Glasgow Youth Arts Collective strives to help young talents turn their passions into paid gigs

Creative Collision, an event held by the Glasgow Youth Arts Hub, is aiming to host more of their popular networking nights where young artists can mingle with seasoned performing arts professionals and learn how to profit from their passions.

The popular event, which is funded by Creative Scotland, has held seven gatherings in Glasgow showcasing different artists over the past 18 months.

At their most recent event on 20 February held at Glasgow’s Drygate microbrewery, actor Libby McArthur, stand-up comedian and actor David Bratchpiece and spoken-word artist and poet Sam Small all shared their experiences on building their artistic careers.

“It’s about connecting people who want to be in art. The event allows us to get young artists from around Glasgow to form a network. We provide food and transport to and from this event, so they don’t have to worry,” said Glasgow Youth Arts Hub committee member, Jordan Shaw.

Speakers at the event advised potential artists to consider a number of key early career moves and insisted on developing reliable sources of income besides their artistic work.

“I like the sense of doing different things at the same time,” said stand-up comedian Bratchpiece, who admitted he had sustained himself early in his career with multiple theatre jobs.

Bratchpiece added that while aspiring comedians may want to pursue a career in the performing art full-time, they should be aware the industry has become crowded.

“If you’re interested, go to different stand up comedy nights, see how the comedians do it, ask if you can do a five-minute set. It may take a wee while but eventually someone will let you come up on stage. Even if it’s hard, just keep working at it,” he said.

David Bratchpiece on his journey towards stand-up comedy, theatre and performing sketches

McArthur, who starred as Gina Hamilton in the BBC One soap opera River City, echoed Bratchpiece’s sentiments.

“Things are definitely tough for artists in Scotland. There used to be more jobs and opportunities, but it’s still an incredible privilege to do what I do, and in fact, at this age, I have bought property and I have an income that allows me what I need – a car, a dog, two cats, and a nice lifestyle.

“But through the years, there has been strategies on how to get by. I rent rooms, for example, and that keeps me from the door. I also have always taught and written my own materials, so I am not one of those actors who’d wait for the phone to ring. I’d always create my own work,” she explained.

Libby McArthur on what ignited her interest in performance and her work with youths

Spoken-word artist and poet, Small, for instance, still works bar shifts to subsidise his artistic work and acknowledges there is a need for financial support for this new art form.

“There isn’t much money in poetry in general, but if you want to make money off of it, you’d have to make a viral video on a topic like immigration or abortion, something like a slam video. Then once you have a hit with that, you’ll have to get on a nationwide advert, [because] that’s very in at the moment. Then you’d have to get a fringe show and have a book to sell at the same time, then get government funding,” he said.

Sam Small on starting platforms for spoken poetry and facing challenges with new projects

Shelby Johnston, a committee member of the collective, announced the next event is slated for 29 March.

The speakers are visual artist Adam Gregory York, performance artist Gillian Lees, and drama artist Steven Leach.

Featured Image obtained under Creative Commons (Credit: Jim Nix)