Why theatre-makers need new definitions of success

There’s more to a successful career than financial stability and regular mainstage work.
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Success can sometimes seem impossibly out of reach. Image: publicity photo for Angels in America. Photography by Sarah Walker, model Joseph Simons.

What does career success look like? Outside the arts sector, one easily applicable definition is the linear career progression, such as the 20th century cliché of starting in a company’s mailroom and ending up as CEO. Another way that success is defined is by the size of one’s pay-packet – theoretically, the more money you make, the more successful you are.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts