Hippfest - Main Skills I Gained/Developed!

Time Management

Taking Initiative

Being Flexible

Networking and Socialising

Thinking Creatively

Problem Solving

This is an area I feel that I really managed to improve on throughout my time at Hippfest - Staying at the hotel in Bo'ness itself was really helpful for this. During my undergraduate degree and graduation I was really apprehensive around the prospect of networking and putting myself out there in the creative industries. Then, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and lockdown restrictions I didn't have many opportunities to practice this and develop these skills.

Developing more confidence in myself

I developed these skills across both formal and informal settings.

Formal: Meeting and greeting guest performers and speakers - helping to look after them throughout their stay by accompanying them to different venues, getting them tea/coffee/food, organising and then providing them with their personalised guest schedule, pass and gift bag. Greeting and mingling with guests at the various events, welcoming them to the festival, giving advice, running the festival hub Being a point of contact for volunteers - welcoming them to the festival hub at the beginning of their shift. Speaking with guests/volunteers post screenings/events to encourage them to be part of the festival's press coverage and media content, and leasing with local business owners for their contribution to the festival/being part of content (whilst this was not necessarily a specific requirement, the less formal situations that I networked and socialised within really helped to build relationships and trust with many of these elements, making it easier to encourage people to be comfortable when contributing to the festival's online content and press)

This is an element of networking/socialising that I had not previously considered would be an outcome, and it is a piece of knowledge and experience I will as a result be carrying on to future opportunities

Informal: Getting to know the different members of the festival team I was working with - this allowed me to ask for their advice regarding different opportunities and methods of advancing my career and skillset, as well as, providing me the opportunity to make an impression and gain new opportunities to work with them again in the future. Meeting with guests and audience members at the hotel during breakfast and drinks after the festival allowed me to learn much about the industry and specifically the silent film festival circuit from those who are currently the main drivers of it; it allowed me to make connections and get to know people, again providing multiple opportunities for my own career advancement - most notably that of a reccommendation that I apply for the Collegium Programme at the Italian Silent Film Festival, Pordenoe

I have come away from Hippfest far more confident in my ability to network and socialise as part of my career progression than I ever was going into it. And it has helped me to learn that it is important (for me at least) to approach it as a skill which needs to be maintained in practice to allow that confidence to remain steady throughout various future opportunities.

The fact that the work experience opportunity has helped me to develop more confidence in my abilities is something I am extremely proud of and grateful for.

I feel that this is arguably one of the most important skills that I have developed through my time at Hippfest as it has allowed me to feel more confident in envisaging and actively seeking out future opportunities to continue developing my skillset and career within Film Curation and the exhibition sector.

Without this boost of confidence and self-reassurance, I know in myself that I would struggle with the stresses and hurdles which will inevitably arise from pursuing future opportunities within the film exhibition sector, and without that the other skills which I have developed throughout my work placement would not be as impactful as they could be.

One of the major things I learned throughout my time at Hippfest is that I personally need to get out of my own head when it comes to creative thinking and developing ideas - especially in regard to creating content and ideas for festival coverage/design.

This was mainly in regards to helping the digital communications coordinator create online content for the platform Hipptok (via tiktok). Despite the fact that it was a soft-launched initiative, and therefore low pressure, I felt particularly self conscious and nervous about trying to gather videos and images we could use. I also found that my perfectionist tendencies to try and get it perfect on first tries got in my own way.

Nevertheless, I do enjoy the process of researching and then creating different content for online platforms - especially for Hippfest, as it was such a unique festival to be a part of and the community spirit that is a main component of the festival created an environment that I wanted to help share - As such, as the festival went on I learned that building the confidence to just continuously practice creative thinking in my approach to content, removing some of the pressure around whether it would work or not, really helped me to begin gathering some better content. Or being a part of designing and brainstorming ideas, even if I was personally not always able to complete them entirely myself.

I intend to really capitalise on this experience, and take away the importance of continuously practicing creativity and letting go of perfectionist tendencies (within reason of course, It is still important that things are carried out to a high standard within the realms of a job) so that when I the opportunity presents itself again for me to help contribute creative content to an event I will hopefully be able to do so more comfortably and easily.

In order to achieve this I have set myself some informal aims: To spend more time brainstorming creative ideas, to make videos and content for my own social media which I enjoy with minimal pressure, to ensure that I am taking the time to regularly attend and engage with creative events in order to experience and see what others are doing - My aim in doing all of these is to hopefully help myself gain better confidence in my own creative abilities and how I am able to utilise them within my career development.

This is something that creative thinking has helped me to work on as well; being able to come up with creative solutions to obstacles which arose throughout the festival. This was also aided by my development in confidence where I could put my ideas forwards...

Offering to help, and offer ideas of what I could do to help other members of the festival team.

Fixing the leak in the sink at the festival hub.

Using my personal contacts through brass bands to get a set of music stands to the festival, and at no cost, when the original plan for their stands fell through.

Taking over some of the responsibilities of the production coordinator when she was held up in arriving at the festival one morning, and then throughout the festival so that her workload was more manageable for her.

I looked into the idea whilst working on other priorities and then checked in with the festival team to ensure the plan was suitable for them before giving it the go-ahead.

Organising musician, guest and audience requests which were smaller and didn't necessarily require the attention of other members of the festival team which would have distracted from their more pressing responsibilities/priorities.

These two really go hand-in-hand, and I have both learned that I already poses these qualities - my work at Hippfest has helped me to gain more confidence in and develop them.

Pre-festival my time-management was good; I was on-top of setting up meetings, meeting any deadlines agreed upon by myself, John and Ali, and keeping those who I needed to up-to-date regarding my progress on the different projects.

I was proactive in looking at and communicating my other university commitments to John and Ali when organising the deadlines for any of my set tasks, this ensured I was able to manage my responsibilities to both the Hippfest Placement and the other courses I am taking this semester.

I kept track of my working hours leading up to the festival to ensure I was spreading my time across tasks efficiently.

During the festival it was a bit different: whilst nothing went wrong or didn't work, I did identify some areas where better time management could have helped to improve the spread of my workload and allowed certain things to run more efficiently.

This is perhaps the main quality that I developed throughout the festival - this is the first festival I have worked in as part of the organising team, and I had not realised quite how much they run on an element of organised chaos.

Predominantly when it comes to prioritising and finding shortcuts surrounding different tasks.

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This is something that as a self-confessed planner, I had always been apprehensive about when it came to a festival role. However, I absolutely loved it!