Hobnob 11: Chantell Ghosh
Let’s set the scene. It’s late afternoon, a few hours to curtain. The tickets have been sold and the sponsors arranged. Your employees are arriving, and the patrons will come next. You’ve got a great show, a great cast, a great team, but there’s just one problem: all public gatherings, including live theatre, have just been suspended. Effective immediately.
What does a theatre do when it can’t let audiences in? Well, as Chantell Ghosh puts it, you do as the Jackson Five do and pivot. You don’t become CEO of the Citadel Theatre by being the kind of leader who wastes a good crisis – you find new ways to stay connected, and relevant, and afloat, and you make plans to weather this as long as it lasts. How long could it be? Three or four months?
We caught up with Chantell one year later, to the day, to see how things are going. And to get some scary inspiring career advice from a woman who’s done it all, from practicing law to marketing airlines to advancing diversity and inclusion at Edmonton’s flagship theatre. If you need some inspiration to get up and go, this is the hobnob for you – check out Chantell’s chat with Michael here.