My DYCP journey: 1 year later
It’s one year ago since I began my Arts Council England DYCP project. The acronym DYCP (which we’re so good at in the arts 🙄) stands for “Developing Your Creative Practice”.
Wow. Where did that time go?! Fast forward to now and I barely recognise what June 2021 looked like, let alone what I said I’d do in my application for funding. The arts sector is rapidly changing - so within the space of just 12 months - lots has been learnt, lots is no longer relevant and there’s still lots of work left to do (isn’t there always?).
I’ll jump straight in then…
The goal of my DYCP project was to carve out time to think, along with time to hone my producing practice. I was aiming to become a go-to leader and believe that I have achieved this considering the breadth & depth of my client portfolio & the ripple effect of the wide impacts this collective activity has on the country, as, excitingly, my producing & consultancy reach now includes most of England. Yay!
This golden opportunity to research, enabled me to reflect on my leadership, which has elevated my work & sector profile, built capacity & undoubtedly increased my professional/personal resilience. My goal also included:
exploring how to build a new dance/arts development organisation
types of modern company structures
what being ‘fit for purpose’ really means
testing & challenging existing/traditional leadership hierarchies (of which many still exist in our sector)
embracing fundamental societal shifts, like antiracism & environmental care
I sought out training & development activities to fulfill these areas of learning, in order to help me become an ally and front runner, truly being able to champion best practice and embody behaviour change.
What did I actually get up to?
➡️ 12 sessions of 1-2-1 coaching with my brilliant coach, Kim Carr which helped me to define & work through my cause, including whether now really is the right time to scale-up & through this, solidify my purpose 📝
➡️ began a new course of distance study, CMI’s Level 7 Diploma. in Strategic Leadership & Management: this is still ongoing & is changing how I’m approaching leadership, whilst affirming my practice 📚
➡️ 3 mentoring sessions with Suzannah Bedford, Director of City Arts Nottingham, working through sector-specific challenges, finding solutions together 👁
➡️ signed up for (just finishing) Salt-Box Training’s 6 month holistic leadership course; Leading for Good (lessons from nature). One word: TRANSFORMATIONAL. 🌻🌞🌲💦🔥🌏
➡️ Cause4’s Emerging Chairs Training course 👩⚖️
➡️ Strawberry Words’ 7 steps to becoming an anti-racist organisation 🍓
➡️ IPSE’s National Freelancers Day: online conference 💰
➡️ Culture Central’s access & inclusion listening session 👂
➡️ Invisible Dust’s green audiences/communities & climate online webinars 🌎
After all that then, with some time off in between (see my last post about rest) and some chunky projects delivered in between times — the main piece of learning is that now is not the right time for this new organisation, as my leadership journey still has time left in it, before I begin to create my own organisation. And, in the midst of a sector still coming back after the pandemic and a shifting landscape, I thought “not now”…
I am under no doubt that this DYCP has transformed my leadership practice, which in turn has developed my producing skills and sector influence. I sharpened my creatively driven, value agenda as a result of my research including forming a new, yet to be used or shared, Values & Access Rider, as part of my change-making agenda. I have since worked with a creative copy-writer to help me to craft a manifesto, which takes the place of a 5 year business plan. This 5 year plan that I said I’d create back in 2021, wouldn’t be right for now. It’d be too rigid. Wouldn’t enable me to be dynamic, agile, responsive, fleet of foot. All of those things badly needed, that need to change in the sector right now.
As I have not set up a new organisation by now, ‘one that is about seizing initiative, based on need & that’s antifragile, flexible & organic, in dance’ [🤣 look at those funding application buzzwords!]; I have instead learned/reinforced the fact that there is definitely a need for my skills & services, framed around bespoke services in helping others achieve greatness. There’s a huge lack of producers full-stop. And even more of a lack of leaders willing to hold the door open, acting like gatekeepers or putting their foot against the door, jarring progress. Not me. I’m here for change.
Why am I writing about this?
One simple reason - transparency. Which is one of my values.
My DYCP has opened the door to learning from other sectors and a new ability to introduce concepts, theories, models, structures & systems to my work & services. It has consolidated my vision, mission, cause & purpose, & given me a clearer path to follow, & who to step forward with, on my leadership journey. As a direct result of research & ongoing studies on CMI’s Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership & Management course (which leads to ChMgr status), this has already led to:
Freelancer & sector development advocacy work across the region, in collaboration with other independent producers (called Midlands Dance Producing Collective), locally with Warwick District Council’s Creative Compact & now Culture Central’s Sector Development programme
Regular website blogging, as I discuss & consolidate my learning so that others can learn from it too - right here!
New contacts & networks, more work, interesting collaborations
Guest teaching/speaking slots
Clearer understanding of: the need to be ethically minded, highly skilled, kind to the climate, how to share my experience & to offer experiential opportunities to others, to always act with kindness & work in a progressive way
Increased mentoring & organisation development services offered to the sector, including as Senior Producer, Freelance CEO & Critical Friend to LYNNEBEC, brought in on their bespoke commission for Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee’s Athlete’s Welcome Ceremonies in July 2022
***
In the future I’m interested in delivering specialist consultancy practice in and with the arts sector at large, exploring, adopting and using frameworks such as; Kim Scott’s ‘Radical Candor’, Nancy Kline’s ‘Time to Think’, MBTI Practitioner & Tetramap, coaching for artists in business development & management skills, training & mentoring opportunities for emerging/early career/career-pivot producers to shadow & learn from my work.
Change: making - a core part of my work.
Are you in?
I could work with you on your DYCP, or help you plan goals for the future, or help you with your business strategy.
Whatever you need, let me know.
I’m here, seeking change and willing to hold open the door.
Email me: hello@amydaltonhardy.co.uk
