Having said that I would be writing lots more about my Functions work once I started working in the department, I didn’t appreciate quite how busy I would actually be!
Before the festival started, I spent a week with Sarah and Trish preparing for the three weeks of Fringe events in The Old Courtroom. This included imputing all the event and staff information into the booking system and creating fact sheets for the staff as well as cleaning and arranging the venue. The Old Courtroom is a lovely space, however because it is used so rarely we had to spend a lot of time anticipating the needs of the venue and the problems our customers may have. It is also the first time the venue had been used as a theatre, which created a lot of problems in itself! Tony, the venue manager who hired the venue from the Functions team, brought in stage lighting and a set of flats which completely transformed the venue from a lecture theatre into a fully formed performance space.
Throughout the festival, I took the role of house manager. I spent every day at the Courtroom, either opening up in the morning and spending the day there, or taking over in the afternoon, spending the evening there and locking up at the end of the performances. During my shifts, I was responsible for making the venue presentable before we opened to the public and at the end of the day, which involved cleaning the public spaces, setting up the equipment for the caterer, organising the signage and generally arranging the space. Once there were visitors in the building, I helped sell tickets and refreshments, organised queues and ushered the audience into the auditorium. I also had to help solve problems between customers and between the performers, which was interesting at times!
Overall, the month flew by! I could never have imagined how tiring it could be, but between working at the Courtroom and on a Fringe show at another venue, I didn’t have a moment to myself the whole month! I really enjoyed it all though and met some great people and been given some amazing opportunities.
I am now working in the Fundraising department which is hectic but really interesting. I have spent a lot of time filling envelopes in the past three weeks, but its all part of it! At the moment, I’m researching the different areas of Brighton and Hove and deciding which parts would be best to target with leaflets and promotion to gain more members for the Royal Pavilion and Museums Foundation charity. I have also set up Facebook and Twitter accounts for the RP&M Foundation and been present at meetings with companies outside of the council which I’ve never experienced before.
After I get back from Glastonbury (one of the aforementioned opportunities which Sarah and I could not turn down!), I’ll continue working with the Fundraising team until the middle of July. I will also be helping at the charity’s AGM at the end of the month which will be interesting.
I am sure I’ll be able to fill you in with more detail when I return from my holiday time and can get stuck into the projects properly.
Cassie
