Harry’s Blog 3

The festival is over for the year. We spent the last day of the festival packing up the office at New Century House and moving back into 24:7 Towers on Quay Street. This was my last act as a Footie for 24:7.

The festival had a great atmosphere throughout, and being able to be part of the optimism and positivity of the writers, performers and office was a great experience. The Box Office ran more smoothly than I’ve witnessed at other festivals and, bar one fire alarm, each performance was fantastic.

Looking forward it’s easy to see how working with 24:7 will influence my career. I’ve learnt a great deal about working with festivals and producing in this environment. I felt that the festival had the right amount of events and performances, something which is key for festivals and that I will take on to future projects. The strong organisational foundation going into the festival week had a clear effect on the smooth running of the week itself. Also the friends that I’ve made through the whole of the Foot in the Door scheme will be hopefully be lasting and, along with all the other people I have met through this programme, we will be able to work together on future artistic projects.

Since the festival has finished I’ve been able to feel it’s absence. When cycling into town, I sometimes find myself accidentally heading down towards Quay Street, only remembering at the last to swing across onto Deansgate at the traffic lights. Working with the team of people that I was able to at 24:7 was fantastic.

I already look back at the scheme happily and with appreciation at what I was able to learn. Most importantly, I am excited looking forward at the projects that I will be able to apply this to.