Betty Makharinsky: 'Be bold and don't worry about failure'

The start of the pandemic seems like a distant and surreal memory. As we gear up for our third festival, it's difficult to believe that Vache Baroque Festival started life not so long ago as the seed of an idea, dreamt up by two musicians on a particularly sunny day during that first, long lockdown. The journey has been intense - we definitely didn't realise quite what we were starting - but looking back, the pandemic created a unique window of opportunity in which to launch a credible organisation, and for that I feel extremely grateful. 

This September, our production of Charpentier's Orphée stars tenor Samuel Boden and bass-baritone Henry Waddington - two artists of the highest calibre with too many credentials to list here - amongst an inspiring line-up of artists, all recent conservatoire graduates embarking on extremely promising solo careers. And this is just our cast! Don't get me started on our instrumentalists, dancers, and creative team… 

I'm sorry to wax lyrical but this has been the essence of Vache Baroque since our very first festival, which we launched in in September 2020. Our Dido & Aeneas (pictured below) cast and company was made up of friends, all of whom agreed to take part and did so wholeheartedly despite our shoestring budget. I am sure that they all valued the opportunity just that little bit more than usual after the complete lack of a creative outlet since early March. Their generosity with their time, energy and spirit was crucial, their credentials helped us attract press attention, their hard work created a show in a matter of days; and their talent, commitment, and artistry ensured that it resonated with our audiences. Approaching our 2021, 2022 and 2023 artists was much easier with this track record of success.

Audiences were similarly hungry for art and live events in 2020 so we established a core contingent perhaps more easily than if we'd launched in the crowded pre-pandemic market. It is indescribably reassuring to notice that a loyal following is starting to emerge; you realise that people enjoy and trust what you create and want to come back for more. There would, after all, be no real point to what we do if audiences didn't want to share it with us.

The closeness and collaboration of our team remain an important and successful element of Vache Baroque. There is absolutely no way that someone can stage an opera or organise a festival or run a charity on their own. Back in 2020, our core team of four (co-founder Jonathan Darbourne, executive producer Daniel Makharinsky, Amelia Anderson, and I) had a lot of time and space in our lives to make the festival a priority. Once again, this was an opportunity afforded to all of us by the pandemic. It allowed us to lay a lot of good groundwork. Soon after, we were joined by our founding VBFriends, our charity trustees, a number of other volunteers, and more core team members. What I'm trying to convey is that arts organisations can only continue thriving post-pandemic and in years three, four and five of their existence with a great deal of help from generous and committed people who believe in the mission. Perhaps the fact that the performing arts were so absent and suffered so visibly during the pandemic has encouraged some people to support them more actively, with both their time and resources.

Something I could never have guessed is how willing other organisations are to help too. There are lots of opportunities for mutual support and shared learning. What is clearer to me than ever is that we're all working towards the same goal: creating more beauty and empathy in the world. This is particularly pertinent and important in the face of the anxiety-inducing ongoing geopolitical situation.

Underpinning a thriving artistic programme needs to be financial viability, and to attract larger amounts of funding, organisations need to demonstrate both a track record and a strategic plan for the future. I received crucial advice in September 2020 to collect feedback from all stakeholders, which paved the way for our first impact report. We also started mapping a theory of change, translating our mission into a clear sequence of goals and related actions. Now we can reference two years of activities and a mid-term strategy, both of which I didn't know a single thing about before we launched! The financial element of running an arts organisation is certainly not without its challenges; the funding climate of 2022 is extremely competitive and it's inevitably disheartening to receive a string of rejections after hours of hard work on grant applications. Celebrating successes and building up a resilient attitude across the team is the only way to thrive in this respect. The steady flow of income from our regular supporters is an invaluable lifeline that reminds us we are viable, even when things feel difficult.

And so, despite its manifold challenges and tragedies, the pandemic was a blessing in disguise for starting an arts initiative; it was an opportunity in terms of available time and buy-in from all stakeholders for the project to succeed. I'm not sure that I have enough experience yet to offer wisdom or advice but I would say this: find yourself a team of like-minded people who are willing to give your project real space and time in their lives, and then just go for it! Be bold and don't worry about failure. Things will inevitably go wrong… sometimes that's even when the best bits happen.

Betty Makharinsky is co-founder of Vache Baroque Festival which runs from 27 August 2022. You can find out more about the festival, including tickets here.