Kate teaching aerial at a workshop with Hubbub Theatre,  Derby.

I have been working with Can’t Sit Still as a Marketing and Production assistant for the last 6 months and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time involved in being part of the team. My role has also helped me learn more about the industry and how a circus theatre company organises a tour. My role within the company was reasonably varied which was both useful and enjoyable to me, being involved in many areas of the tour gave me the experience and understanding of how each job works together as a whole to help bring the tour together.

One of the things I have learnt about myself is that when there’s more variety and social engagement I am often able to work more productively, for example being able to travel with the team to rehearsals a few days a week really helped to keep me engaged in the project and focused on what was happening currently with the tour and rehearsals at that time. And combining that with working from home meant I was able to stay feeling connected to the team when I was working from home. Co-working is definitely something I would introduce into my plans if I was to find myself in a work from home role in the future.

The Artistic Director, Cat Boot, always made sure to touch base with whatever I was working on to make sure I understood my tasks and wasn’t feeling too out of my depth. She also was always checking that the tasks I was undertaking would be useful to my learning and help my understanding of how the company runs. I’ve enjoyed having such an interesting and evolving workload within my role, from helping out with drama workshops, to sewing bunting, to curating social media posts and keeping market research spreadsheets, there’s always been something new to learn at every stage. It has also been very useful for discovering which elements I enjoy more than others, for instance helping teach workshops was something I discovered I quite enjoyed and found rewarding.

If I were to give advice to other kickstart interns who are in a similar role I would suggest keeping great communication where possible when working from home, and being clear with what areas interest you and are more relevant for your learning and experience. For example I wanted to observe some of the rehearsal process as I felt that was relevant for the areas of work I’m interested in. It was also especially useful as I was then able to document the rehearsal process and make social media posts about what the team were currently doing without feeling disconnected from the tour. Overall working for Can’t Sit Still has been an amazing experience and I will take knowledge I have gained from working with them into the future work I do. I’ve also learnt a lot about myself whilst being part of the Can’t Sit Still family and I look forward to keeping in contact with them in the future.

An example of Kate's social media content and photography