Carole Edrich Weblog

project to programme

A career in writing couldn't be feasible if the time spent on each project wasn't matched to its potential reward. Sometimes I get so enthusiastic about an idea and so intent on researching and writing it well that it's tempting to let commercial realities fall by the wayside. At these times the disciplines of structured thinking, project and programme management become as valuable now as when I used to run my consultancy.

That's why I resigned as editor of Flamenco News last year. A realistic structured review showed it wasn't commercially sensible to stay. The same logic has lead to the planning of an ambitious programme of work based on the coming Sadlers Wells Flamenco Festival even though covering the entire thing is so exhausting.

Summer’s Flamenco News
photo (c) Carole Edrich and Donna Desborough, 2006

I love the dance and the music, in-depth research and watching the audience and it's hard to beat the pleasure that comes when the words flow well. But it’s business sense that makes me wring as much as I can from the same event. My work gets organised with the same structure as Sadlers Wells; a programme with a set of objectives rather than a project with one. So although I’m no longer editor of Flamenco News I’ll cover the whole thing for Dance Today, will probably review individual performances and workshops for ballet.co.uk, have pitches out on five very different stories and two flamenco bailaora’s profiles and; time permitting, will blog it here as well.

Isabel Bayón
photo (c) Sadlers Wells, 2006

Performances at Lilian Baylis and Sadlers Wells auditoria overlap so it's not possible to see every production. However I will see Estrella Morente , Carmen Cortés and Joaquín Grillo , Escuela de Baile and both a performance and Master Class with Isabel Bayón giving more than enough material for the successful realisation of my programme objectives.

During the festival I’ll cover 8 performances, 1 lecture, 3 workshops, 2 interviews with performers, a Master Class and a Juerga as well as take a look at what goes on behind the scenes. But that’s not all. To write properly about the organisation of the festival it’s important to interview a number of different Sadlers Wells people, the promoters and those involved in the production and stage management.

Prestigious publications expect unique quality images to go with exclusive stories so good photographers are as important as the ideas. The complexity of the festival combined with the number of different pieces I plan to write means structured programme management is also vital even though two photographer friends are interested and most staff can be interviewed before the festival begins.

Although the scale of my plans for the Sadlers Wells Flamenco Festival have grown from project to programme, those now responsible for Flamenco News have taken the opposite course of action. Faced with the same economic and time constraints that prompted my decision to leave, the Peña committee has changed their quarterly magazine to a thrice yearly newsletter with a different production team, quality and aspirations.

I see nothing about the next issue on the Peña website so maybe their copy deadlines went the way of my lost Dance Manifesto piece. Editing even a newsletter is more complicated and fraught than you'd think and I wish them well in the realisation of their objectives.

More dance definitions here

Posted by carole at January 8, 2007 11:03 AM