Phil Thomas
I worked with Phil Thomas in my first job in the arts; he was the animateur (as community musicians were then called) for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in the new Education, Outreach and Special Projects department. He had an absolute commitment to inclusion and reaching out to many people who had never tried music before. His breadth of knowledge, passion and ability to draw people out and have fun was inspirational. It was because of him that I started to look at our audiences and wonder where everyone else was, and why they didn’t feel they could come into the Philharmonic.
Viv Moore
Viv Moore was part of the old Touring Department of Arts Council Great Britain (ACGB) in the days when Jack Phipps was director and Jodi Myers one of the senior officers, and I was her assistant. We all have Viv to thank for the research upon which so much recent work has been built, as well as other important projects such as the audience development agency network. I have to thank Viv for allowing me so much freedom, taking so much time to explain the funding system and letting me help her with the embryonic projects that we would recognise as audience development today.
Keith Cooper
Keith Cooper (some might find him a controversial choice) took a chance on me in the last few months he was at ENO: marketing Contemporary Music Network tours from the safety of ACGB was a million miles from selling 2,500 opera tickets a night during a recession. My job responsibilities included ‘audience development’ at a time when it was an emerging area of work, as well as working with the education team. This was when I discovered that I really preferred audience development to plain marketing, and in particular, working with groups who had limited, if any, access to what is an amazing artform and good night out at the theatre. I am eternally grateful to Keith for this detail in my job description.
Paul Kaynes
Paul Kaynes, Head of Marketing at Warwick Arts Centre, was one of my hosts when I was the recipient of an Arts Council Bursary in touring marketing. He is a great manager, who knows how to support and guide someone, in a way that brings out the best, and yet still creative and intuitive. He helped me understand what I had a talent for and what I should work on to improve.
Mel Larsen
I was lucky enough to work with Mel Larsen on one of my first consulting jobs. I was still working out the differences between being employed and the role/function of a freelance consultant. Mel very wisely said to me that we are paid for the quality of our thinking and that is what clients value. I have followed this advice ever since.
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