We caught up with Elske Waite to see what she has been getting up to after graduating from our MFA Actor Training and Coaching in 2018.
What would you like to tell us about today?
A two-week festival, called Sightlines.
Please tell us more!
Sightlines is a two-week online festival of incredible events, all exploring the relationship between performance and wellbeing. It’s taking place from the 13-25 July, and will include performances, workshops, talks and panels. Every event explores in some way the processes of creating performance, and how positive wellbeing can be promoted through different art forms.
Over the past year, questions around wellbeing in the performing arts have naturally come to the forefront - structural issues have become clearer than ever, new wellbeing challenges have arisen, and new forms of performance and performance outreach have developed. It feels like a very exciting time now to explore how and what our relationship with wellbeing and performance is. I feel so lucky I get to observe all these events - and I can’t encourage people enough to book in for them!
Did you get involved with this work through Central?
I found the listing on Facebook via an old Edinburgh University alumni network - proving that alumni groups are very valuable!
What is your role with Sightlines, and how did you get involved with it?
I’m on the Sightlines team as their Digital Technical Manager. I’ve been lucky enough to have spent the last year, during COVID-19, working for online festivals and events so when I saw this job, and it’s focus on mental health and wellbeing, which is more important now than ever - I really thought “Yes, this is for me!” and sent a very enthusiastic email across to them, which must have worked!
What made you want to get involved?
The idea of creating a whole two-week festival of events just around mental health and wellbeing in the arts was an immediate winner for me. I really feel like everything I do as a Stage Manager is about making the process of putting on a production as clear, efficient, and enjoyable as possible for the whole team - and this festival has been a real peak of that. Not only are we putting on 26 events that are thematically based on ideas of wellbeing and performance, but within the team itself we’ve worked in ways that absolutely respect working hours, and our personal capacities for work each day. Everyone is so supportive and flexible, and so understanding of our individual needs and processes.
The core team have also gone through Mental Health First Aid Training, which I am so grateful for - not only will it be incredibly useful for this festival - but it’s a qualification I can keep and hopefully build on beyond this job too.
What does a typical day look like for you at the moment?
The sad, (and sometimes brilliant), part about online work is that it’s mostly done from my desk in my bedroom. There are days when this is amazing, and I can sit with my pyjama bottoms on and be very thankful I don’t have to commute anywhere. But in the end, I can’t wait to see the team in person - we have a small get together planned to celebrate the end of the festival.
Are there any other projects you are working on?
I’m currently finishing up an amazing folk music project with a company I co-run called Ondervinden. ‘The Folk Effect’ is a free, online, high-speed song writing project featuring some incredible folk musicians from across the UK, including Ríoghnach Connolly, Lisa Knapp, and Jackie Oates. Beginning with an archive recording, which was dug from the collections at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, each artist had just 24 hours to write a new song, with each being inspired by the one that went before.
The result is a chain of new songs tied together by their origins, and all traced back to the same traditional roots. We’re also so happy that the project features gorgeous artwork by Jo May, who is also a Central graduate! The whole thing is available to watch online at ondervinden.com. I’ve probably listened to it three times per week for the last month - it’s so beautiful!
What has surprised you most about your experience?
I was surprised how much Zoom can do! I’ve used it so much in the past year personally and professionally, but managing the technical requirements for 26 entirely different events has really stretched my Zoom knowledge - although I sometimes wish that I didn’t have to know so much, it’s incredibly impressive.
What has been the biggest challenge that you have overcome while working on these projects?
For me, good communication is the key to being a Stage Manager - and that’s made incredibly hard working online, especially with a team as big as this one. Not only is it hard to keep a sense of what everyone is doing without overloading each other with information, it’s also really hard to work out with a new team how everyone prefers to communicate, via email or WhatsApp, and what each medium is best used for. It’s always a challenge getting to know everyone’s preferences when you join a new project and a new group of people - but the lack of in-person contact makes that even harder.
Are any other Central alumni involved in Sightlines?
Yes! Alumna Emily Orme (Movement: Directing and Teaching, MA 2020) will be hosting a panel discussion at Sightlines Festival titled, ‘Adapting Performance Engagement to Zoom’, taking place on 14 July from 5pm.
How did you find out about Central?
I was looking for a course that allowed me to study the actor’s/creative’s process in more depth. Central’s Actor Training and Coaching MFA course looked the most interesting, and the reputation of the School and it’s opportunities post-graduation were very encouraging!
Is this what you had planned to do after graduation?
I don’t know if Zoom events were exactly what anyone had planned for their future - but I know I’m incredibly grateful to be working on wonderful creative projects, with great people. In that sense - I’m doing exactly what I hoped I would be doing!
What advice would you have for anyone looking to follow in your footsteps?
I know I’m a huge people-pleaser, which can make my job really overwhelming sometimes, as I’m often flooded with requests and demands from other people. In the last few years what I’ve learned more and more is to get a bit of perspective. My job isn’t my whole life - even though I think plenty of industry voices tell you that “in order to make it you have to give it everything”. And the interesting thing is, the more I’ve realised this, I think I’ve become better at my job. Having a bit of perspective has made me a lot happier, and a lot more confident, and calm, especially in what can be a very high-pressure job.
Keep up to date with the Sightlines Festival, which runs from 13-25 July 2021, by visiting their website.
