Meet the Programming Team, part 1

Hello - my name is Louise Miles-Crust, and I’m Head of Programming at Wales Millennium Centre. I thought I should explain what a ‘Head of Programming’ does, because 15 years ago I didn’t know this job even existed!

My role is to book the performances that take place at the Centre. I do this by hand-picking work that I’ve either seen elsewhere or have been recommended by reviews, or colleagues at other theatres and arts centres. Theatre companies also regularly get in touch to talk to me about potential opportunities, and I’ll take these in to consideration too.

Often, a country’s arts council or government will fund international programmers to come over and see the work of their companies and artists, and these showcases are a great way of seeing lots of different performances in one place. I’ve been very lucky, and have been to places like Copenhagen, Barcelona and Montreal to see work, with an eye to bringing some fantastic international companies back to Cardiff.  

Whilst it is amazing to travel to these places, I often spend most my time inside a theatre so never actually see much of the place I’m visiting. However, it has given me the chance to see some extraordinary things. I’ve experienced one-on-one shows in old prisons, I’ve walked around a house whilst actors performed around me, and for one show I went on a ‘date’ with a performer who wrote me a letter 3 months later, as part of the performance!

E4 Udderbelly at Edinburgh Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is an annual trip for me, and a lot of the Weston Studio programme is made up of performances that my team and I have seen there. It’s the largest arts festival in the world, and in just one day you can see everything from comedy, dance, physical theatre, children's shows, musicals and much, much more. There is no other place where you can see work from 10am-3am the next day. When I’m in Edinburgh I tend to start watching shows at 10/11am and finish at midnight, having seen about 6-7 shows in one day – all so I can present the very best for you in the Weston!

The other side of my job is producing shows, but I’ll tell you about that another time. I’ve been at the Centre for 9 ½ years in various roles in the programming team, but I’m not on my own; I have a wonderful team who all look at different aspects of the work we programme, who I’ll talk about  in my next post.