Many Welsh or Wales based arts graduates are finding this current period especially difficult. Their usual opportunities to meet agents, prepare for final year exhibitions or productions may take place later in the year or sadly not at all. To raise awareness of the diverse talent graduating this year GTC is offering any Welsh or Wales based graduate the opportunity to be showcased on our website. If you are interested, please do get in touch.

Hi Francesca great to meet you, can you give our readers some background information on yourself please?

Hello, thank you so much for this opportunity! I’m Francesca Waygood, 27 years old from Swansea. After completing a bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts in 2014, I decided to go into teaching and qualified as a lecturer, specialising in teaching performing arts. Although I loved lecturing, I felt I still had a lot more to learn about the performing arts industry; I truly believe the best teachers are ones who have a desire to keep learning and developing their own skillset and so I decided to gain more industry experience by furthering my studies with a masters degree. Today, I am studying at the Canolfan Berfformio Cymru (UWTSD Cardiff), for my Master’s in Musical Theatre. Musical theatre has always been my true love and so, I am very grateful for the opportunity to study here as my learning experiences so far have been invaluable!

You can see Francesca’s Spotlight link here

So, what got you interested in the arts?

My mum (a former dance teacher) initially taught me to dance. Some of my earliest memories are from around the age of 2, where my mum was teaching me good toes, naughty toes, step ball changes and splits in our living room! She enrolled me in ballet, jazz and tap dance classes soon after where I had the opportunity to attend workshops with Wayne Sleep. It was only when I joined the school choir, I became interested in singing. From there, I added musical theatre, singing and music theory lessons to my hobbies and completed exams in these areas. With this came shows and competitions, something which I always really enjoyed partaking in as a child.

Can you tell us about your creative process?

My creative process really depends on what specific skill I may be focussing on. During our course so far, we have had the opportunity to study the methodologies of Stanislavski and Misner. Both processes were totally different, allowing for new creative discoveries to be made each lesson. For example, within Misner, we looked at the use of repetition. I found this process very beneficial for learning text. With Stanislavski, we looked as various tools which included physicalising text with actions. Such methods I will now employ in future work.

As a young Welsh artist graduating during a very difficult period what investment and support do you think is required to enable your career to develop and prosper?

So many virtual opportunities have become available via Instagram and Twitter for artists. There have been so many performers from West End shows / UK tours offering workshops where you can learn choreography from the shows they are in. There have also been casting directors offering to provide feedback on CV’s and showreel material for a very small fee. Talent agencies have been so approachable, and many have specifically asked for un-represented graduates to contact them. I even had one agency who I spoke too, offer to share my details with other agency contacts and casting directors. Personally, I believe it is definitely worth getting involved in all the opportunities that are currently available to us!

A range of arts organisation and individuals are now working online or finding new ways to reach out to audiences. Have you seen any particularly good examples of this way of working?

I’ve seen so many musical theatre performers running online concert events, live from their homes, which audiences can buy tickets for. I think this is a great opportunity for us to support one and other, as well as admiring these amazingly talented performers.  I am also aware of organisations showing performances on their websites for public viewing – making theatre so accessible for everyone to be a part of!

If you were able to fund an area of the arts in Wales what would this be and why?

I am a strong believer in incorporating more creative methods for learning into education. Everyone has a preferred way of learning; whether it be visual, audio, kinaesthetic or a mixture of these! During my bachelor’s degree, I studied a module called Applied Drama, where I facilitated at 7 primary schools in Swansea, taking elements of the curriculum and supplementing it with more creative features. For example, I can recall one school where the pupils were studying the Romans. Upon an initial meeting with the class teacher, an education pack was supplied which included a series of worksheets for the pupils to complete as part of their study of that topic. A co-facilitator and I leading the project decided to incorporate more performing arts based activates to accompany the pupils learning. For example, the pupils partook in role play exercises such as a Roman march and a roman battle. The pupils seemed to really respond to these activities as it offered a more balanced learning experience, suited to all their learning needs.

 What excites you about the arts in Wales?

From studying for my bachelor’s degree to where I am at now, I have met so many diverse creative people. The arts culture in Wales is constantly changing, it is not all about the larger scale theatres anymore. Some amazing work can be found in the smaller, less known creative spaces. My partner comes from a more contemporary theatre background and he has really opened my eyes to this.

What was the last really great thing that you experienced that you would like to share with our readers?

Apart from watching Six the musical (UK tour) in Bath which was absolutely incredible, I would probably say performing in Nadolig Big Band Christmas with the university in December 2019 at the BBC Hoddinott Hall – such an incredible space and a wonderful experience for me as a musical theatre performer. Another would be having the opportunity to be a part of a choir recording some of the backing vocals for the film Dream Horse, set to be released later this year. Again, another wonderful opportunity.