Welcome! How does it feel to step up into this role at The Point Eastleigh?
Yasmin: “It’s about progressing as a little business – this space is just awesome for that. When we applied, we were looking at the values of The Point and oh my gosh, the values of the venue and the way its team want to work as a space, ticks so many of our values as what we want to do as a company. So that felt key.”
Kate: “Obviously we have already been working with The Point as StoryTribe but this is a new little bit of our company that we want to grow and to have the support and backing of The Point is very exciting.
“There’s a kind of innovation at The Point, where it’s not just being an arts venue where you come in and you watch something. There’s a real drive to service the needs of the local community and be innovative in that, reinforcing that the arts are for everyone so everyone’s exploring ‘how can we do this differently?’ And there is something about the humanness of that and the willingness to just opening the conversation. That’s something that really appeals to us about working together in a hive mind of creatives. That is the kind of culture that we want to be growing in.”
What’s the plan now you’re here?
K: “First we’re looking at the next three months. This is such an amazing formative time for us as we have a day a week now to knuckle down and get that long-term vision sorted. It’s all of the stuff when you are a practitioner; you’re very used to standing up in front of whoever young people, and being like, ‘yeah, let’s do something exciting’! But it’s all those back-end things, formalising the company and making sure we have everything sorted and ticked, applying for funding, all of that kind of stuff.
“We’ll be getting a timeline in place but there’s such a vision for this space of collective imagination and opening up more of that shared non-competitive space for young children and families, getting out into the community and opening some doors for people who feel like they can’t get their voice out. We love to bring people together and then hopefully that will grow into the young people being able to then facilitate, storytell or become performers in the future. So yeah, there’s a grand plan!”
These are tough times for many people. How you retain your optimism moving forward?
K: "The thing about a time of such bleakness is that things like the arts, play and being able to get out of your head and into your body and your creativity are things that people then grab onto. That gives us meaning and a way to wrestle all the confusing stuff that seems so polarised and unwieldy and overwhelming. People can have access to this kind of space that is playful joyous and light and connecting.”
Y: “Having this space is a great time in terms of that bleakness. It’s been so exciting! Having those connections at this time feels like such a light.”
Images: L-R Kate and Yasmin
