Cassie Catchpole
(She/Her)
Cassie is an independent producer working across contemporary performance and outdoor arts with 10 years experience in the arts industry.
She currently works for the pioneers of street theatre, The Grand Theatre of Lemmings and contemporary performance artist, Louise Orwin whilst also running her own outdoor arts festival, Fresh Air Festival in Essex.
Her work centres on making art accessible in as many contexts as possible, which reflects her core value that culture should be freely and easily available to everyone, especially those who face barriers to culture.
Cassie will broaden her International Outdoor Arts network, take time to understand the challenges for international artists better & work towards bringing International Street Theatre to her free Outdoor Arts Festival in Tendring, Essex.
Photo Credit: Lucy J Toms
Image Description: A headshot of a white woman wearing a pink top in her late 30s with blonde shoulder-length hair, smiling and looking at the camera.
Bursary Reflection
When I applied for the Producer Gathering bursary, I had what felt like lofty ambitions at the time: to bring international artists into my outdoor arts practice and, more specifically, to my Outdoor Arts Festival, FAF. Although I’ve worked as a producer and street theatre performer touring nationally and internationally for over 8 years, I have never brought an international organisation to England for something that I had curated.
Why was this?
I think it’s because I never gave myself permission to stretch myself in this way, and I always knew I would need a bit of support and encouragement to do so.
In steps Producer Gathering.
They saw what I was trying to do with my outdoor arts practice, valued it, and felt it was worthwhile to invest in me and my ambitions. Wild, but I’ll come back to that later.
Their grant has more value than the actual amount because it gave me the confidence to do something for my creative producing career that, until that point, I wasn’t able to do.
It supported me to network, attend an international Outdoor Arts Festival and ultimately book an international act for FAF.
I’ve produced FAF for 2 years and it showcases some of the weirdest and most wonderful talents of outdoor arts and in 2024, thanks to funding from Producer Gathering, I was able to bring my first international artist all the way from Netherlands – The Glass Grinder, and he was a hit. Surreal, beautiful, hypnotising and just a hop, skip and a jump away on a ferry. This not only benefited me but also the 2500 people who attended the event too.
Beyond the practicalities that the grant has provided, what’s interesting to me is that I’ve been in the arts industry for 11 years.Yet, I think this is the first time I’ve applied for funding to support my development and my ambition as a producer, which seems WILD!
Especially considering I spend the majority of my time cheerleading, supporting, coaching and producing others to develop and realise their artistic ambitions.
I think producers are not often seen as creatives, but we are, and I have my own artistic ambitions. It’s actually vital that I remain creative and ambitious in my role as a producer. It allows me to remain connected to my work and my producing relationships, and this is something I was starting to sideline as I worked tirelessly on the day-to-day business of producing.
Since that grant, I’ve had the confidence to apply for further grants that will support my development, and if they pay off, well, watch out world.
