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The Entertainment & Performing Arts Industry Conference (EPIC) is a global online entertainment conference held across 24 hours on 10th January 2022. Spanning four categories of Perform, Create, Design, and Produce, the event has been host to a broad spectrum of entertainment professionals sharing their stories and wisdom across all industries and areas of the Arts. With events running concurrently across the 24-hour period creating a treasure trove of content (that’s available to dive into on demand in the coming month), we reflect on some of the highlights from the event.
We are all storytellers. And as artists we excel at bringing those stories to life. But what of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and who we think we are supposed to be? Join life-long creative and high-performance Coach Lisa Hopkins in this interactive live coaching session. Whether you participate as an observer, or as one of the participants being coached, you will gain insights and learn valuable tools for maximizing your full potential for an enduring career in the industry and mastering how to become an artist of life.
This conversation was a really interesting one. Taking the format of part seminar and part group-therapy session, Lisa adopted a holistic approach to running the group which consisted of a small number of volunteers on the call. Through the lens of entertainment work and what that entails, Lisa led them (and the observers) to question “what is home, and what does it mean to you?”
This then progressed to focusing on the stories we tell ourselves that are unhelpful – we all succumb to getting stuck in ‘paralysis by analysis’ and struggling with balance. By reframing how we look at our lives we can learn from all of the experiences we go through, both good and bad. It’s universal that things don’t go to plan the way we imagined them, and so we must re-write our stories.
Lisa then encouraged us to be mindful of ourselves and realise that sometimes our superpower is also our Achilles Heel. Lisa’s interesting take explained that fear is just an emotion, but it doesn’t actually tangibly exist – it is just a story we tell ourselves and we project ourselves this way, with a fight, flight or freeze reaction taking place in our bodies. The physical reaction is incredibly strong when dealing with fear, and although this evolutionary trait is not necessary in our world now for the majority of the time, it’s in our hardwiring that we need to overcome.
Another recurring theme that seemed to resonate across all of the entertainment professionals both in the conversation and amongst the observers in the chat section in the browser was the notion that “If you work really hard and say yes all the time it will be ok”, and how this is one of many other limiting beliefs that don’t help us.
Perhaps the trickiest topic Lisa raised with the group was the task of overcoming our own inner critic or ‘gremlin’. Lisa’s approach encouraged us to face it head on in order to address and overcome it – we can personify it, by naming it and thinking about what it says to us. She gave us an exercise to think about the message and lie it frequently tells us, and concentrate on where do we feel it in our bodies?
Bringing mindfulness to both the inner critic as well as our autopilot tendencies tied in to asking the question of understanding whether what we do serves us – is it by default or by choice? Lisa asked us to be mindful of the things we get stuck on and do automatically, particularly the things we are good at, and emphasised that we need to have awareness on every single thing we do.
We need to bring the gremlin in to help us and acknowledge and validate it and thank it for serving us to realise we no longer need it to do that anymore to protect us – we need to grow from where we are and learn. We can use that energy in a new way, so we could ask the gremlin to be helpful, rather than limiting options, to us help explore more. The gremlin will fight back, but that’s good as we know they will do that.
Lisa’s analogies also explained that we can think of balance more like a seesaw we ride rather than as an unmoving platform, and that it is more like a spectrum of ups and downs redefining these things. If we use this picture of holding onto a seesaw and apply it to how we define ways of being, things we think about, voices in our head, how we work – does it work for us? The things that don’t, we don’t need to over-analyse, we can just accept that they are wrong and trust the process, check in with our values and go elsewhere to honour different values.
Wrapping up the session, Lisa left us with the reminder that:
“There is no final destination in life, we just have to meet ourselves where we are at in each moment to move into who we want to be. As artists, what we do is important. We do it for the higher purpose, it’s a calling and it’s not easy, and we are a conduit for people who can’t feel, and we give permission to audiences to feel – we allow that to occur in people and enable them to open up through the experience of art.”
Finally, Lisa reaffirmed the message that we must take care of ourselves in order to be able to do that.
Before Ken Davenport won a Tony Award for producing the hit Kinky Boots, and another Tony Award for producing the revival of Once On This Island, he was producing his own work off-Broadway (Awesome 80s Prom, My First Time). He knows the resources needed to get a show done and the great value of self-producing. Ken will discuss and answer questions about various strategies you can use to help your show get produced, at any level: Broadway, off-Broadway, or beyond.
This Q&A with Ken had the emphasis on self-motivation for the attendees, and how to readjust both mindset and schedule to make the time to start a project and to show up regularly to work on your dream. Ken shared his philosophy that starting is the hardest part, with the emphasis of “show up for yourself”.
Judging by the chat comments, this seemed to deeply resonate with the other attendees, who agreed with Ken’s observations of how easily we agree to work with others but often don’t assign as much importance on our own projects.
Another relevant theme that’s apparent in the industry today was addressing the popularity of being a multi-hyphenate. The trend nowadays of wearing many hats brings an added emphasis on being motivated and organised, as it’s pretty impossible without mastering these aspects.
One of the real pearls of wisdom that I took from Ken was his advice to ‘get your work out into the world’ in order to find other people to work with, but rethinking the formats in which we do this. He explained that people simply don’t engage with a script, they engage with something that is showing them what the work is.
By creating a high quality depiction, even if it’s just a snippet of the work that is more engaging, then you form connections with people on a different level. I found this really interesting, as it made so much sense and seemed so obvious, but was not something I had considered in these terms before, and I’m sure this will have sparked a lot of inspiration in others also watching.
Another really uplifting and useful nugget that Ken ended the session with was the need to get rid of limiting beliefs, the importance of which really can’t be underestimated. In the same vein, making positive association comparisons in explaining your work to others should be something that we adopt in order to both speak of ourselves more highly and to communicate more effectively.
Ken’s lasting message was the uplifting encouragement to start doing something today, to gather people together and watch how that snowballs and builds momentum thanks to your passion as the driving force.
As a founding partner of Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Inc., Chris Boneau has navigated more than 400 theatrical productions across the globe through the crowded media landscape. The strategic press and marketing campaigns he has developed tell stories that build awareness and develop audiences. They get people into the seats. What are some of these techniques? How is story telling in marketing different that in a play, musical, opera, or dance? Chris has a wealth of knowledge about how to break through the noise and reach your audience.
This Q&A session had an uplifting conversational feel, that really focused on themes around integrity, honesty, and positive relationships. One recurring message that Chris emphasised was “always tell the truth”, as he explained that publicity is difficult and you’re counting on relationships in order to succeed, unlike the marketing field.
Discussing the meetings that happen with teams collaborating to come up with unique ideas for the strategy covered the relationship between press and marketing, and how collaborations must develop with lead producers, ad agencies, marketing agencies and PR companies in order to keep things fresh.
Chris likened a theatre show to fruit and milk as a way of depicting this process of ensuring that tickets sell consistently, and again focusing on the importance of looking at the truth. This can be really pertinent in knowing when the end has come and it’s time to pull a show and end its run. Chris explained that understanding when this is the right thing to do, and knowing how to do it with grace all links back to telling the truth again.
Chris has worked with A-list stars across film, TV and theatre and has to adapt approaches for these differences, with Broadway requiring an approach that ensures the show goes on for as long as possible and that nobody is playing to an empty house for example.
Many artists are aware of being overexposed in the publicity sphere, and so they don’t need to do a lot when it comes to publicity, and Chris gave us some insights into his work with Hugh Jackman, Denzel Washington, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jane Fonda through the years – he praised them for being great to work with, and for getting on board with various approaches. Chris linked this back again, crediting the success of these instances to telling the truth, having the conversation about doing more, having the ideas ready, and then going for it.
Interestingly enough, when it comes to communicating these ideas and executing these plans in the world, Chris dislikes the misunderstandings that occur so often when talking via email or messages. He is a firm believer in a phone conversation being able to clear up any of these issues with tone or misconstruing the message, or sending a rushed email that doesn’t convey what we really meant to say.
Chris spoke extremely fondly about his time bringing Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to Broadway, and looks back feeling satisfied that they did it in the ‘right way’ and feels it undoubtedly paved the way for The Lion King to be a success, in finding the ways of bringing Disney to the theatre. He also credits the journalists he collaborated with at the time for helping to tell the story in the way he intended.
Returning to the theme of integrity, Chris is proud to share that half of the staff has been with him for 20+ years and the remainder have been there for an impressive 7+ years. It makes him very proud talking about mentorship and encouraging others, and he is a big believer in internships as a way to start and conversely decide whether the job is for you or not.
It’s refreshing to hear that for Chris, his dealbreakers when accepting a new project includes a zero tolerance policy for bad behaviour – he has no desire to work with anyone who lies or is rude to staff, and has ended accounts because he simply wouldn’t let it happen more than once.
Similarly, he has little time for stupidity, nor those who think he can ensure what the press will write, or who do not understand the difference between publicists and advertising – simply put, he explains that he can’t promise anything about the outcome, other than that he will work hard. To summarise, Chris can’t tolerate intolerable people!
Ending the conversation on an encouraging note, Chris leaves his lasting message to us as “find your words”. He elaborates:
“Find your voice and speak up, if you say something, mean it. If you’re bringing up an idea make sure it’s fully formed and possible, and if you swallow good ideas and don’t say them then you’ll never know… it might have been the germ of something that could have been something fantastic.”
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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