A Day in the Life of (1)

We thought it might be nice for our audience to know a bit more about the running of Southern Sinfonia.  So, we've opened a new area on the website called 'A Day in the Life of', where we'll post the typical day-to-day activities of a different member of the team every month. The first one is Eileen Forsey, our Marketing Co-ordinator: 


10am Part of my role is to co-ordinate Southern Sinfonia’s marketing activities, so my day always begins with the update of our Facebook, Twitter and Flickr pages, as well as our News feed. Related to this is the Southern Sinfonia website, which I am also responsible for. The website is essential for communicating with our audience and Friends, so I ensure it is as up-to-date, interesting and visually-stimulating as possible, in order that regular visitors don’t get bored with the same information and images.

11am I also do a lot of work with our Concert Operations Manager Louisa Portal. As part of this, Louisa and I send out the music for all of our concerts to our musicians, so that they can practise it before the rehearsal. We don’t ever send out the original music, as this has a horrible tendency of getting lost or misplaced, but instead use a file-sharing website called Dropbox. Dropbox is great because not only is it free, but it’s also far more eco-friendly than sending out photocopies of the music as we did in the past. So, once we have sorted the music into sections, I upload it all to Dropbox and then invite the orchestra to view and download it.

12.30pm I also have a lot of contact with the local media, especially Trist Lee Arts Editor of the Newbury Weekly News. As part of this I write all the press releases we send out to local newspapers, radio stations and magazines. Press releases can be difficult to write; so I always make sure that after I’ve written one I go off and do something else for a few hours and then come back to it with fresh eyes.

1.30pm While my press release is having a bit of a rest, I use the intervening period to email as many local magazines and publications as possible with information about our upcoming concerts. I’ve been trying to build up our relationships with these publications recently, as I think that communicating via local channels is really important.

2pm The orchestra often performs at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. It’s an amazing venue, but there is also quite a lot of behind-the-scenes admin that needs doing before the performance. Because it’s a royal residence, security is understandably tight. Therefore, it’s my job to ensure the whole orchestra provides any information the security team at the castle needs, e.g. passport photos, date-of-birth, country of origin, current address etc. This can take a while, and usually involves a number of pretty interesting photos, but it’s definitely worth it in the end.

3pm Now I can come back to my press release. If it looks and reads well, I’ll take it to our MD Kay Lawrence to sign off. If she likes it, then I can send it out. I make sure that the press releases are tailored to the interests of the media I am sending them to. So this might require a bit of tweaking or the addition of a few paragraphs depending on who I am contacting.

3.15pm Southern Sinfonia also has a blog, which I am responsible for and update as often as possible. The posts provide an insight into the day-to-day running and behind-the-scenes activities of the orchestra. Posts don’t take long to write and are great for keeping up the level of interaction with our audience between concerts and letting them see what it’s really like to run an orchestra.

4.00pm Home time!