On the other side of the table

Preston Street Union with Lucia Harley at Exeter Culture Launch - September 2018

I've just completed a two-month interim role as a Programme Delivery Consultant for Exeter Culture, an ACE-funded network of organisations that works to improve the resilience and ambition of the arts and cultural sector in my home city. Job sharing with fellow artist Paula Crutchlow, I helped to fill the gap between the departure of one director and the appointment of a new one. My particular focus was on producing day-to-day content for the organisation's website and social media.

I developed more practice- and practitioner-focused content for the website, advocated for a higher level of user-generated content and dialogue, revamped a volunteering guide, contributed to an ongoing discussion about artists' workspace, and co-authored a handover report for the organisation, which included recommendations on the future use of web and social media in achieving organisational goals.

As I usually earn my (non art) living as a writer for hire on short-term ad hoc communications projects for commercial businesses, this was an opportunity for me to work over a longer period with one organisation, doing something I feel personally invested in. But, more than that, it was a rare glimpse at what it's like to sit on the other side of the desk, as a stakeholder manager, a commissioner, an organiser, a strategist and an advocate. It was a steep learning curve and a privileged insight.

I'm also really chuffed that the role was opened up to two artists, even if only for a short period. We both have extensive project management experience but we are hardly your average arts administrators. You can't make much difference in just two months on part-time hours but I hope that, by championing the practitioner perspective, we might have left some sort of useful legacy.

www.exeterculture.com