Case studies: Creative learning officer: Stuart

Since graduating two years ago with an acting degree, Stuart has had many roles within the theatre and has recently been appointed as the creative learning officer. The theatre is part of a larger group, including West End and regional theatres across the UK, each of which has a creative learning department, responsible for all of the outreach work and community links with the theatre. 

I worked at the theatre on and off while I was a student and spent a year working backstage after my degree before going off travelling. On my return, I started off as bar staff then worked in the box office and got involved with sales and marketing, as well as continuing with work backstage.  When the creative learning department needed extra staff for the youth theatre I helped out, this led to an administrative role in the department, which developed into the position of creative learning officer.

My degree was useful to develop skills and learn about a career in theatre as well as make lots of contacts in the industry. The more varied your experience is the better, and evidence of youth or community-based work, including assisting with and running workshops to demonstrate your leadership skills, is really important. I was a workshop leader with a disabled theatre company while I was a student, which really helped. Workshop delivery or an administrative post is often a good way to get started in theatre. There are lots of opportunities for graduates and most theatre companies now look for a degree. It's key to show an interest and be open-minded to all sorts of opportunities and make contacts with people in the industry.

My role is really varied and involves working closely with other departments within the theatre such as marketing, the technical team, and the events team for the activities we run. These include a range of workshops for young people and the local community, such as drama, dance and singing classes, a resident youth theatre, a scriptwriting workshop for adults and a new play reading group with older people. My role involves managing the creative practitioners who run these classes, drawing up budgets and contracts for the staff and ensuring that they are CRB checked. I also research costs for all the workshops offered to ensure they are competitive. I work with schools and coordinate visits for groups attending a show and sometimes classes with touring companies. 

Project management is a big part of the job and I am involved in all aspects. This year, dance groups from across the region were invited to audition to feature in our first ever two-day in-house dance festival, which was sponsored by a national retailer. I started by creating a database of schools and dance groups and advertised the event to them. I also met with the sponsors and liaised with a wide range of staff in the theatre to accommodate the technical requirements of the different dance groups. Lastly, I organised rehearsals and stage managed the event.

The variety in my role is great, as is the chance to work with such a diverse range of people from many different backgrounds. From my current role, the next step is manager but from here there isn't a natural career path to follow.  As the role develops such a wide range of transferable skills, it is down to the individual which way they want to develop their career.