant for a theatre of sanctuary during a pandemic; Insights into Stand & Be Counted Theatre Company

Every theatre company has a different approach and, after participating in over 100 workshops and shadowing countless others, I wasn’t expecting SBC to be different. I was wrong. Rosie and Hannah, the leaders of the Creative Skills for Employment programme, led workshops with approaches that I had never seen before. Taking minutes and participating in workshop exercises was a perfect opportunity for me to familiarise myself with SBC’s style of working with participants.

Workshop ideas I had never seen before: SBC placed importance on practicing mindfulness during regular intervals of the workshop. This served to relax everyone in the group after, and before, tasks which clarified peoples thoughts and focused their attention to improve the quality of performance. The wellbeing of the participants was prioritised and used to shape the content of the workshop. 

As well as taking minutes, other administrative tasks I performed as a Creative Assistant include assisting with funding bids, collating data and locating venues for film shoots. SBC gave me an insight into a part of theatre that I had never seen before. 

Working for a small scale theatre company: If you are like me and want to learn and try everything, working for a company like SBC, rather than larger organisations, is the perfect way to dip your fingers in many pies. It’s likely that you will be challenged with a variety of tasks. If you ‘only’ direct or ‘only’ perform, I would say that this is an opportunity to broaden your horizon; in the end, it will help you make more informed decisions when you do specialise. 

Learning new things can be scary because it probably means you’ll make a few mistakes along the way. Once I heard that, in this industry, if you do one good thing, one person will hear about it and if you do one bad thing ten people will hear about it. That’s a pretty daunting statistic when you're asked to do something new and you might make a mistake, right? As someone who fears I am doing everything wrong, working with SBC has taught me that it’s okay to be unsure, as long as you do something about it.

Communication is key: It’s OKAY to ask questions. It’s OKAY to make mistakes. We are all human and making a spelling mistake doesn’t mean your boss is going to hate you and you will never be employed again. 

In drama, empathy is our job. Well, it turns out that your colleague or boss, who is sitting in the zoom screen in front of you or standing two metres in front, probably understands exactly what you are going through. How? Because they were in your position once too. For example, I had never had to send an invoice before. I was so scared to ask how I got paid that I waited a month to ask and, when I finally did, I felt so embarrassed that I second guessed whether the work I had done was voluntary (which I was used to) or paid. Rosie, Artistic Director of SBC, with a huge smile and a reassuring voice, clarified that I was being, and absolutely deserve to be, paid. She explained that I needed to send an invoice to John and, when I explained I had never done one before, she sent me an invoice template and took me through it step by step, telling me that she wished she had asked that question when she had just graduated. I honestly felt like I had won the ‘best colleagues of the century’ lottery. 

Had I won the lottery? YES. They are literally the kindest people I have ever met, who genuinely care about other people. However, the ‘imposter syndrome’ that lives inside me made me feel like, because of this huge opportunity they gave me, I owed them, big time. They were doing me a huge favour. There are obvious problems with this attitude which I could only identify with their help. The team at SBC taught me that I deserved my place in the company. 

Where possible, surround yourself with people who believe in you and know your worth: in a world of constant pressure and comparison, you may as well surround yourself with people who care. There is no shame in accepting help from people when they say that it’s time to turn off that horrible voice in your head that tells you that you ‘can’t’ or ‘shouldn’t’ because you are ‘not good enough’. As long as you do your best and work hard, you can, and deserve to, achieve. 

Even just writing this blog, that voice in my head is telling me I have ‘no right’ to give other people advice, considering I have only just graduated and this is my first freelance gig. Well, I agree; if you want to go to someone with more experience then this blog is not the right thing for you. But… guess what? That producer, the really successful one, who let me shadow his theatre company, who hired me as a Creative Assistant, who is one of the amazing colleagues, and dare I say, friends, that I have made since sending that email a couple of months ago, asked me to write this. What for? For you. Because he, and the rest of SBC, know what it’s like to be a recent graduate duckling, swimming in a scary pond of, what seem to be, closed doors. He told me that it’s time to ignore the hierarchy that society has imposed on this, and every other, industry. Because over at SBC, we believe that everyone is equal and everyone deserves a chance to Stand and Be Counted. So, I’ve shown you this way to the door. All you have to do is knock.