The role of project manager

As RIG Arts is quite a small company with only a few core employees you kind of have to be a jack of all trades as you could be doing anything at any given moment. However each of us do have a specific skillset that lends itself to different roles, one of mine being Project Manager.

This year has been a good year for RIG; we have secured funding for a two year long regeneration project with Creative Scotland as well as a one year heritage project with the Big Lottery Fund and several other smaller funds like Climate Challenge Fund and Awards for All. All these projects mean one thing, ORGANISING.

Organising and managing these projects is crucial to the outcome, and that's where I come in.

In February and March I started a rough draft of a timetable for our Creative Scotland and Heritage projects as these were the longest and most ambitious. Each required several public workshops a week as well as in schools and with local groups. This required sourcing and hiring freelance staff, liaising with local schools and ultimately setting up a timetable where everything slotted in nicely.

Doing the timetables separately was good for the initial set up, it let me focus on one project at a time.

For the Creative Scotland project - 'Up The Broomy' - we had to hire several freelance staff including a songwriter, sculptor and artist who works with moving image. It was my responsibility to write a full page job description and advertise it - Facebook, Twitter, Creative Scotland online - then go through CVs and shortlist the best candidates for an interview.

Once the workshop leaders were hired I met with them to discuss what they would like to do, the best dates for them, what age groups they would like to work with and so on. Then I contacted local schools and spoke to head teachers to coordinate how this would fit in with them and if they had the space/time available. This required a lot shuffling times and reorganising but I managed to confirm all of the workshops.

Once each project was organised separately I had to produce a 'master timetable' to ensure nothing overlapped and so I knew what was happening and where at any one time. I produced a draft for this timetable this week and it was actually one of the most difficult parts - collating all information; times, tutors, venues etc. in one place.

There's still plenty of organising to go though, i'm always kept on my toes!