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How did you get that job?
Name Kate Park Job title Project Director
Company The Audience Business When did you start your job? July 2009
So what does your job actually involve? I’m the lead on the Edinburgh Portal Pilot Project – a City wide online audience development initiative. It’s a collaborative project involving 35 cultural organisations including our national companies, festivals, venues and touring companies. A key aim of the project is to increase public engagement with all of the fantastically rich and diverse artistic programming happening in the city 365 days a year, as well as striving to improve the behind the scenes technical infrastructures that support the work. At the very core of the project is clicket.co.uk – a site providing event listings, real time ticketing and personalised content all in one place – making Edinburgh’s cultural offering easier to navigate for both residents and visitors. Sounds simple enough but it’s the first project of its kind to combine those three elements, and Edinburgh is one busy cultural city so it’s a mammoth (but rewarding) task. Best / Worst Aspects? Well, it’s not a role for the faint hearted. No two
days are the same, particularly when dealing with so many collaborators – I’m constantly flexing my organisational and negotiating muscles, which keeps me on my toes. I think of the project as a giant jigsaw: some days you slot a lot of pieces together, some days less so. The fun is in the journey. Looking back, what advice would you give to a young Kate at the start of her career? Take every opportunity, no matter how big or small, as you never know what you will learn and where it will lead. There’s always something new to learn and someone more experienced to learn from. Two practical things which have stood me in good stead: 1) If you make a mistake, it’s ok, everyone does, just don’t hide it! 2) Ask the questions no-one else is brave enough to ask – that’s how you learn, and 99% of the time your colleagues will thank you for it.
And finally . . . what are you most looking forward to in 2011? As I‘m always so busy in the summer, it’s my usual wish to browse a theatre brochure and discover that a Festival gem I missed out on has been programmed into an Autumn/Winter season and is coming back for round two . . .
22 Sep–20 Oct 2011 THE LIST 117