Now we know you love reading the blogs that we put together here in the Communications team, but we know that there are many budding writers amongst our other staff and we wouldn’t want to deprive you of their insight into working in the creative industries. So we welcome you to the first of many blogs written by staff from across the organisation. This time we’re featuring Lilly, our Programmes Coordinator, who writes about the different creative talents of staff at the Albany.
It’s not unusual to find someone working in an arts organisation who also likes to write. It’s not unusual to come across a person who enjoys painting, is interested in photography or who plays in a band but it is unusual to find them all under one roof. Outside of the daily emails and phonecalls, the invoicing and the admin many Albany staff lead lives informed by a desire to learn, create, collaborate and share. You can find a sculpture in the Programming Department, a glass blower in Finance, an aspiring playwright in the Cafe and you can’t walk through Reception without tripping over a Master’s student. I’m a painter, which doesn’t help in the slightest when I’m trying to juggle contracts, schedules and multiple room hires, but it does mean that I have more in common with those I work with than just the Company we work for. To some degree there’s a collective understanding here, that realising a creative project isn’t all romance and poetry but is more often belt and braces hard work made up of practical steps that get you from where you are to where you want to be. I may not paint at work, but the tasks I complete still feed back into the overall creativity of the building. Room hires and contracts may not be the most inventive thing to do, but being surrounded by so many different artists means that my job can run parallel to my painting rather than in opposition to it. The Albany isn’t perfect and there are times when I moan about my job (who doesn’t) but at the same time I’m all too aware of how lucky I am to be surrounded by people who believe in what they do in both their professional and personal lives.
Watch this space for more blogs written by Albany staff, and to see who’s who, visit our website.
The Albany, Deptford 