A Clore Story
Sometimes what you need are the right questions and some time and space to think.
When I saw the applications for the Clore Fellowship were open in 2024, I didn’t think I’d apply. I thought it was for people who had a clear idea of a project they wanted to work on or a change they wanted to make in their work and that wasn’t me right then. “Ah well, maybe another time”, I thought.
A week or two later I had a coaching session with the brilliant Gemma Baxter from Support Squad and I mentioned it to her in the last three minutes of our session. She agreed it was probably for people who had that big idea ready to go, and maybe it was better not to apply right now.
It will not surprise anyone who knows me well that this led me very shortly afterwards to start working on my application (Contrary? Me? I think Gemma knows me rather well…), and as you may know, I was fortunate enough to be offered a place on the Fellowship. Turns out I didn’t need to know exactly how I wanted to change the world, but the process, with two written application rounds and an interview with a panel, gave me loads of time and space to start thinking about it. The questions were deep, and forced me to reflect on my practice, my leadership so far, and the things that were important to me.
The official faces of the Clorehort 2024-25
Sometimes, that’s all you need - some really thoughtful questions, a bit of time and a bit of quiet to put your brain to it. My pitch for the application rounds was around the idea of an internal placement programme for Front of House teams in cultural institutions - in my experience, those teams are usually a hotbed of talent, passion and commitment - that might have the potential to scale and be rolled out across different organisations. Talent or skills shortages? Retrain members of your FOH teams with brilliant attitudes - they already know and often love the organisation and make your audience feel welcome and appreciated every day, why not invest in them with the skills you need?
The gift that Clore keeps giving is time, space and a bit of quiet to think about the kind of leader you want to be and the kind of change you want to make. Not to mention a kickass network of terrifyingly brilliant humans to be endlessly inspired by. So the ideas keep on coming.
The jolly faces of Clorehort, September 2024
With applications for Clore Emerging Leaders and Pulse Leadership now open, I thought it might be useful to share some of my experience here. The Fellowship is not the first Clore branch I have swung from - back in 2016 I also spent a week at Ashorne Hill with Clore as an Emerging Leader, and I would encourage anyone considering it to chuck your hat in that ring and see what happens.
In 2016, I went from someone feeling a bit directionless without a clear onward pathway, to a week later knowing exactly the direction I wanted to charge towards. I came away with a ton of new skills and insight (including coaching skills for inclusive leadership, an understanding of governance and advice on how to handle difficult conversations), and the clarity that week gave me led me directly to being a GM for the nimble touring theatre company of my dreams, and to my first experience as a trustee with a brilliant theatre company based in my hometown.
Ashorne Hill - in 2016, a place of deep reflection, long walks and sheep poo.
All this to say, that even if you don’t know all the answers to the application questions for a development opportunity like Clore, going through the process can also be an incredibly useful exercise to work out who you are and who you want to be as a leader. In so much arts and cultural work there is so little time for reflection and deep thinking, that when an opportunity presents itself, I’d recommend giving it a go and seeing what it teaches you about yourself and your journey.
When I started the Clore Fellowship back in September 2024 the list of things we were going to be working on made my head spin. Two residential training courses over 3 weeks (2 weeks at the start, 1 week at the end), a secondment away from my day job, a placement with another organisation, an interim report, a collaborative enquiry, reports on progress throughout and a provocation piece. Now with only a month left to go, the overwhelming impression I have of my time on the Clore Fellowship has been of horizons widening, and huge huge generosity from the vast majority of people I’ve met. By the end, maybe I’ll even have some clarity on the next part of my journey and how I want to change the world. But for now, not knowing all the answers is good. It feels like an important part of the process. It feels like the right path.
A London nature reserve, a misty morning pathway.