Meet Jill Raymond

Today we’re excited to be connecting with Jill Raymond again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.

Jill, thanks for joining us again. Just to level set a bit for folks who may have missed our last interview together, can you briefly introduce yourself?
I grew up in the North-East of England as one of five kids in a bustling, blended household – being the youngest of the bunch certainly taught me early how to raise my voice and jostle for attention! Art of all kinds was a huge influence in my childhood, and feeling like it was something really instilled in my bones – I’ve never been afraid to roll up my sleeves and embrace the grit of being a working artist. Since graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Acting, I’ve taken on myriad roles within the performing arts world, the Jill-of-all-Trades analogy has become a frequent point of conversation over my professional life.

Most recently I have been developing my playwright portfolio, and leading Direct Theatre Collective as Founder and Artistic Director. I adore researching and developing new works that will provoke and inspire conversation. The company has also garnered a lot of recognition – now with 11 Awards since it was founded, alongside critical acclaim and poignant audience feedback.

With an extensive background in business for the arts, I’m also committed to uplifting and emboldening artists through Artrepreneur Consulting. It is great to be able to harness my wealth of training and hands-on business knowledge​, to offer consulting and courses designed to help artists understand the tricky processes around digital marketing, online presence, and self-driven growth, allowing them to manage these essential practices with confidence and creativity.

I feel like that’s more than would fit in a nutshell… but that should give a bit of a foundation on my background.

Alright, so our main goal today is to give our audience an update on what you have been up to since our last conversation. We’d love to hear how things are going and what you are most looking forward to or excited about these days.
What a time to be alive! I have been continuing to learn, expand and create – in a world that seems sometimes to be contracting or regressing it is vital for artists to keep looking forward and finding cracks of light in the facade.

The major creative project I am focussing on right now is an original musical which I am co-writing with the incredible composer Florence Reiher – it is called MONSTER and it is a retelling of the life of Medusa, with the focus of bringing her voice to the centre of the narrative. There are countless retellings, reimaginings and rumour surrounding this infamous figure – but inherently there is a very true, undeniable human experience in Medusa’s story which is timeless. It has been amazing trying to carve out what we (Florence and I) believe to be the most accurate understanding of her, and her life story. This is easily the biggest and most expansive project I have taken on and I’m so thrilled to see where it will lead us.

We also want to give folks a chance to get to know you a bit better so we’ve prepared a fun lightning round of questions. Ready?

Favorite Book: Machines like Me – Ian McEwan, or for poetry, The Sun and Her Flowers – Rupi Kaur

Mountains or Beach: Beach (although I’m lucky in Vancouver that both are within easy reach)

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: A part-time florist, and a part-time teacher

Favorite Cartoon growing up: Shera – Princess of Power

Favorite Breakfast Food: Shakshuka

When you look back on your life, what are three things you expect to be proud of?
I think the first thing would be the ability and active readiness to take risks. As humans we are hard wired to avoid change, but in my experience it has been these times that I have ‘felt the fear and done it anyway’ that I have had the most expansion, leading me to new people, places and projects that otherwise would not have happened.

The drive to rely on myself, and figure things out. This has sometimes been a bit of a sticky one because you have to be able to ask for help, because once you develop a sense of hyper-independance it is incredibly hard to break free of it. But if you are able to be completely certain in your own ability to work things out whilst also acknowledging that there are other people who are more knowledgable or better equipped than you, or that have expertise and insights that you may not have even considered, and you are able to ask them for help, that is where the next step lies. It’s important to recognise if pride or stubbornness, or the fear of being seen as incapable, is the thing that is holding you back. Don’t let your ego trick you into getting complacent. Continue to seek out rooms where you are not the smartest person there.

Most importantly, I expect to be proud of the love that I shared, the connections I made. The love that I have, particularly for my family, is the most powerful force I know of. I want to look back at the end of this and see that I shared love generously, knowing that it is not a finite source but a universal spring that we channel and that ceases to exist when contained or hoarded. This doesn’t only relate to familial or romantic love, it’s the micro-joy moments that we share with strangers – a smile, a laugh – our tiniest interactions can have the hugest impact. When I take my last breath, I will know that I always strived to be a light in a sometimes dark world.

Website: https://www.jillraymond.com

LinkedIn: jillraymondartrepreneur

Image Credits
HEADSHOT: Karolina Turek Photography @karolinaturekphotography
MONSTER 2024 Photo: Carmelo Encula @enjoycaloy
MONSTER 2023 Photo: Kaylin Schenk Photography @kaylinschenkphotography
Others: Supplied by Jill Raymond