Programme & Marketing Assistant, DCMS Bursary Post Holder

Kate Jackson

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0121 689 1092

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kate.jackson@dancexchange.org.uk

I have been involved in the arts in one way or another from an early age. My first work experience was with community arts organisation, Jubilee Arts where I worked with Project Manager, Graham Peet and Photographer Cath Tarbuck. This opened my eyes to the possibilities…

From that experience I took an avid interest in the arts and went on to volunteer further for Jubilee, working on education projects within the community. As a teenager I was a volunteer for Fierce. With Fierce I worked on Weekend Break which featured artists such as Desperate Optimists, Richard Layzell, Joshua Sofia and Blast Theory. I was project assistant for Town Hall Project, as part of Fierce Festval 2005 with Desperate Optimists.

Upon leaving High School I volunteered at Mesty Croft Primary School working with Nursery and KS1 children assisting with arts projects relating to the curriculum. I then completed a Foundation in Art and Design at Birmingham City University and continued on to do a BA in Visual Communication. Visual Communication gave me a broad spectrum and understanding of the arts, as I got to experience working with a variety of media. During my time at University I worked in Manchester as a Visitor Service Assistant at Whitworth Art Gallery. This included working with the education team assisting on family workshops. I also worked on a freelance basis for the learning team and the exhibitions manager at The Public, assisting with exhibitions, administration and running workshops.

I graduated in June last year (2010) with First Class Honours. I then worked on a freelance basis running a variety of photography workshops at The Public, where I went on to begin an Internship working with the Exhibitions Manager and the Learning Team. During this time I got the opportunity to work with Martin Parr, documentary photographer, on his project 'The Black Country'.

My love of dance came about because of my Final Major Project at University. During my Second Year I had been getting more and more interested in working with people and the community and moving away from other types of Documentary work. From researching a broad range of photographers that focused on people and communities in their work,  I began to notice was that almost always dance would feature in the work. No matter where in the world, what age, gender or ability, there would be people dancing. For me this was an interesting topic, something that is an intrinsic part of life: dance. Whether we dance ourselves or prefer to watch it is a form of expression that is open to all. I feel that all different kinds of people and communities can be engaged through the medium of dance. I began to explore this notion, and working with a variety of groups in the West Midlands began to photograph them. Using images combined with comments from the people themselves, my project's aim was to celebrate the diversity in dance and to give an insight into the essence of the dance, the sense of occasion and the people who participate.

When I saw the advertisement for the role of Programme and Marketing Assistant here at DanceXchange as part of the Jerwood Bursary Scheme I was extremely excited and applied straight away. Working in a field I am passionate about is more than I could have hoped for so soon out of University. I get to watch dance as part of my job, what could be better than that.