Today we are speaking with Alice Eve, a current student on the Creative Producing, MA about her experience working on the StART Entrepreneurship Project (StART).
Tell us a bit about StART
The StART Entrepreneurship Project (StART) is a collaboration between the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD) and University of the Arts London (UAL) to support the professional development of students within the creative arts.
Established in 2020 following a significant grant from the Office for Students and Research England, StART Entrepreneurship is a project that aims to help students to develop the necessary skills and real-world experience to build successful and sustainable careers, while researching and sharing best practice with the Arts Education sector.
How did you get involved with StART?
My course leader, Jessica Bowles brought me on board as a Student Ambassador for the project. After a couple of really productive meetings, I had lots of ideas for the project and because I have a background in marketing I brought these together and communicated them by pitching a major social media campaign. This included strategies to expand our reach, improve the quality of engagement, and to ensure that the project felt really exciting to students. After my pitch I was asked to take on the role of Social Media Manager - so I’m glad I took the initiative to share my ideas!
What made you want to get involved?
The opportunity to deliver a project that will be really useful for students like myself, backed by Central staff and other institutions like RNCM and UAL, was one I couldn’t miss. As a producer and arts facilitator, broadening inclusivity and improving opportunities for young people in the arts is my vocation. I think a really big part of that mission for me is empowering young creatives to view their creative practice as a valid and ‘viable’ enterprise or career, and that’s what StART is working to achieve too. It just felt like a fantastic fit.
What are you currently working on?
I’m managing marketing and social media for Central’s arm of the project, as well as creating online community spaces, promoting student work, and sharing opportunities and events. A big part of what I do is promoting StART’s events, but I’m using our social media platforms as a place to really get the conversation around what ‘entrepreneurship’ means to students - the good and the bad!
How has this programme related to your coursework?
I’ve worked in social media marketing before, but this project has given me ownership and the chance to create and run my own strategy. As well as aligning with my personal aims as a producer, this project has brought me closer to staff and students beyond my course which has been really wonderful as all of my teaching has been online.
What has surprised you most about your experience?
Navigating the words ‘enterprise’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ can be really challenging for people working in the creative industries. For some, the words evoke images of men in suits and corporate business deals - not artistic endeavours. For others, thinking of a creative project as an enterprise can be a really helpful way to communicate ideas to funders and other business beyond the arts. There are lots of opinions in between. I think the point of this work is not to find an answer as to where ‘entrepreneurship’ belongs within the arts, but rather to find a way to communicate transferable skills between industries.
How did you find out about Central and decide to study with us?
During the first year of my undergraduate studies (where I was at Warwick University), a friend was at Central and told me about the Creative Producing, MA. I didn’t think anything of it, I had my whole BA ahead of me and couldn’t imagine doing a Masters, let alone going to drama school. When my 2020 graduation came around I suddenly remembered the conversation we’d had and decided to take the leap into training and start my career as a Producer by doing this course!
What are you planning to do after graduation?
I have lots of post-graduate plans! I’m the co-founder of Mainstay Creatives, which is a vibrant hub that provides young people with the opportunity to grow creatively. So, I hope to be very busy with events, collaborations, and workshops as our organisation continues to expand.
Longer term, I have aspirations of working in venue and organisation management, so I’ll be looking for opportunities to gain experience in different organisations, understand their models, and continue to refine my thinking around creative business strategy and leadership.
Co-founder of Mainstay Creatives! Please tell us a bit more about this.
Mainstay Creatives was founded in September 2020, and we have big plans! We’re an arts organisation that works with young people - delivering workshop series, running summer schools, after school sessions, facilitating events for our partners. Our aim is to create spaces for our members to explore their creativity and feel all the benefits that the arts have to offer. We also work with charities and other organisations to deliver free (or very subsidised) events to young people that may face particular challenges engaging with the arts.
It’s been tricky to get the ball rolling, we had lots of events scheduled that were cancelled or rescheduled due to the pandemic. It’s a tough time to be a young business; even aside from COVID-related challenges, building a reputation and getting opportunities as a small organisation takes a lot of strategic thinking and even more networking!
But, in a way, these last few months have been essential in refining our mission as an organisation. We’ve been developing our website, planning events, sourcing funding, responding to call-outs - and we’re SO excited to be finally running our 6-week workshop series at The Belgrade Theatre - having been postponed since 2020.
You can check us out on social media @MainstayCreate or at our new website, www.mainstaycreatives.co.uk. There’s definitely going to be a lot of exciting updates in the next few months!
If you want to keep up with Alice you can find her on Twitter, @alice.elzbth.eve. Her company, Mainstay Creatives, is also on Instagram, @MainstayCreate.
Keep in touch with everything happening with the StART Entrepreneurship Project at Central on social media:
- Twitter @startrcssd
- Instagram @startrcssd
