Intern Diaries: Bethan

I can hardly believe it has been almost three months since I joined the team as Marketing and Box Office Intern. It feels like yesterday I was walking into the office a bit nervous and wobbly-kneed to have my office induction with Office Manager Helen. Now I feel like a fully-fledged member of the team! With all the Summer Festival action over for another year and the office in reflecting mood after evaluating all the festival activity, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on what I’ve been up to, and share a few random highlights…

Now that I try to write up everything I have done during my time as intern I realise I have actually been up to rather a lot! Writing copy for e-bulletins, designing programme books and e-flyers, working on reciprocal marketing relationships, distributing publicity, liaising with press and securing listings (in national papers!), updating the website and one of my favourite tasks, ordering 500 florescent Spitalfields Music branded balloons. A couple of these incidentally managed to cross the channel and end up on a beach in Holland!

Rather excitingly in the past week I have seen the brochure for the upcoming Winter Festival begin to take shape.  I’m afraid I can’t tell you any more though (other than it looks great of course) – you’ll have to wait and see!

The proximity of my desk to the biscuit supply is probably a good reason as to why many of my non-musical highlights of the internship are edible ones! I’m thinking in particular of fellow intern Alex’s moreish ‘blondies’ or cinnamon brownies and the afternoon milkshake rounds…

So at this stage after completing three months of the internship, I should be wrapping up with a final blog post before packing away my post-it notes and bidding goodbye to the rest of the team. However, the good news is my post-it notes and I will be sticking around for another month to man the fort with Michael whilst Rebecca is away on holiday. So there’ll be plenty more highlights to come for sure!

Click here for more info on our vacancy for the next Marketing and Box Office Intern

Bethan White
Marketing & Box Office Intern

Intern Diaries: I guess it’s time to say goodbye

So here we are, at the point which five months ago looked so far away but has arrived more quickly than a speeding kangaroo. (Happy Australia Day!)

My final few weeks at Spitalfields Music has seen the wrapping up of the brilliant 2010 Winter Festival, with some truly amazing performances of Monteverdi’s madrigals. Since then, the office has become very reflective, evaluating all our activity since June. It got me thinking about all the things I’ve had to do while being an intern (which as it happens, was a lot!). Writing press releases, designing e-flyers, managing leafleters, formatting programme book text, learning how to use Twitter, lots of social networking, writing blog posts, engaging local press, distributing publicity, market researching, time on Facebook, creating Spotify playlists, website management, recording a webcast, planning sessions with big felt-tip pens, and engaging with all parts of Spitalfields Music’s programme. I guess I’ve been pretty busy!

It’s very sad to be leaving a team that is as brilliant and fun as Spitalfields Music’s. I’d like to thank everyone for the opportunities, advice, and laughs I’ve had since I sat down in that first team meeting, unsure of what exactly was going on!

Michael Duffy
Marketing & Communications Intern (Sept 2010 – Jan 2011)

Streetwise Opera Workshop

There are many things to look forward to at the end of a working week; spending time with your friends, going home and putting your feet up and most importantly, knowing you don’t have to wake-up to an alarm in the morning. This Friday evening was different though, this Friday three quarters of “Team Comms” were heading out on a mission to find out more about Streetwise Opera!

The guys and girls at Streetwise had been kind enough to invite Rebecca (blog expert), Michael (marketeer extraordinaire) & I, to observe one of their workshops so we could truly get to grips with what they were achieving- an opportunity not many people get. I had no idea what to expect when I walked into the room, the three of us huddled together like it was our first day at school, but it didn’t take very long for every single person around us to say hi.

As we took our seats in a giant circle and began warming up, it became hugely apparent that we were not just observing. That’s ok; we can do this, one problem… I can’t sing! Streetwise isn’t just about singing; it’s about allowing people the opportunity to be creative, to express themselves and we all rose to the challenge. By the end, I was shaking limbs like nobody was watching as the confidence and energy displayed by everyone in the group was contagious.

“This Friday evening was different though, this Friday three quarters of “Team Comms” were heading out on a mission to find out more about Streetwise Opera!”

The demonstration of creativity in this particular workshop also involved the use of miming with a plastic hoop. After thinking long and hard as to what I would perform, I knew what I was going to do if I was picked. It was a classic, unbeatable- I was convinced that nobody would have this idea. When the group leader looked in our direction, after one gentleman had finished miming ‘bomb disposal expert’, it was obvious that my hula-hoop idea should be saved for another day! The enthusiasm in the room was incredible. Even the quietest people in the room suddenly sprang to life when we started singing, including our very own Michael, who is clearly an undiscovered talent!

I could let you know more about what we were singing, but instead, I suggest you all come to see Fables- A Film Opera on the 17 December as part of the Winter Festival and discover exactly what we were up to. I promise you, it will not disappoint.

Danielle Sutcliffe
Box Office Assistant

Fables – A Film Opera
Friday 17 December 2010
5.00pm, 7.00pm & 9.00pm
Shoreditch Church (St Leonard’s)
Tickets £15 (£10 restricted view)

For more information and to book visit www.spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk

Intern Diaries: My first two weeks…

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I was coming up the narrow staircase to the Spitalfields Music office. The tube strike had meant that I’d been given an extra hour off work, a luxury I was more than willing to take! I walked in to gatecrash the Team Meeting, joined the circle, and sat there wondering what exactly an ‘IWIK’ was…

Of course, I quickly realised that Spitalfields Music was going to be an exciting and interesting place to work. First on the agenda was getting to know the programme for the Winter Festival, which was done, with colourful festival brochure in hand, by lots of event-creating across the various social networking sites we use. This also meant learning how to use some of them. I’m no technophobe, but Twitter and I have a long way to go to being best buds.

Next came a quick tour of Christ Church, our core venue, its impressive baroque outside was more than matched by the stunning and acoustically generous inside. My whistle-stop induction complete, I quickly knuckled down to work with a lot of proof-reading, and time spent on Facebook and Twitter – work-related, honest!

“I walked in to gatecrash the Team Meeting, joined the circle, and sat there wondering what exactly an ‘IWIK’ was…”

Week 1 went by in a flash, and I was getting more to grips with the way things work at Spitalfields Music. Week 2 was no less speedy. More colourful Winter Festival brochures and computer programmes to get my head round. Rebecca and I were sent to a marketing seminar at Allen & Overy with some high-flying execs from Deutsche Bank, Hammersons PLC and A&O. Aside from receiving some great advice from the panellists we realised how much we preferred our small, quirky office, to the gigantic building we were in!

The first two weeks have been a lot of fun and gone by incredibly quickly. There’s lots more to do as the festival draws near, and tonight we’re heading off to see a Streetwise Opera workshop for Fables – A Film Opera!

Michael Duffy
Marketing & Communications Intern