Changemakers: Niki McCretton
In this new series of blog posts, our CEO David Lockwood celebrates outstanding individuals that make up our unique cultural sector. In this first post, David spotlights Bridport’s theatre maker and cultural entrepreneur Niki McCretton.
Image by Eddie Pearce
It’s Saturday night and the underground bar is filling up. I slip through the doors to the neighbouring cellar which, as it does most nights, has just played host to a new play for a limited audience. Now it is silent, the stage empty. Except, in the middle of seven rows of seating, two people sit, deeply engrossed in conversation. This is how I meet Niki McCretton.
Niki, as we’ll discover, lives and breathes theatre. On that Saturday night, ten years ago, she tells me about her theatre company – the acclaimed Stuff and Nonsense – and her theatre building – incredibly, she also finds the time to run Bridport’s Lyric. She’s a rarity. Small, curious, passionate, generous. She asks questions, wanting to get under the skin of how other creative organisations function. We bond over a shared commitment to supporting artists. It’s a commitment that, whilst mine is tempered by other interests, remains the lode star for Niki a decade or more since we first met.
The building is for a community but it’s not a community centre. The Lyric’s community is one increasingly undervalued – that of the professional artist. We’re getting used to valuing the everyday artist, a welcome rebalance in a sector which has a tendency towards hierarchy and status. But the Lyric reminds us of the importance of valuing the needs of those who make a career from pursuing their artistic impulse, who commit to refining and nurturing their innate talent. The venue welcomes them to explore this, developing new work, pushing boundaries in a safe space.
Niki knows the value of this from personal experience. She’s an artist to her core, a theatre maker who specialises in imaginative work for all ages. She started making contemporary theatre in 2000 for adults and was then commissioned and encouraged to make shows for children in 2003. Her award-winning performance ‘Muttnik the First Dog in Space’ toured the UK, Europe, US and Canada. She was then involved with Stuff and Nonsense in 2008 and became Artistic Director and Owner in 2016.
The Lyric is a historically important creative space. Built as an Independent Chapel in 1746, it has been a Temperance Hall, the Liberal Hall and was the original Electric Palace Cinema. It was listed in 1950 and was used as the Bernard Gale School of Dancing for many years. From ballet to salsa and pantomimes galore, Bernard taught hundreds of pupils in his time here until 2002 when he passed away leaving a great legacy of dance in the town.
Bought by Niki personally in 2010 after she sold her house for the deposit, it has been saved from developers to remain a cultural space. You can feel the Love and rich layers of history even before you enter the building. Inside it’s cosy, eclectic and eccentric. Everything a creative needs to feel inspired and comfortable.
For 20 years Stuff and Nonsense have produced work in the country’s most acclaimed regional theatres, from the New Wolsey in Ipswich to the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. They have performed to over 300,000 people nationwide since 2010 and continue to dazzle audiences with their imaginative puppet shows.
In my role, I’m tasked with considering the impact of the cultural sector. People – funders particularly – want to measure it. With Niki, where do you start? With numbers? – her work brings in a lot of people, but a fraction of those who watch, say, the BBC’s Gruffalo. With community engagement? – the Lyric often works with specific local communities, but it’s in no way comparable to even the most basic small town community centre. With artist development? – many have developed their careers in Bridport but it doesn’t compare with the big subsidised cultural organisations. As a performance space? – the Lyric hosts rare, one-off shows, but putting on plays isn’t what this space is about.
Some things are incalculable. The value of Niki – and of people like her, those who sacrifice time and money to create culture, those that make the creative sector fizz and thrive – is impossible to measure. But we must value them. Because without them, we’re all poorer.