Colin Ford started out, he says, as a bad actor. He was surrounded by much better actors, but he felt they sometimes didn’t understand the plays they were in. He was meant to be studying English literature at university, but spent all his time in the theatre. On leaving university he worked many jobs, including spending time in a animation studio. In his late twenties he became a theatre director in Britain, and in Long Beach whilst also working as a visiting lecturer in drama at California State University. That was at the age of 31 – in 1962.
This career move set a precedent for Colin to continue changing with the times, reading his surroundings to give himself the best possible chances. Colin Ford has since founded and headed the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford (1983-1993) after campaigning for 10 years for the need for a museum of this nature. With a name change last year, the National Media Museum is the most well attended public museum in the UK outside of London.
In 1993 Colin Ford received a CBE for his services to culture and heritage, and is widely respected as an expert on the history of photography. He has an award named after him at the Royal Photographic Society, and has written nearly a dozen books, including titles on Lewis Carroll and three stunning publications cataloguing the photographs of Julia Margaret Cameron. Now semi-retired, Colin has served on many trusts including the http://www.npg.org.uk/live/index.asp National Portrait Gallery, and is chair of a commercial entertainment company. So how does a bad actor become a man of high influence? Arts Hub spoke with Colin Ford this month to ask his advice. His answer? Make a play. And he doesn’t mean as in a theatre show. Among other things, Colin Ford’s achievements have come through knowing himself, possessing braveness in approaching people in high places for the right reasons, and becoming associated with well-known institutions because of it.
Know Yourself
Colin pulls down bamboo blinds over the glass roof of his conservatory in North London overlooking ”his wife’s beautiful garden” full of weird and wonderful statues. He is mindlessly listing a heap of current writing jobs, including revising an essay due to accompany a new travelling Lewis Carroll exhibition. At 73, this man is full of words and vibrancy. So what does it take to be influential? “One needs to be ambitious and believe in what you are doing”, explains Colin. But it’s more than just holding the ambitious gene – goals and vision are paramount. “You need to have your own particular ambitions, your specific aims you want to achieve or see happen. My vision was for a national museum for photography.”
The World’s Your Oyster
Colin Ford’s first break was the lecturer’s position in Long Beach, California. “It helped me understand the big picture. It made me realise that it was possible to travel anywhere in the world. It’s an obvious thing but you have to jump the first hurdle. Distance never became a problem ever again. The world really is your oyster. But in those days, it was easy to be overawed by the vastness of the world. To understand that you really could go nearly anywhere in it.”
Know Your Luck
“You have to recognise luck. When I talk about those turning points, I think back now, if someone had offered me a modest job in a theatre I could have taken it.” But he didn’t choose that route. Colin Ford took chances. He explains, “We don’t all have those lucky breaks – in the western world generally – but if you are brave enough and you get the chance, take it.”
…And Your Industry
One reason why Colin left for California was because the repertory theatres were closing down in England, “because TV was taking over,” reflects Colin. After two years in America he took the view that, “Unless you were one of the top 10 directors, there was not a career in it.” Back in England, he changed paths again to become Deputy Curator at the National Film Archive (1965-1972), now the British Film Institute’s National Film & Television Archive.
Make A Play
At the time, Colin Ford went to see Dr (now Sir) Roy Strong, then Director of the National Portrait Gallery. Colin wanted to ask if he would join the Committee of the Friends of the National Film Archive. “I said to myself, ‘this is the director of a national museum: I can’t go and ask that!’ It seemed trivial.” But that meeting proved more than fruitful after he proposed to Strong that the Gallery should show film portraits. Soon after, Sir Roy asked Colin Ford to write a blueprint for a new department of film and photography at the National Portrait Gallery. In due course, Colin was made head of the new department, the first ever curator of photography in a British national museum (1972-1982).
Since its opening in 1856 the National Portrait Gallery had only ever exhibited paintings and drawings. In the UK, photography had not yet been recognised as an important artistic or historic subject unto itself, unlike many American institutions which had been collecting photographs since the 1930’s. Even though photography had a century and a half of history by this time, it was not yet considered ‘serious art’. Unwittingly, Colin Ford had a lot to do with increasing the significance of the photography medium as an essential cultural instrument. The first exhibition, of Cecil Beaton’s photographs in 1968 attracted 75,000 visitors.
Important Associations
Even as a student Colin Ford approached distinguished people. Whilst attending a London theatre production during his time as an English Language & Literature undergraduate at Oxford, Colin Ford was sufficiently inspired to leave a note at the stage door for well-known actor Paul Schofield. The note requested Schofield to say a few lines at the beginning and the end of a recorded play Ford was making. Schofield said “Yes”. For the same production he successfully approached R.D. Smith to make a criticism after performance. “This famous BBC radio producer didn’t know me for Adam”, explains Ford. “Don’t be afraid to approach new people. There are going to be people that are too grand, but not always. I never cultivated people because of their usefulness. But sticking to Colin Ford’s Contact List sometimes proved a weakness at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television. It can fool you into always using the same people. Don’t just automatically turn to those you know, when someone else can help the cause more.”
Energy Is Key
Colin is animated with every response. “Looking at people who have either succeeded or failed the single most important characteristic is their energy. Intelligence, communication and compassion for people are important, but this is the difference. In my days with the Western Theatre Ballet (now the Scottish Ballet), the dancers had an energy field, with their extraordinary training. You can feel an unbounded energy. Someone with real energy wants to go an extra mile. It’s about commitment, drive and wanting to do something well, and to the best of your ability.” He refers to his friend, the 70-year-oldDavid Hockney who “works and paints every day.”
From 1993 to 1998 Colin Ford headed the National Museums & Galleries of Wales with a contract that extended past normal retirement age. Last year he directed his first play in 42 years, working alongside BBC Young Playwright of the Year Susannah Daley and old friends Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Now Colin spends most of his time writing and attending various organisations’ unpaid trust meetings, of which Colin explains, “You do it because these charities’ work is important and should be helped.” But Colin was once advised by Sir Roy Strong to withdraw from all his trusts. Colin passes it on, “Only do the things that you are paid for. They will listen and respect you. In the end unpaid trustees can be ignored.”
Will Colin Ford take this advice? After 53 years working in the arts, that change remains to be seen.
