During the years of Gothic Relief, the post of Artistic Director at the Assembly Rooms suddenly became vacant, when Pete Williams, of Gog Theatre, had really had enough. Gog Theatre were moving out of their venue, and leaving it to the community. If the cap fits, wear it, someone said, so, for a brief time, with Stephanie Morland as an able Administator, I launched the Glastonbury Assembly Rooms as a Community Arts Centre, with a varied programme of arts and community activities, a season of visiting small-scale theatre companies, touring bands, local birthday parties, and exhibitions. I also facilitated a teenagers’ party, in late Summer 1989, at which a new kind of music called ‘acid house’ was played 🙂 – and booked them in for another six. But the Theatre beckoned me back, and a new more stable structure began to step in to shore up the Assembly Rooms, and on the day the Berlin Wall fell I left my post and got back to acting. The new structure is still in place, and some years ago the (then) chair of this group and I published a history of the building since its erection in 1864.
- I developed an Arts Policy for the Centre
- I created, implemented, and managed a varied and integrated Events Calendar for the Autumn Season and beyond
- I managed a team of volunteers – no-one was being paid, after all…
- I liaised with all manner of local professional and community groups and associations, from the ‘straight’ townspeople to the most wacky newage groups
- I developed my skills in budget management – albeit on a shoestring
- I d.t.p.’d all published and internal literature on AppleMac – using the first version of Pagemaker on an old AppleMac Classic