Interview Someone Working in the Arts. Unit 1 Part C #3 (Grace Denton)

I decided to interview Grace Denton who is a multi talented artist and producer working in Bristol. I knew that Grace worked on a variety of projects in the city and wanted to find out more about her career path. Grace has a strong online presence and there where a lot of resources to look over.

Im here with Grace Denton, who is the Digital Publisher at Watershed, she is also a Photographer, a Blogger, an Events Co-ordinator and Publisher at Often and Mistakes. She play’s music in 5 bands, was Producer for Made-Up, wrote and performed music for ‘My Robot Heart’, on the events team for Café Kino and Founder of Something Good in Norfolk.

First of all where do you find the time for all of your projects? Haha well I often look back and wonder how did it all fit in! When was I sleeping? I suppose when you are doing something that you think of as your Art you don’t see it as work, its not a chore, and a lot of the stuff I do is within kind of DIY communities, so everyone is generous with their time and working non stop so it feels like the norm. Obviously there are times when you are exhausted though and it does feel like hard work and occasionally you have to flake on your friends because there is so much too do, but people understand.

So when you do get those moments when you are frazzled and looking forward to the end of a project, how do you find the motivation to carry on enthusiastically? If it’s an independent initiative and I’m lacking motivation I speak to others to get their take on a situation and give me a pep talk maybe. Or I will read a book or watch a film that fires me up with inspiration, unrelated things mostly. Lots of the things I do are collaborative though, so there are always other people around where we all keep each other motivated and have the end goal in sight, you want your work to be great for them not just you.

I know you did a couple of placements after graduating, could you tell me a little about those? I stayed in Norwich for another year after finishing uni. I volunteered at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, which is a pretty incredible outfit, lots of arts and culture all around the city and then the rest of the year they operate around the county. Then I got two funded internships. One was a research placement for a woman’s organisation into how they marketed themselves, so I started writing a marketing strategy for them. I had never written anything like that before and it was crazy that they trusted me to do it. The other internship I did was with the Architecture Centre in Bristol, they had me writing press releases and things, there was lots of material for me to work from and research, always someone wanting to check what I was doing before things went out. I then worked as iShed co-ordinator for a while, supporting the project and getting more into the producing side. I then met Molly and Byron from Made-up.

Ah yes, Made-Up, that sounded like a fantastic project to be involved in, how did your involvement in that come about? Well Molly and I met in Norwich, she was doing poetry and I was in a band, we met and got on really well, we worked together for a bit there, I did some music for one of her shows. So when it came to Made-Up it suited them to have a producer who was starting out and might not cost as much, and learn with them as they where doing their first run of the show. Again it was great to be trusted with something like that. We where also wonderfully supported by Mayfest which was great and really, really helped.

Story recipients gathered for final Made-Up show

So what did this role involve for you? I wrote the first draft of the call outs and as the producer I had to lead on everything then making sure things didn’t drop of the list. I had to work on expectation management, we wanted it to be huge but had to set our self limits that where actually achievable. Mayfest hadn’t done a commission that had that broader scope before, so we where all really finding our feet together there. I remember we had a meeting with Mayfest to pitch for it, they said ‘oh Grace, its not really a big fee for you is it?’ and I was just like, ‘oh I’d do it for free!’ which probably wasn’t the cleverest thing in hindsight! It was great experience though, and I loved doing it. I did bits of design and photography and my Usher job to help make ends meat at the same time, I couldn’t have got by otherwise.

All the producing roles I have done, have varied massively, and often I have taken on a wide variety of tasks that, had there been more budget you would pay someone else to do, but instead I end up making the posters and doing the PR, but you get stuck in, if it needs to be done you do it. It is great to have that responsibility and the freedom just to run with things though.

It looked like the Made-Up project was really rewarding? Yes all the participants really loved it and had an amazing time, and although I was terrified and stressed most of the time, that doesn’t really matter because we brought a really special experience to lots of grateful people.

Ok so other than Made-Up, one of your other big collaborative endeavours is Often and Mistakes, which is a creative publishing and events company that you run with Rose Robbins, tell me how this initiative came about. Hmmm Rose wanted to publish the first collection of Dog Comic’s; she felt she needed a kind of name to do things under. I cant remember how the conversation went, but I was interested in doing some similar stuff, not so much comics but publish my photography and writing and I suppose our different interests made it gel.

Often and Mistakes

How did you set the boundaries for that project? You must have a lot of ideas, how do you sensibly decide what you should do? Its kind of our own interests, we help each other out on each project, Rose does her comic stuff and I proof ect and then vice versa. So I suppose there aren’t really any boundaries, if just one of us is willing to take the lead and do something then it will happen. Stuff kind of just happens adhoc at the moment, which we are fine with.

Photo, Grace Denton Today Colours 09.01.14

Tell me a bit about your photography, you have a lovely eye for composition, where does this come from? I just kind of started taking my 35mm Camera everywhere, I was hanging around Bristol doing a lot of gigging and stuff and it just became this compulsion to document things. I realised when we where on tour I wasn’t taking photos of action but the still, quiet and reflective moments. That’s when the idea for the ‘Still Lifes’ book and show came about. It was really incidental before hand, it was kind of a fashion blog but instead of over posed snaps they where little snap shots of colour combinations within my outfit. The Today’s Colours pictures are mostly taken on my phone! The quality isn’t great, so there isn’t a great deal I can do with them, but it’s a nice record and reminds me to think visually and notice the world around me. I am now looking to do more staged shots now, to do a series of photos. I am thinking of doing an MA, maybe combined with Fine Art, it could spill into video? I need to begin to define my practice, from working with Watershed and doing digital content for the website I can see that I am leaning to that kind of work now.

Grace Denton Today Colours 07.11.13

I was going to ask how your role at the Watershed feeds into your creative endeavours? Everything I learn at work is really valuable, even from my first interview for iShed I realised I enjoyed drawing the story out of people and projects and getting to showcase artists. Its great to work within the arts, but it is a little separate from my creative endeavours, which is good. I learn about all sorts of structures and ways of working, it’s a constant source of inspiration and help when it comes to personal work.

Ok to finish off then, where do you see your career taking you in the future? A few years ago I would have said a gallery director, but now I’m really into cinema. I want to stay in documentation and work as an online presence, but see where the MA might take me.

Thanks Grace!

Interviewing Grace was great for me to see how I can develop as a creative and that it doesn’t really matter if I pick a specific path right now. Grace is still working everything out and trying new things. She is getting noticed in the circles she wants to be recognised in, she is fine tuning her art practices and figuring out where she wants to go with them and how they can be combined to define her future career. Im really impressed by her ambition and pro-active approach to everything, if there is something she wants to do, she does it. I will definitely take this as inspiration for my future projects, to give me the confidence to undertake things I might not have prior experience with, that I should trust myself to be capable. I have also been really inspired by her photo blog, Todays Colours, and will take further opportunities to take photos and find other ways to think visually to help me to develop as a designer.

Future Producers

A development programme for creative producers age 18-25

Interview Someone Working in the Arts. Unit 1 Part C #3 (Grace Denton)