ArtsProfessional reveals the career paths of the sector?s senior managers.
Chief Executive, Joined Up North (1996 to present)
I have accumulated a portfolio of projects in the North East, including running Brinkburn Music Festival for 13 years. It is still an absolute pleasure to work in such an extraordinary building and watch the looks on the faces of the artists who have never appeared there before, when they discover the acoustic and the tranquility. I am also the Culture and Tourism Sector Executive for the Northumberland Strategic Partnership which means I handle a capital development portfolio, have detailed knowledge of Local Area Agreements, create cultural strategies and action plans, and work with a huge range of people. London has its benefits, but working in the North East and living in Northumberland is as good as it gets.
Special Projects Co-ordinator, London Records (1994–1996)
I moved from London to Northumberland and commuted weekly to an office in Hammersmith – and learnt that the record business is about legal and financial management, and a bit about music. I was always known as Matron as I was so much older than the other girls who worked there. I used to retune the radios on the A&R floor to Radio 2 and see how long it would take them to notice. Five tracks was the record.
Programme Co-ordinator, ‘Highway’ (1993)
Working with Sir Harry Secombe was a real pleasure as he was such a genuinely good person. My job evolved into helping a lot of the viewers plan their funerals by giving them advice on readings and hymns.
Editor, Rowntree Mackintosh (1992)
Another fantastic opportunity to do a job that I had no real qualifications for (a Drama Degree is so useful). I had an edit suite on Dean Street and I researched, edited and created broadcast-quality showreels of all Rowntree’s commercials. This was part of their effort to keep their own corporate identity in the face of the Nestlé purchase. I learnt that silver nitrate film stock is extremely combustible, and none of the Soho film companies will have it on their premises. I also now have a VHS record of fashion, design, music and confectionary purchase patterns from the 1920s onwards, which makes for interesting viewing at dinner parties.
Freelance portfolio (1985–1991)
This is CV-speak for doing lots of little jobs, some of which didn’t work out and some of which didn’t pay. I had a great time working on ‘Children of Eden’ which opened at the Prince Edward Theatre the night that the first Iraq war started. Working as production executive on a West End show in a very small team was a fantastic experience. Things I learnt then, I still use every day. I did lots of casting, which is such valuable experience for all my later partnership and relationship working. I was very touched when the accountants acting as liquidators of the production company, Upstart Theatre Company, offered me a job, as they said I had very “transferable skills”.
Student, Hull University Drama Department (1982–1985)
I know this wasn’t a job, but it gave me my first insight into what a job in theatre might look like. When Ben Watt (now better known as half of Everything But The Girl) hired me as an Assistant Stage Manager for his lunchtime production, he asked me to sweep the stage. I laughed and said yeh, right, because I thought it was a cliché: he quickly put me right. That was a useful lesson.