Front of House... what's that?

8 December 2017

This autumn Create Jobs ran two mini courses focusing on Front of House roles. 'Front of House'... what’s that? Well, this is just a catch-all term used in fancy-pants theatre land for all the customer facing or events support jobs and there are so many opportunities in this area. We’ve noticed that picking up a visitor services job in a museum, gallery or theatre is a great way to get a foot in the door, so we decided to run a course to show you how to score these fun jobs. Often these roles are part-time or casual hours which can suit someone with fingers in other creative pies!

In November, we ran a programme that included customer service training from the Barbican with Ben Skinner, Customer Experience Manager at the Barbican Centre. He led the group through some fresh ideas on how to offer good customer service. He showed how offering a great level of service is part of building the Barbican’s brand. He described how being a welcoming and friendly team member helps the Barbican Centre offer a programme that is open and accessible to all.

We also took the group to meet Bec Martin who is a Producer at the Arcola Theatre. She toured us all around the building and introduced us to a range of theatre professionals who told us their routes into the sector. Bec had loads of great advice and was enthusiastic about how a front of house job can be a gateway to a fabulous performing arts career.

Many people who attended the course were interested in getting into events. We offered them all two days’ work experience on our fantastic NME #Lifehacks event. The group were really thrown in at the deep end and helped out dressing the venue, welcoming guests, supporting security staff and assisting as artist liaison. They could apply all the training they’d been given right away.

We originally ran the programme back in October when we also included trips to Somerset House and Tate Britain and introductions to recruiters at large scale sports venues.

If you’re interested in getting a visitor facing or front of house job, please get in touch and we can help you look for work in this area.

E: createjobs@anewdirection.org.uk
T: 02076082132