2022: what. a. year.
Take a look at my year in review below.
You can just look at this infographic for the headlines, or, if you’re nosey and have 5-6 minutes spare, read on below for alllll the juicy details!
Phew! Anyone else feel like you blinked and missed it?!
For me, this year has been another busy one! One in which I am very grateful for too. Many lessons have been learned and I am a better person as a result of this year. How about you? What are you big takeaways?
What went down?
The detail & unpicking the numbers above…
I worked as Executive Producer on Xzibit Young Creatives, which is a choreography development programme for young people in hip hop theatre (led by artist Gareth Woodward) which took up a large part of the beginning of the year in and around the Midlands region. Alongside this, Unite the Scene ran a community street dance project as part of Coventry City of Culture 2021 that I co-produced.
I was Senior Producer (and now Co-Director) with LYNNEBEC leading them through a mammoth project called the Commonwealth Games. They were commissioned to create & produce the Athletes Welcome Ceremonies (27 shows over 4 days) to all the teams from across the Commonwealth visiting Brum, and, what a wild ride it was!
I continued delivering advisory work with Concrete Youth, Sussex Dance Network & Lisa Ziemann’s Leicester ProDance Initiative, I also mentored my regular (with some newbie) clients.
I guest taught on the MA in Dance Producing at London Studio Centre, University of Lincoln’s BA Dance course and DeMontfort University’s Dance & Drama BA degree courses, and, I delivered specialist training to Critical Mass Artist Team & UNBOXED Young Ambassadors (both of the latter were part of Festival 2022).
Supported a variety of projects including Flexus Dance Collective’s new boxing dance work ‘All About the Fight’, The Breaking League’s Kids Breaking Championships (world finals) at Deda and Katy Hewison’s ‘Improplay’ at Yorkshire Dance’s Ageless Festival (Leeds).
I supported and co-wrote 5 NPO applications to ACE, one for the board which I sit on at CIRCOMEDIA in Bristol.
I continued my advocacy and development work for & with freelancers through Warwick District Council’s Cultural Compact: Freelancer Workstream group, Culture Central’s Challenge, Convene, Connect programme (where I recorded a webinar) and saw through the tail end of the Midlands Dance Producing Collective’s work from 2021.
Took part in a leadership course called ‘Leading for Good’; a holistic leadership training which I am still reflecting on, using and channeling in my work/life, plus completed Cause4’s Emerging Chairs Training Course and continue to study for my CMI Level 7 Strategic Leadership Diploma.
Alongside all that, I supported, co-wrote, edited and/or checked over 20+ ACE Project Grant/DYCP funding applications…!!!!
Image taken by me of LYNNEBEC’S newly made show for Birmingham 2022
‘A Thousand Welcomes’ commissioned by the Organising Committee and partnered with BOA Stage & Screen Academy with performances at University of Birmingham, NEC & University of Warwick in July 2022.
More about LYNNEBEC at www.lynnebec.org
Take a breath
Firstly, I want to say that I am incredibly grateful to all of my clients, friends & peers, colleagues and sector allies/contacts for choosing to work with me. I’ve had some major success, and yet, still feel like I am only just getting started.
My main takeaways of the year are:
Compassion is key.
Be a nice human, it ALWAYS helps, to yourself and to others.
Have a set of keywords that alleviate or bring humour in times of stress. Mine this year was RAGE which is ironic considering in a planning workshop I did back in Q1 - I set my keyword for the year to be NOURISH (lol).
The pressure will lift… tomorrow is a new day… stay strong to your core values… don’t be afraid to do things differently…walk away when needed and speak up when there’s toxic bulls*t around.
Get coaching, mentoring & counselling - it genuinely makes you a better person and improves your life.
Perspective is everything: if you can see it - in front of you and also in the far distance - everything is more considered, more reasoned and more successful.
Xzibit Young Creatives at Nottingham Lakeside Arts in Nottingham.
BTS shot taken by me, during technical rehearsals in April 2022. Make it stand out
What a year hey?! 2023 let’s be having you!
If you’d like to work together, I’m offering services in the following areas:
a) bespoke training/workshops for new NPOs based on navigating ACE’s Investment Principles.
b) organisation design & development consultancy (basically that’s just people, culture & system development - need an overhaul? Let’s talk…)
c) leadership mentoring for anyone who is in or aspires to be in a leadership role.
Sound good?
Email me: hello@amydaltonhardy.co.uk