Nurturing the Next Generation of Theatre

Luke Dankoff is a huge fan of the Grow Festival, not least because he himself benefitted from professional support and guidance of the sort Grow provides earlier in his theatrical career. 

“I’ve seen it from both sides,” he says, “as an artist I realised how important it was to be offered opportunities to develop my work and build my confidence; now as a producer I know how vital - and exciting - it is to be part of the team helping talented individuals advance their skills, particularly at a time when arts subsidies are being cut.”

Luke is sitting in the Green Room at Hull Truck, talking animatedly about his role as producer and programmer, both on the Grow festival and more widely. The festival might be the pinnacle of the artist development programme - the bit the public sees - but in reality, the work goes on all year round, not just with writers but with artists of all sorts.

In particular he’s keen to develop local artists, be they writers, actors, directors, choreographers or dancers. There is a lengthy lead in period for produced work and he’s already working on shows for 2027.

Working so far ahead it’s vital to build and sustain both his confidence in the artists and what they’re doing and theirs in him. He sees it as his personal responsibility to make sure that the artists and their work flourish, whether Hull Truck Theatre goes on to produce a show themselves or whether it goes to another venue.

He tells me that producers are sometimes referred to disparagingly as “the money men and women,” and important though that is the role is in fact much wider than that. He will read scripts and then talk to the artistic director about whether a particular show is viable for Hull Truck. Is it a good fit with our values – what does the show say and is it something we ought to be saying? Can we do the show justice with the resources we’ve got? Have similar shows sold well in the past?

If a show is accepted for production Luke is responsible for programming it in and for ‘nuts and bolts’ jobs such as making sure contracted writers are paid appropriately and working hand in hand with the marketing team. It is important to build a new relationship if there is a new or different artistic director.

Adding music to a show immediately makes the job more complicated since the right music director must be found and musicians may request access to particular instruments. One thing that surprised me is how much of the job could be described as pastoral. 

“It’s a huge element,” Luke tells me, “there’s sometimes some troubleshooting to be done to make sure everyone on a show feels happy and looked after.” And the numbers are mightily impressive. His work now at Hull Truck sees him produce, co-produce and programme across both stages for audiences of 60,000+ people a year.

Asked about the future of Grow Luke talked about possibly finding a piece of drama that would act as a focal point or anchor for the festival, but mainly about keeping open what he calls a ‘talent pipeline’ and leading on artist development.  The job of growing Grow is clearly in good hands!

Artist development at Hull Truck Theatre is supported by The Foyle Foundation and the Mike Bradwell New Work Fund. If you have been inspired by this blog series and would like to find out more about how to invest in new work please contact development@hulltruck.co.uk or CLICK HERE to make a donation.