Careers in music and the performing arts seldom last long, with most practitioners swapping a life on stage for an existence on tube station platforms once the constant grind of sourcing work hits home. One artist that refused to trade his pipedreams for pinstripes is professional musician Rob Harris, a man who has proved that a career in music is a viable, sustainable reality. His CV reads like a careers directory of the performing arts having worked on productions as prestigious as Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet as well as treading the boards with his own pop band Shall I Be Mother? In 2003 he, along with his partner Anna Jones, took a show entitled Suicide Diaries to the Edinburgh Festival.
Admittedly, there was a five-year hiatus when Rob switched the spandex for a suit but even then his time in industry was connected with arts, education, and funding, and this business experience proved invaluable when he eventually returned to work as a professional musician. As Rob confesses, 'By the time I started working for myself I think I had maturity on my side, which I probably didn't have ten years earlier.'
Rob first made contact with Arts Development in 2004 when he attended the Community Arts Training Scheme (CATS), 'to learn about self-employment, to learn about paying tax, National Insurance, all those kind of practicalities, really.' However, Rob also found meeting people from different artforms and backgrounds refreshing and as a result would later work with many of them. Perhaps the most important thing Rob learned was how to levy a fair rate for his work. There is a temptation when working in the arts to sell yourself short. 'I didn't really know what was a fair price to charge,' Rob says, 'and of course you don't want to over-price yourself, but equally you don't want to under-price yourself either.' Another aspect of the training crucial to his later career was working in education and schools, specifically the need for CRB clearance. In essence, 'All those practical things that you need to do if you're going to work in a school and approach schools.'
Rob's achievements since the course include two residencies with Creative Partnerships within two schools that involved working across the entire breadth of the curriculum, a musical summer school at Thames Valley University, and the score for a production of Lord of the Flies with RIFCO Arts, to name but a few.
He may have achieved more than most but Rob refuses to 'rest on his laurel's’, 'I'm very keen to keep two prongs to my work. One being the arts and the community... but also, equally, I like doing commercial work.' Rob is keen to develop and expand upon previous projects such as Blank Canvas, an event designed by Rob to showcase local artists’ work that will undoubtedly require the submission of funding applications, but, given Rob's passion for his work, will leave him undeterred. Indeed, it's the freedom of working and relying upon himself that he finds most rewarding. 'I just like the fact that my life generally involves being creative now.' Rob reflects.
Rob Harris demonstrates that whilst attending CATS can point you in the direction of your dreams making the journey towards them starts with you.
Interview: Andrew Unsworth
Photograph: Malcolm Glover