collaborating as a theatre designer

Bec Andrews, set and costume designer for theatre, opera, dance and film, who graduated in Design for Performance from Wimbledon College in 2002 shared tips on how the theatre industry works, how collaborations are managed, and finding collaborators as a freelance theatre designer.

"Theatre is nothing if it's not a process of collaboration," explained Becs. "You can't do it by yourself."

She made many useful points, so listen to the podcast to hear it all. But here's a usefulcounter-intuitive point: let collaborators find you – people who search you out will be much more into your work. So a website and personal recommendations are very important.

If you are actively looking collaborators then the following are really useful:

• Writing letters/ promo material
• Networking events, talking to people, chatting in the bar afterwards
• Keep in touch with people you've worked with
• Advertising shows – send out emails prior to shows
• Random conversations on trains – Becs started talking to someone on the train and he turned out to be a theatre producer, and got three or four commissions through this.