Creative Leadership Trainees

In March 2019, Gloucester Culture Trust launched the Creative Leadership Trainee Programme. The aim: to nurture the future creative leaders of today.

The programme has created four full-time, year-long jobs within four of Gloucester’s creative organisations, all of which are fully funded by the Creative Entrepreneurs strand of the city’s Great Place project. This area of our work, which we call JOLT, is about creating opportunities and a supportive space which enables people to work and make a living in the creatives industries, right here in Gloucester.

Each Creative Leadership Trainee has ten allocated days of training towards their professional development, most of which are bespoke to their individual needs. One of these days has involved a group visit to the Roundhouse in London, one of our partners in the Gloucester-Roundhouse Exchange Project. They met with their team to gain a real insight into what makes the music venue so incredible and have brought back exciting ideas about how to engage younger creatives in Gloucester. Alongside the Creative Leadership Programme is a series of workshops, regular PechaKucha Nights, creative business support – and coming very soon is a network of a young creatives and a physical creative space in Gloucester City Centre.

We’ve asked the Creative Leadership Trainees themselves to tell you what they’re up to and how the programme is going.
Over to Dylan, September, Kat & Aimee!

What’s your name and what do you do?
My name is September Turner, I was given the opportunity to start working for Three Choirs Festival in May 2019 as their Cultural Ambassador. My job aims to create visual ways to engage with our community and try and capture a new and diverse audience. My job creates content for people who struggle to engage with non-visual media, like myself and to give a more inclusive insight into the world of classical music.

My name is Aimee Lewis and I’m currently working for Gloucestershire Libraries as a Cultural Leadership Trainee. My role allows me to experiment and challenge new ideas for arts and culture in libraries, bringing new ways of approaching projects and events for communities. I’m also based at Strike A Light Gloucester, who’re a non-venue specific theatre organisation and aim to programme as many relevant shows throughout Gloucester all year round.

I’m Dylan Willams, Creative Leadership Trainee for Gloucester Culture Trust. My role is to assist with the JOLT project and programme to help develop the creative community in Gloucester. The vision of the project I am working on is to put Gloucester on the map for its creativity and enhance what’s on offer for creatives.

My name is Kat Purchase and I’m a Creative Leadership Trainee at Art Shape. Since starting in May, I have been working as part of the Carnival Arts Partnership on Gloucester Carnival, working and developing skills with the Art Shape team on various projects such as Gloucester History Festival, Flying High and Of Course We Can and helping core Arts Inc partners; Dance Unstuck and Your Next Move.

How did you end up here?
September: I grew up in Gloucester, but I moved to Manchester in hopes of finding more opportunities. Nine months into living there I hadn’t found anything that excited me, then I met Nina from Art Shape who said I should apply for this programme. Within the week I had packed up my home and moved down to Gloucester without even knowing if I had the job or not – I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Aimee: I first heard about this opportunity on Facebook through the Engage in Gloucester page, where my mum actually tagged me in this job post (go mum). At the time I was fresh out of University for nearly 6 months and I wasn’t working in a creative job, so I couldn’t believe a job involving creative thinking came up in Gloucester. Therefore, I jumped at the opportunity.

Dylan: I had been looking for a career in the creative sector for a while and was ready to leave Gloucester! Through my time supported by The Music Works as a DJ and Music Producer I became familiar with the arts organisations in Gloucester, especially Gloucester Culture Trust. Then the role popped up which was exciting to see a creative job opportunity in the City! I always had an interest in the culture and creative sector in Gloucester and I’m passionate about making a positive change here. Especially with the lack of underground culture here in the City. Having spent a lot of time in London and Bristol and visiting Berlin I’ve seen first-hand the importance of culture and creativity.

Kat: I have developed skills and gained work experience in a variety of different artistic sectors and have always been drawn to local creative work opportunities in Gloucestershire. I felt very enthusiastic about helping to improve the opportunities for young creatives in Gloucester as I struggled when I came out of education to find options for myself.

What are you hoping to get out this opportunity?
September: I began developing my own company (SkiSka) in Manchester but didn’t find much luck due to not having built a network up north. Business began picking up gradually since moving back to my home town simply through word of mouth, which is the great thing about small cities such as Gloucester. I am hoping to learn how to build my network up effectively, learn the structure of how an office environment works and most importantly… the paperwork! I think as a creative that’s what lets a lot of us down, we focus on creating and not actually how to market ourselves or know how to work out a budget etc. This experience has allowed me to work on my administration skills which has not only helped my business but has enriched my overall experience at work.

Aimee: During my year trainee position here with Libraries and Strike a Light, I hope to get an experience working for local organisations which supports so many diverse communities. I want to support as many project opportunities as possible with my knowledge on social media marketing and creative arts. Alongside this I’ve already been working on the producing side of a show during my time at Strike a Light, where I hope to work on a project for Libraries which I can produce myself with some support where appropriate. The idea of producing something targeted at young people, between the ages of 14 and 25, really appeals to me as I’d like to see what Gloucester is missing towards supporting them and if Libraries can help this.

Dylan: I hope to get the skills and understanding to help continue my role in the development of the creative sector in Gloucester. I want to continue to create as many new friends and contacts as possible and have a positive impact on Gloucester. Thanks to the Culture Trust I am fortunate enough to get invaluable experience in a job that people, especially young people, go to London on a horrifically underpaid internship to do. So, this is a really amazing thing for our City! If I can achieve one thing it will be to make sure creatives are recognised and celebrated here.

Kat: I am hoping to gain more skills in areas in the creative industry that I am not as confident or experienced in and make connections with other creative’s in Gloucestershire.

What kind of things have you been working on?
September: I have recently been working on article for Three Choirs Spotlight magazine, an interview with April Fredrick and a summary video of how this year’s festival went, which has been a nice mixture of working on non-visual and visual projects.

Aimee: I have been working within my role for three months now, having support a few Art of Libraries projects through Create Gloucester and learned a lot on marketing for theatre shows/events. I’ve also been helping out a couple of times at a new Innovation Lab in Coleford Library where I manage all social media accounts, plan for future events and attend schools’ workshops which indulge in digital technology learning. Last month I worked front of house on a couple of Strike a Light projects and currently assisting on producing a new show by Jonny Fluffypunk coming to a couple of Libraries next year.

Dylan: Day to day it’s always something different and exciting. There’s never a boring day at Gloucester Culture Trust. A range of creative things from running our workshop programme and PechaKucha nights to helping James with the opening of our creative space which is hopefully coming soon! Something I am continually working on is a challenging task of bringing together an exciting network of creatives in the city.

Kat: I have helped assist the producer for Gloucester Carnival, helping with paperwork, marketing, running workshops and photographing the event. For various Art Shape projects I have also filmed and edited videos and captured professional photos. I have helped produce marketing material for different events i.e. roller banners, brochures and flyers. I have assisted the Art Shape artists with organising and running their workshops for adults and children with disabling barriers. I have been working closely with the Art Partnerships helping the organisations with anything from legal documents and insurance to producing marketing materials and strategies.

Is there anything you have found that you weren’t expecting?
September: I think I was originally put off by not doing as many “creative” things as I wanted to do, the more I think about it… it was a really good lesson, life is a compromise and I need to find a good balance, but not only that, the point of my placement is to make the work I have been given “creative” and ‘engaging’ and that has been the biggest task of them all, it’s stimulating trying to come up with new ways to present thing that can normally be fairly mundane into something bold, inclusive and eye-catching.

Aimee: I have been working within my role for three months now, having supported a few Art of Libraries projects through Create Gloucester and learned a lot about marketing for theatre shows/events. I’ve also been helping out a couple of times at a new Innovation Lab in Coleford Library where I manage all social media accounts, plan for future events and attend schools workshops which indulge in digital technology learning. Last month, I worked front of house on a couple of Strike a Light projects and am currently assisting on producing a new show by Jonny Fluffypunk coming to a couple of Libraries next year.

Dylan: The amount of work that goes into making things happen in Gloucester and the programming of events/festivals. Everyone in the sector works so hard!

Kat: I was surprised at the variety of work I have ended up doing, but it has been fun to have some opportunities to use some of my skills I have not made much use of since leaving education. I have been able to bring some filmmaking and photography knowledge to projects that I know has really helped, and with the positive feedback and encouragement following, it has made me feel like a very valued member of the team.

What are your plans for the future?
September: I really want to learn as much as I possibly can and embrace everything that’s thrown at me throughout the rest of my placement and apply it to my own business SkiSka, which I will hopefully be setting up a new base in the new creative space as part of the JOLT Programme. I am extremely excited to see what the rest of this year has in store for me and knowing that at the end of my placement I will still have the support of Gloucester Culture Trust to continue developing my creative leadership skills.

Aimee: Future plans for myself, consist of gaining more experience within marketing for a business and producing shows/projects for local communities in Gloucestershire. I’m really certain that I want to be based in Gloucestershire and explore the world of independent producing through exciting projects, building on relationships and experience.

Dylan: Hopefully there is the opportunity to continue with Gloucester Culture Trust and work towards the cultural vision and strategy. I really want to carry on my path into the cultural sector to make Gloucester a better place to live, work and have fun.

Kat: Originally I planned to continue down a photography route, however doing this traineeship has opened up more opportunities for me and at the minute I am very open to all possible future opportunities that come my way, though I know that I definitely want to continue working in the creative industry in Gloucestershire.