The Full Team
I can’t believe I’ve entered the fifth month of my internship; I’ve only got six weeks left! These past few months have flown by and I’ve learnt so much in such a short space of time. I feel so lucky to have had such a unique introduction into Birmingham’s art sector by working with a literature development agency – who also programme Birmingham Literature Festival, a children’s book festival – who have just opened Birmingham’s newest independent bookshop: The Bookshop On The Green, and an independent publisher based in the Jewellery Quarter.
Going into this internship, I expected to have a variety of responsibilities and experiences due to the purposes of each organisation – and this expectation has definitely been met. After my unconventional start to this internship with the running of Birmingham Literature Festival, the dust began to settle, and I was introduced to the various projects of each organisation I would be working for and which of them I would be involved in.
My role focuses on marketing, PR and communications, which covers such a variety of things when working for relatively small arts organisations. Over the course of the past few months, much of my responsibility has been dedicated to developing social media strategy, maintaining social media presence across each organisation, spanning across multiple accounts for each, newsletters and blog posts, press release development and more. Regular and consistent social media output is essential for these small organisations as to promote book launches, short courses and workshops, bookshop openings and upcoming events. Festivals necessitates active engagement with target audiences to ensure they remain informed and interested in the activities of the organisation.
Outside of social media, my internship has involved integral aspects of arts administration which has allowed me to develop an understanding of how these organisations are able to function – with ACE funding applications, patrons, public support, various board committees, etc. Having grasped this and realising the impact of each and every role in these small organisations, I was particularly eager to take on some event coordination and management responsibilities. As a result, I was able to organise the Poets in Libraries Tour, a series of library visits in which poets from Nine Arches Press would meet with reading groups to discuss their work and inspire the groups to delve into an often-daunting medium by breaking down its exclusive reputation. These visits have been so well received by groups which were originally averse to poetry and more have been requested!
In the name of accessible literature, I was so pleased to be able to organise Spake: In Conversation with Roy McFarlane, Lisa Blower and Urszula Clark, an event centred around Spake: Dialect and Voices from the West Midlands to highlight prejudices against the West Midlands accent and regional dialect, particularly in literature. Held at Waterstones Birmingham, we were joined by local writers and linguists for the sell-out event to discuss the coining of the term “accentism”, share experiences of preconceptions associated with having a strong regional accent, and examine what the future of writing in dialect might look like.
At the Spake event!
So, this has been a whistle-stop tour of my time on the Cultural Intern scheme, one that doesn’t quite do it justice. As for my last few weeks, I look forward to rounding off this incredible experience with an upcoming children’s book festival, a book launch, aiding with pamphlet submissions and more of my day-to-day interaction with these organisations and their audiences, and to learn as much as I can in the time I have left.
Outside the Custard Factory in the lovely Digbeth
Cultural Intern Scheme @ uob 