Taking my first Creative Steps

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to receive Creative Steps funding from Arts Council Wales, and I wanted to take a moment to talk honestly about what that support has meant - not just professionally, but personally.

Creative Steps is designed for artists facing barriers, and for me those barriers are disabling after effects following a pretty serious bout of bacterial meningitis in 2024, alongside ADHD.

Before this project, I was working hard, but often in survival mode. I was busy, yes- but I didn’t always feel equipped, confident, or supported enough to shape my own path long-term. I felt like I was stumbling forward, waiting for someone who knew more than me, who had more contacts than me, who had all the industry secrets at their disposal to give me work and guide me.

This funding gave me something I hadn’t had in a long time: space to develop.

Through Creative Steps, I was able to take part in playwriting training for children’s theatre, one-to-one vocal and character acting coaching, and a hands-on Puppets on Screen workshop at Little Angel Theatre. I also spent time speaking with mentors working in community theatre, puppetry, and accessible practice, all people who were honest about leadership, funding, pricing your work properly, and looking after your health while making art.

The impact of this learning has been huge. I’ve started developing my own full-length children’s show, alongside short festival pieces using my own characters. I’ve gained new technical skills, new contacts, and new ways of thinking about audiences, especially children and families who don’t always see themselves reflected in theatre spaces.

But honestly? The biggest shift has been internal.

Before this project, I didn’t fully believe I could lead. I wasn’t sure I could plan my time, initiate meetings, or confidently hold conversations with industry peers. Somewhere along the way- through illness, burnout, and years of being misunderstood, I’d absorbed the idea that those things were for “other people”.

This project proved otherwise.

I planned the work. I managed the budget. I initiated conversations. I made decisions about what was sustainable for me and what wasn’t. I learned that leadership doesn’t have to look rigid or relentless - it can be thoughtful, flexible, access-aware, and most importantly, kind.

The funding also allowed me to invest in practical tools, like a super sexy professional website that you're currently looking at, and a Remarkable tablet, which have made an immediate difference to how I organise my work and manage fatigue and focus. Small things, but genuinely life-changing.

Most importantly, Creative Steps has helped me move from seeing myself as someone who works on other people’s projects to someone who can confidently create and lead my own. As I begin building my Community Interest Company https://www.theovertheres.co.uk/ and developing new puppetry, theatre, and literacy-based work here in Wales, that confidence is everything.

I’m incredibly grateful to Arts Council Wales for backing me at this point in my journey - and for recognising that development, access, and sustainability matter.

This is just the beginning.