Death of a Mentor

LOL: Jenny Harris has a lot to answer for!

 She was my first boss and she set a standard that NONE of the people for whom I subsequently worked achieved. I went to work at The Albany Empire, (now called The Deptford Albany) on December 19th 1984 as the Drama Animateur, for the Basement Youth Arts Project. I'd graduated from Bristol 'Old Vic' Theatre School with naive ideas about "giving something back" before charging off to carve my career and end up directing at the National... ahem.

 Jenny was Artistic Director of The Combination Ltd which I think started in Brighton, but had come to Deptford to work in the old Albany Empire that had been burned down, rebuilt and then demolished for a road-widening scheme before the new building was built in about 1981. By the time I got there, Jenny was a veteran of community development. She could be abrupt and abrasive to some. I saw this as someone who knew what they were doing and didn't need short-cuts or to pussy-foot around things. I used to have maybe one hour long meeting with her every three months and got more than I needed from that encounter to fire me up till the next top up.

 Jenny taught me about value for public money in the arts and armed me for subsequent fights to justify arts funding in the face of economic collapse and government cuts- the mid 1980s was Thatcher time, community centres and arts organisations lost their funding at alarming rates, the Albany survived for a lot of reasons but I think most people in Deptford felt it belonged to them and it did as much to protect them as they did to keep it.

 I learned today that she has died. I only found out that she was ill a week ago. I am glad that I have told her in the past how much my own management style had been influenced by her and how much I learned about community development and about how art and culture could contribute positively to individual life skills. Jenny left the Albany to become head of education at the National Theatre for many years. She stepped in and helped to revitalise the Albany after it had 'slid' considerably in the mid 1990s by devising  the only arts based "SRB" project "The Art of Regeneration" that paved the way for the building's renaissance as The Deptford Albany- and got me some fund-raising work!

 I really have not known anyone who has left a bigger legacy. I will never forget her

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