The producer is a role that has struggled to establish itself in the arts. Yet at this time of massive social, cultural and environmental change, perhaps we have never needed them more. This book is based on the belief that producers make an extraordinary contribution to the arts - to the artists whose ideas and creativity can be harnessed and realised by these people as no others, and to the public whose engagement is the inspiration for the producer's mindset and approach. The producer helps to realise new responses and routes through the complex changes in our globalised world, unlocks so much of the 'public value' of the arts, and works with artists to create the experiences beyond our imaginings, experiences that allow us all to identify what art means in our lives.
My understanding of the role of the producer has been built through observing those I admire at work. I see its importance as lying both in its function - the job description and structures of producing - and also in the impact of the people who are drawn to express themselves in this way. This book chooses to find its way into the world of the producer through the people, through a selection of some of the individuals who have found or are discovering ways to fulfil this role brilliantly. This is not a book about models, or an attempt at a survey of what is happening in this country. It's about people and what they're capable of, the visions, qualities and energies that drive them - a currency which is often undervalued and unexplored compared to a more ready focus from so many of us on structures and institutions.We should all invest in it more.
The job these people do involves an all-encompassing, interwoven set of responsibilities necessary to make great ideas and projects happen. The producer might be the chief executive of a well-developed organisation with specialist teams focusing on particular aspects of the producing task, or they might function solo or lead a small or medium-sized team. As producer, however, they hold the full picture, and are responsible for the successful intersection of all the forces at work in order to realise the idea in the most brilliant way possible.
The producer sometimes conceives or initiates a project, becoming a lead protagonist in its conception and destiny; equally their commitment is sometimes to realise an artist's vision. Whatever the original drive and the details of how they work with the artists and the creative energy of others on the project, the producer leads in navigating between a bold vision of an idea, and how feasibly - and brilliantly - to deliver it, how to give the idea life and locate it in the world.
To make a project happen, the producer supports its creative development, working within the internal world of a project to devise, structure and support the process that will bring it to fruition. Externally, they must also position the idea, build and hold together the frameworks of relationships and of meaning that will attract the necessary support and finance, and engage those for whom it is intended.
The producer conceives, manages and delivers a project financially, and takes the responsibility for the ultimate financial outcome. He or she is responsible for finding the finance, spending the money to best effect, and achieving the best outcome for all the risk-takers. They are also responsible for how to deliver the project - its structures, partnerships, and team, its development through to full realisation, and then its exploitation and dissemination. To get the most out of it for all concerned, they must follow the story through to the end, the last to put out the lights.
To move this mountain each time, the producer must bring a wide spectrum of personal qualities and skills, honed into an integrated intelligence which carries the weight of the responsibilities involved. The producer asks and answers the really big questions, resolves the blockages on the route, and helps those involved reach out for the alchemist's gold they all seek.
In this they are often guided by a compelling personal vision and sense of responsibility that leads them to want to produce, and strong artistic judgement and taste that allows them to set agendas and define practice in their field. They blend this with the ability to work brilliantly with artists and with the creativity of others, to build the collaborations and relationships that will realise the idea to its fullest.
Whilste some artists see their ideas in the wider landscape and know how to project what they are doing within this, others don't; overall it is nearly always the producer who leads on positioning and communicating a project within the wider cultural, social or political context. A wide-angled and eclectic intelligence that understands an idea in the context of which it is part sets them up as brilliant communicators, persuaders and fundraisers, which they must also know how to be. It is they who build relationships and involvement from constituencies across the board, both to bring the project to life and then to engage people with it once it exists.
Producers are often highly instinctual in their decision-making, combining great flexibility with unswerving fixity of purpose, and opportunism with a strong sense of direction. Temperamentally they are able both to take the lead in action and decision-making, and to facilitate others, often in complex patterns of partnership. They are brilliant at devising and building teams, and in understanding what structures to create and why. They are bold and creative entrepreneurially, and have the judgement, nerve and inner reserves to take considerable commercial, artistic and financial risks. They have to match the courage, risk taking and vision of the artists with whom they work.
But it's tough building a career as a producer in the arts here in the UK. Notwithstanding this, exceptional people have managed to express themselves in this way. Often they emerge as a producer through a fascinating personal story which leads them there. Sometimes they may not be called a producer, although I believe them to be one. This book has made a selection of a number of individuals, and through short pieces about each, aims to help us understand more about what they do and the qualities and drive which sustain them.
The combination of individuals featured in this book aims to provide a range of perspectives from across art forms, ways of working, generations and stages of career. Some of these producers are running organisations that existed before their tenure, others have transformed or influenced existing structures to achieve their vision. Some have created the required frameworks from scratch, while some aim to work flexibly alongside those built by others. Some are synonymous with the organisations they have created as vehicles for their own contribution, whilste others are creating structures that will outlive them. What drives them all is a personal vision of why and how they want to work as a producer, and this leads them to the organisational frameworks they have pursued.
The different stories collected here vividly portray how long it takes to develop and reach full capability, and how - when your currency is people - the timescale is the real sweep and flow of their lives: the cycles of creativity in conceiving and realising an idea, the risk of burning out if an individual is over-exposed, the need to regroup and replenish, the need to learn, the need for a change. Equally, it's about the gradual building of confidence and knowledge, the sheer impact of a sustained achievement over time, the routes and timescales towards maturity - by no means
a linear progression. These stories play out over ten, twenty, thirty years, and their value resides in the full picture along the way.
There are many different possibilities as individuals journey through their producing lives: the producer as long-term collaborator, the producer as initiator of projects and ideas, the producer as organisational leader, the producer as fast-moving independent, the producer as cultural and social activist, the producer as entrepreneur and business brain, the producer as innovator, the producer as facilitator and support, the producer as guru empowering others. These are personal, mutable ways of working that emerge as the stories unfold. The individuals selected here are on different points on the route. Some are discovering what they are capable of. Others are in the full flow of their professional lives. Others are proven magicians who offer inspiration to all. There is one compelling characteristic they all share: a bemused surprise that they, for once, are the object of attention. It is not a place they are accustomed or comfortable to be.
The pieces aim to capture some of the realities of what it is like to be a producer, and to demystify what they do through the honesty and straightforwardness with which this selection of individuals talk about themselves and their work. Their openness allows us to see not only the convictions which drive them, but also their vulnerabilities, the mix of certainty and fragility they must somehow learn to balance along the way.
The pieces vary in form: some are drawn from conversations either with myself or an artist collaborator, others written solely by myself, or by the individual concerned. For each individual featured, of course there are those, also brilliant, who have not been included. I hope they will feel that the possibilities of their visions, talents, and energies are to some extent represented by the stories which are told in these pages. In looking necessarily at a few, our aim is to celebrate the many, and the potential of those yet to come.