2013 was a media rich yet cash poor year. That artistic compulsion to create and creative compulsion to capture really bit me in the ‘Harris’!

I never got a job because of who I know and similarly I’m not a jump in the air ‘pick me, pick me’ type. I work hard and aim to be relevant and open to opportunity.

My big showcase demonstration finally came, so I thought at the end of 2012 when Phil Campbell, Marios Perrakis and myself produced TEDxLaceMarket. It was an audience facing success but disappointing in terms of the support and engagement from the local business community. There was an audience of 100 TED enthusiasts and a global network of followers yet few entrepreneurs, businesses, organisations or companies had the imagination to contribute £100 to an event which included web updates, blog opportunities and global exposure to some of the most philanthropic and proactive people on the planet. With support we could have reached so much further and with a greater sustained legacy than we were able.

2013 was a hard year for me. The expectation and promise of Nottingham’s Creative Quarter peeked with the appointment of Kathy McArdle. With a proven Arts, media and culture background my fears were realised when despite my input and support projects have been assigned to inexperienced, underpaid, well meaning and aspiring young project managers who struggled to maintain personal morale at times over issues a more experienced project coordinator wouldn’t blink at.

This is often the result of engaging low fee or voluntary freelancers. Where do these young freelancers learn from? In teams, on the job. A team can consist of two at it’s core and function as a collaboration where experience and responsibility are rewarded with a slight difference in fee and agreed status.

Here endeth my rant for today.