One of the things that we wanted to make sure of when we set up NTW was that, despite having a very small staff team,  there were roles at the core of the company for people at all stages of their creative lives.  With this in mind two of the first roles we ever appointed at NTW (just after me and Lucy) were our Creative Associates - two year positions at the heart of NTW for theatre practitioners who had a track record of exciting work, but were still at relatively early stages in their professional lives.  Our first Creative Associates, Mathilde Lopez and Catherine Paskell, helped to form the identity of the company in all sorts of ways - and of course created our Assembly programme as well as connecting us to hundreds of artists throughout Wales and far beyond!

Since 2011 our Creative Associates have been Matt Ball and Abdul Shayek, who have had an equally deep impact on the company, and on Welsh theatre, setting up WalesLab, re-designing the Assembly as a 'democratically-elected' project, building our networks of emerging artists and creating new forums in areas such as youth arts.

It's always a huge wrench to think of losing our Creative Associates after their two years, but Abdul's time in the role is completed at the end of April, and Matt's at the end of June.  They both have exciting plans for the future - and I very much hope that, like Catherine and Mathilde, they will remain a big part of NTW and Welsh theatre.  

However, these roles are designed to make sure that there is always an opportunity for new theatre practioners and producers to join us, so today we advertise for the next two NTW Creative Associates.

The info on how to apply is all here:  If you are interested - have a go - even for those people we don't appoint it can be a great way for us to learn more about you and your aspirations.  And please do spread the word too.