Q1 2021

107 | Q1 2021 Aug20137 Bringing Out The Best Phoenix Creative Arts was established in 2008 by Gail Lowe after changing its name from Dorking Academy of Performing Arts. Following their success in the UK Enterprise Awards 2020, we caught up with Gail who talks to us about the School and how it is faring during the current pandemic. The objective of Phoenix Creative Arts is to offer students aged 4-19 with high-quality, performing arts training based on excellent techniques and quality teaching, whilst making it fun and rewarding for the students. To start, Gail begins by telling us more. “Our tag line is “Bring out the best”, which for us means that we not only strive to be the best in what we do and how we teach performing arts, but also has wider implications in bringing out the best in our student’s. This is in terms of their holistic education and wellbeing, whether they ultimately want a career in the performing or creative arts industries or not. Many of our students have gone on to careers in the performing arts industry or to further education in the performing arts field and then into the industry, securing roles in the West End, in films and television. However, we are equally proud of our students who have grown up with us and gone on to use their skills and experiences in other industries too, because we believe we teach life skills that can be applied in any industry.” In this fiercely competitive industry, it’s important to differentiate from competitors in order to ensure continued success. Gail elaborates on the company’s unique selling points which make it stand out above others. “We strive to teach everything to the highest quality that we can,” she enthuses. “We don’t just teach ‘dance’ as a generic subject like many theatre schools, but we teach tap, ballet, street jazz, musical theatre and contemporary dance all in their own right. We teach individual singing lessons as requested and students have the choice of classes they do, rather than everyone being lumped together as one big cohort. Therefore we can specialise and teach ballet and pointe work to grade 8 standard and beyond, or we can teach musical theatre and offer a youth theatre production experience in professional theatres.” The staff at Phoenix Creative Arts are described as “family” by Gail and it is clear that the internal culture is one of inclusion and solidarity. “At Phoenix Creative Arts, talent is cultivated and students are given opportunities to excel and to grow, not just as performers, actors, singers or dancers, but as people who have something unique and inspiring to bring to and share with the world. “Some of our teachers have grown up through our ranks, first as students and then going on to train as teachers in their own right, so they understand the culture and ethos that we have within the school. We encourage growth which is based on a positive and open mind-set, where everyone is striving for the highest standards they can for themselves and for others, not by promoting a ‘dog-eat-dog’ attitude, but by bringing everyone else with them along the way.” The creative and performing arts industries have been hit extremely hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and the short-term impact on the industry has been devastating with many theatres closing permanently as a result and face-to-face classes being prohibited. We ask Gail what the longer-term effects might be. “The longer-term impact will not be seen for many years I don’t think, but if our cultural artistic base loses many of its grass-root structures such as local theatres, then we believe that our nation, and the world, will be poorer for it. “With our optimistic hat on, we know that creative people are a resilient lot - we thrive on challenges and have the abilities to find creative ways to overcome them. Whether that means moving performances outside, or temporarily reducing the number of performers in shows in order to make the maths fit with reduced audience capacities, we are sure that where there is a way through, creative people will find it.” Despite the current situation, Gail and the team at Phoenix Creative Arts have many plans for future productions and classes. “The way we see it is that normality is not going to return any time soon, so we must adapt and change, or our industry will cease to be, so we choose the former. Culture and expressing the human condition through artistic means is part of what it means to be human, and so we are sure that we will not let a virus affect that. There have been dark days for culture in the past, but the creative spirit always pulls though, in some cases it thrives under pressure. Ultimately, we see no reason why we should not do so again.” Contact: Gail Lowe Company: Phoenix Creative Arts Web Address : www.phoenixcreativearts.co.uk