Graduating feels a bit surreal: one day, you are a freshman, barely knowing anyone on campus and learning the basics of, in my case, events management, and another day, on a random Friday, you submit your last assignment.
The beauty of the BA (Hons) Events Management course at AUB is the variety of practical, hands-on experiences in managing events. One of the many events we organised during the first year was a series of events on the second day of an Alice in Spring festival. We turned our BH2 Leisure location into a fun and interactive "utopia", targeted to families and young visitors of Bournemouth.
During the second year, we were allowed to work with an even more established client, Russell Cotes Museum & Art Gallery. Our team had to come up with an event, celebrating Valentine's Day, love of any kind and the history of the museum. The "love letter" theme allowed us to create an unforgettable experience of dance performances amongst Victorian art pieces created in collaboration with AUB BA (Hons) Dance students; BA (Hons) Fine Art students’ exhibitions commissioned to respond to the event’s theme; a love letter writing workshop hosted by BA (Hons) Creative Writing students; lectures, a vintage photo booth and signature cocktails. The event attracted a younger audience to the gallery and transformed the place, providing a new experience to regular visitors.
After work experience in a London-based marketing and events company at the end of the second year, I felt much more equipped to take on the bigger responsibility of managing a major event at the end of the final year. Luckily, my event pitch was chosen to be set in one of the three locations for the Alice in Spring 2024 festival.
Our team of four people, including me, started working on the event, developing further my idea of celebrating multicultural communities through dance and music performances and creative workshops. Many elements changed, including the name, performance programme, workshops, and visual design, but the grain of the event remained. Patterns of The World was a bright experience, reprising cultural minorities in Bournemouth.
Our event attracted over 1,500 visitors. We managed to officially collaborate with two communities and engage with five on the event day. Local music performers playing Eastern European tunes, Caribbean rhythms and Latin music entertained people of various cultural backgrounds in the heart of Bournemouth. The carnival procession to Bournemouth Square caught everyone’s attention, encouraging people to join in and vibe along. It was amazing to work with a true professional in the carnival arts field — the Mahogany Carnival Design company, which creates costumes for the Notting Hill Carnival and the Olympics. To help prepare for the procession, we worked with BA (Hons) Make-up for Media and Performance students, who created the most memorable looks to match vibrant costumes.
The workshop area – at the same location as where we held our event in the first year, BH2 Leisure – allowed everyone to participate in activities, which represent different traditions from around the world: origami, block printing, etc. These activities were led by AUB students from various courses.
As an artist liaison and community engagement lead, I can now say how difficult it is to work with external partners, coordinating everyone’s needs, meeting their requirements and finding people, on whom you can rely. There were many obstructions on the way to delivering the event, but our team handled it brilliantly, as every member was responsible for their part in this multi-layered event. Teamwork, good communication and respect are the key ingredients to a successful project, that’s for sure!
