From 1983 to 1987 he worked as
Box Office Manager at the Tron Theatre then under
the leadership of Linda Haase (later Scottish Opera)
and Michael Boyd (RSC). Following that he
was appointed as Theatre Manager with programming responsibilities
at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. The
RSAMD had just opened a fine new public facility
with four large performance spaces. During his time at the
RSAMD he helped foster a significant growth in the profile of the
venue curating a busy programme of visiting professional theatre
companies, musical ensembles and conference organisers whilst maintaining
a balance with regular academic activities as well as collaborating
widely across the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1992,
after five successful years producing high quality public events,
he took up a new post as Senior Marketing Officer and assumed responsibility
for the RSAMD’s entire academic print publications
From 1987 to 1993 Steven also
maintained his work as a Director and Producer. In 1987 he
along with Pene Herman-Smith and Lorenzo
Mele (7:84 Theatre Co.) founded Made In Glasgow,
a professional student theatre ensemble at the RSAMD. The company
staged the first Scottish Student Drama Festival at
the RSAMD, and toured to the Edinburgh Fringe with “The American
Dream” by Edward Albee “Weddings & After” by
William McIlvanney; The Square That Couldn't Rock & Roll by Brian
McCann; Night Mother by Marsha Norman; Zoo Story by Edward Albee;
Night Mother by Marsha Norman; Fools by Neil Simon; The Street by
written and directed by Alan McHugh; The Love of
Don Perlimplin by Federico Garcia and The Respectable Wedding by
Bertolt Brecht both directed by David McVicar. In 1991 he produced
Dunoon jazz singer and Billie Holiday look-alike Suzanne
Bonnar (River City) in “I Cover The Waterfront - the
Billie Holiday” story by Troy Fairclough which
played at Glasgow International Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Festival
Fringe and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. His
last production in 1992 whilst still at the RSAMD was his directorial
debut for the Scottish première of Nice by Mustapha
Matura which starred afro-caribbean actor Desmond
McLean.
In late 1993 Steven left RSAMD
to go freelance and carried off a successful short-term marketing
contract with New Moves - Scotland’s international
contemporary dance festival. He followed that with a short
stint as Press Officer for touring company Winged Horse Productions. Mid
1994 he was appointed General Manager for Promenade Productions producers
of The Big Picnic at the Harland & Wolff
Engine Shed former Shipyard. This epic 1st World War
production written and directed by Bill Bryden (former
Head of Drama at BBC Scotland and Associate Director of England’s
Royal National Theatre). He worked principally under the Producer, Nicholas
Newton (founder of London’s the Bush Theatre and son
of 1950’s Hollywood film actor Robert Newton). The
production was staged to great acclaim to over 50,000 people and
recorded for Broadcast on Armistice Day by BBC Television.
Between 1995 and 1996 he worked
for Glasgow City Council as a citywide Theatre Manager
at The King’s, Mitchell and Tramway
Theatres. Mid 1996 he also organised the ticketing
operation for the World League of American Football’s
Scottish Claymores successful World Bowl Championship at
Murrayfield Stadium attended by 38,000 people.
In July 1997 Steven relocated
to London to again take up the post of General Manager with Promenade
Productions who had been commissioned by Channel
4 to make a new six-part drama entitled SOHO. This
was to have been a £6m serial drama filmed at Pinewood Studios. Unfortunately
the production was never made due to a change of Chief Executive
at Channel 4 in late 1997.
During his year in London he returned
to work for the World League of American Football,
this time at its NFL Europe London Headquarters managing, the stadium
and ticketing operation for its two main teams the England Monarchs
and Scottish Claymores.
Over the last decade Steven has
continued to work in an associate capacity with Bill Bryden and Producer,
Nicholas Newton and continues to act as Finance Manager for the Company. He
has worked on a string of BBC Radio Recordings and the production Baby
Doll by Tennessee Williams at the Albery Theatre in London’s
West End in June 2000.
In May 1998 Steven returned to
Glasgow and New Moves in a new role as Administrative Director in
a bid to consolidate his professional development within the Company
and across Scotland. During his tenure he was successful in
securing an increase in the Company’s annual funding by moving
the company from project to core revenue funding as well as managing
many successful medium scale lottery bids. He also organised
a major review by the Scottish Arts Council which culminated in the
creation of new posts to further develop audience and contextual
programming and took the average annual turnover of the Company from £100k
to circa £350k. He found continuing support from the
British Council, Visiting Arts and from time to time the Arts Council
of England. In a bold move in October 1999 he successfully
persuaded the Artistic Director and Board that a merger between the
National Review of Live Art and the New Moves festival
would aid long term survival for the Company and give live art a
significant annual platform. The Company launched its new five-week
festival New Territories in Feb 2002.
In Feb 2004 he was appointed Producer
of the Glasgay! festival which since his appointment
has grown from a small fortnight long festival of circa 3,000 attenders
to a large month long celebration at nearly 20 venues attracting
up to 25,000 visitors. He has successfully repositioned the
festival as Scotland’s annual celebration of queer
culture, grown public funding, increased private sponsorship,
and diversified the income base. The programme continues to
have a strong international flavour and in his bid to keep things
fresh he is currently developing a programme of commissions of new
work.
In 2005 Steven was awarded a Pride
Award by Phace Scotland and The
List and also listed 80th in the top 100 cultural movers
and shakers or the year. In September 2005 he opened
the Q! Gallery, Scotland’s first gallery
dedicated to queer art and artists and in Spring 2006 he will open
the Stud!o, an adjacent space for creative workshops,
rehearsals, performance and holistic practice.


