On Monday morning, I was met by Anne, who gave me a full tour of the building, where I was shown the ins and outs of how everything in the building functions and where everyone works.
I helped with organising and packing away some stage kit with tech crew, as well as sitting in on a casual meeting about matters from over the weekend as well as some other things.
I was able to sit in on a board meeting where we talked about the current events and showings around the building, as well as planning and talking about ideas for some upcoming projects. I learnt about the profits and loss the building makes, and we talked about what changes were being made, as well as many other current matters arising.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I helped front-of-house staff with setting up in the morning and I got to learn what goes into a customer service role at the front desk as well as working in the cafe. I went from helping set up in the cafe kitchen, being shown where to refill ice from, putting away milk and food orders that had come in that morning, to helping customers at the front desk, monitoring the doors for the cinema as people came in, and then going back to the cafe where I was washing dishes and clearing tables.
I also helped put away some more food deliveries later that day, stacking things safely in the fridge in the food store.
At the end of the day, I helped set up the green room for a Life Drawing Art Session going on later that night, me and another member of front-of-house staff organised tables and chairs and put up a notice for the event.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, I got to go around with a few members of staff and look at the maintenance of the emergency lights and fan systems around the building, seeing what work may need to be done and finding out more about the upkeep and cost of these things.
After sitting in on a meeting where we looked at various plans for the building that showed where the heating systems all were, I went back to helping with more front-of-house work, including learning how to make and serve an iced coffee and use the cafe equipment, as well as serving customers at the till.
I also helped take out several boxes for recycling to the bins outside, clear up some mess and buckets of glass bottles in the back that had gathered over the folk festival weekend and organise bulk packages of milk onto shelves in the food store.
Thursday
On Thursday, I spent my day with the marketing team, getting to know all of their roles, and learn how to do some of their tasks. In the morning, I was first shown how all the poster orders come in, what kinds of posters there are and where they are all stored. After this I was shown the outline for the beginning of a new installation, that I then got to help format and organise into a digital file.
After this, we had a meeting about Shetland Arts’ full design rebrand, to discuss the options for logo designs, slogans and the details on promotional material. We all gave our thoughts and opinions about which designs we preferred and what worked best based on the mission statement and the idea we were trying to promote.
I continued doing some more computer work later on, using a document to upload the May 2025 Film Socials, which included all the film listings through May and the descriptions of the films and how long they were all running for.
I then sat in on another marketing meeting where we first discussed what films were yet to be confirmed for screenings in the cinema, and which ones were still needing responses on whether they were able to be shown or not. After this we talked about an upcoming project in July and how we might stage and execute it, as well as figuring out who needed to be talked to for certain things involved.
At the end of the day, I have been writing about my experience throughout this week in this blog piece.
Friday
On Friday morning, I will be helping with more tech work, then later in the day, I will be going to see the current construction on Bonhoga, where they are refurbishing the building. We will be seeing the changes they are making and taking photos of the construction as it goes along.
