At 26, Abe Watson has already had a long career in the arts.
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While he started performing at a young age, as Watson moved through his teens, his theatre interests began to focus on the backstage and technical aspects.
He became a committee member at Bendigo Theatre Company aged 14 and would eventually rise to be president. At the same time he started working at The Capital theatre as a lighting technician.
After working as a production manager with Melbourne Theatre Company, this year he became the artistic operations manager at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne.
Watson is the guest on Bendigo Advertiser podcast The Takeaway with Chris Pedler speaks about his passion for theatre along with how pursuing an arts career compares between performers and technicians.
Previous The Takeaway episodes:
- The Takeaway with Chris Pedler EP 1 | Pride Festival director John Richards on the evolution of Bendigo's queer experience
- The Takeaway with Chris Pedler EP 2 | Science communication Alissa van Soest discusses the development of Discovery
- The Takeaway with Chris Pedler EP3 | Bendigo doctor Skye Kinder joins discusses health care in the regions
- The Takeaway with Chris Pedler EP4 | Bendigo Art Gallery boss Jess Bridgfoot and her love of art
"They're different but they're equally as challenging in one way," he said. "Probably on the performing side, it's a little bit more short-term contract work, people going from contract to contract. It's less secure.
"If you can build yourself a career in the production side of it, you are more likely to find yourself in full-time roles. There are still few of them.
"It is a relatively small industry but there are different challenges on both sides."
Watson's interest in the production side of theatre stemmed from a natural curiousity.
" I wanted to do both (perform and produce). I don't know how old I was probably around that kind of 18, 19 mark," he said.
"So I had worked at The Capital since I was 14 as a lighting tech and in various roles doing different tech and front of house things.
"The turning point may have actually been the opening of Ulumbarra Theatre, which opened in 2015."
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Watson made the deliberate decision to take a gap year in 2015 to be a part of as much as he could with Ulumbarra.
"Working in a brand new theater, that has just been built has its challenges. I'm sure no one mind me saying that...(but) that was pretty amazing," he said.
"I mean opening a new theater being there through the build phase, the fit out, and the first year is an experience, I will never forget the positives and the negatives of that."
Watson also spoke on Bendigo's strong rate of secondary students going on to study arts at higher levels.
"Bendigo does it quite well," he said. "It's probably down to some of the people that we have in some of those (education and drama) roles that are just really passionate people and good advocates of that work
"Throughout my teen years, I was told by many people 'you can't pick a career in the arts'.
"It can be hard to crack into this industry but it is worthwhile. It's fun."
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