What happens When You Anyhow Play Play? This!

“PLAY! was set up to really just offer people a way to be children again and look at the world through the eyes of a child - something that we as adults don’t get to do in the every day”

Get to know the creative minds behind PLAY!—Clare and Moira—as they share their journey from an artist collective to a thriving company. This is Part 1 of our interview!

How did you two first meet? 👩🏻👋🏻

Clare: I’ve known Moira since I was 13, as she was my senior at SOTA* and we were both studying music. However, we were never really friends in school, so I would never have imagined that we would be partners in not just one, but TWO companies. It’s really nice that we reconnected, and this is all thanks to our ex music teacher at SOTA, Dirk Stromberg.

Moira: We work really well together, and Clare is someone I trust wholeheartedly. I respect her vision and the way she works. It’s been a journey and I can’t believe we are on this together. We’re a good team.

*SOTA - School of the Arts

How has your education in the arts influenced your career path and creative journey? 📖 🎨

Clare: I was heavily debating about whether to study anthropology or film, but in the end I decided that film would be the best choice for me, and I’m so glad I did that! Studying film allowed me to connect with so many different creatives across all art forms, and I can’t imagine my life panning out any other way. 

Moira: I have always been someone who has never been able to settle on one thing - and for me a double degree* made the most sense. I still feel I see the world through music, and it’s something that informs the way I work across mediums. Interdisciplinary work is definitely at the heart of how I tell stories these days and it’s definitely through my non-committal choices in life hahahaha.

*Moira majored in film and music

PLAY! was founded in 2021. Were there other name ideas? 💡

Clare: To be very honest I can’t really remember how the name even came about! It was anyhowplayplay at first, but we shortened it to PLAY! So that it’s easier to call it out. People generally find the name quite funny, and it’s associated with the way we say “Eh, don’t anyhow play play ah”.

Moira: Yeah we just kept joking around that our jobs were about playing around and it’s funny that kids are taught not to anyhow play play then it just kinda stuck. We always see ourselves as adults just playing.

Four years later, is this the direction you imagined Play! would go? 📈 🤩

Clare: PLAY! Started as a covid passion project, but as we did more and more of these little activations in the beginning, we started to realise that there’s a real need for what we do - programming for kids and all ages with the premise of having fun, as well as creating site specific installations to activate spaces.

This isn’t specific to a type of company, but we realised that corporations, government bodies, small businesses are all looking for these kinds of activations to build communities. With that, we decided that perhaps it’s an area that we can really develop and contribute to, and hence we decided to continue PLAY! And build it to the company it is today.

Moira: It’s insane how PLAY! has grown - we never really set out with any goals in mind, we just kinda pursued projects that were meaningful to us. PLAY! Was set up to really just offer people a way to be children again and look at the world through the eyes of a child - something that we as adults don’t get to do in the every day.

What has been your most challenging moment and what has been the most fulfilling? 💪🏻👩🏻💪🏻

Clare: The most challenging was definitely figuring out our identity at the beginning. We were really uncertain about where it needed to go, how we should position ourselves, and I remember asking Moira - Are you really sure we want to continue this? If we do, we have to really go all in and commit. And the answer from both of us was YES, so that’s where we are today. 

Moira: Seeing how we are slowly growing a community, the interactions we’ve had with people who work with us / attend our programmes has been really lovely. Clare and I aren’t perfect, but we try to do what we can to the best of our abilities.

As co-founders, how do you decide who takes on which role for each project? 🧐📝

Clare: I usually handle most of the artistic direction and on ground work, focusing more on the design of spaces, graphics, and art installations. For day to day running of the business, I LOVE writing actionables, timelines, and keeping us organised so I usually handle that!

Moira: I usually do the programming, I love coming up with workshop ideas and overall creative vision - I come up with on average 3-5 new programmes/ workshops a week! I also handle the company admin like the financing side of things.