Updates
Initial feelings of a new Coordinator
This is my second week as iShed Coordinator, a position made possible by Jerwood, DCMS, Arts Council England and iShed. The bursary scheme is currently being trialed, so I want to record my experiences to inform the development of the scheme. As an English Literature graduate I had struggled to find a way into the kind of job I was qualified for. Through a combination of stop-gap work (to pay the bills) and essential voluntary work (for office/events/marketing experience), I learnt a lot about the working world, but still couldn’t get a leg-up. Through various graduate schemes I have gained short-term placements within organisations, and have now found this longer-term position.
I started on Monday 1 November, and have been quickly getting a grasp on Watershed, and its many off-shoots. There have been so many new faces and names, it felt like I would never remember them all, but things are starting to fall into place. Watershed, iShed, DShed, The Pervasive Media Studio, Media Sandbox, Theatre Sandbox: all these organisations, entities and schemes go hand in hand. It’s so exciting to jump from one to the next, learning about new, brilliant and baffling things, as I begin varied tasks.
iShed is based at the Pervasive Media Studio, which is a brilliant space to work in. I've had an active interest in community for many years, and here I've found a place that embodies the hopes I had. The open-plan, open-ideas attitude is highly innovative and highly inspiring. Although at first I found it intimidating (everyone can hear me when I make a phone call or have an IT crisis…) I have observed some really exciting things, even in the short time I've spent here. Meetings mostly happen within the office space, and more often than not, someone working will over-hear a query or discussion and offer their knowledge, contacts or experience in the area. Things are shared; innovations are allowed, encouraged and pushed into being more innovative.
Depending on my workload I will blog monthly updates, and you can also follow my interactions with Media Sandbox here.