Hayley Shillito

Hayley Shillito is the director of Horizon Arts, a touring theatre productions company based in Wakefield.

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Hayley set up Horizon Arts in the summer of 2003, after completing a performing arts course at Wakefield College. During the final year of the course, she'd been thinking about her next steps and it had become clear that the majority of career opportunities for people wanting to get into performing arts were either in London, or required lots of experience. She felt really frustrated that she and so many of her friends were leaving college without an obvious route into the industry.

Determined to change things, Hayley founded Horizon Arts with artistic director Philip Stokes. Their mission was to create original, provocative and engaging theatre productions for a new generation that would ‘challenge artists and the audience’.

The company has achieved great success. Highlights include performances at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007 and 2006 which received stunning reviews.

Hayley’s motivation comes from the commitment, dedication and enthusiasm of the young people and artists she works with. Since setting up the company she has grown in confidence and developed her industry knowledge, and regards self-employment as a continual learning process.

Hayley’s advice to anyone who thinks that they have a good business idea is: "commit to it, get advice and develop it". In Hayley’s experience having an idea and making it happen means "believing in yourself and being brave enough to choose the road less travelled".