In Your Shoes - Dundee Heritage Trust

Monday

I’m Julie Cummings, I’m the Marketing Manager at Dundee Heritage Trust. This is a very busy time of year for our department, with lots of adverts and promotions running over the summer.  

My day started with collating images from our sold-out Rock the Dock event on Saturday. It was a fantastic evening, and a real joy to bring together some of the wonderful producers we have in Dundee & Tayside as part of the Dundee Food Festival. We’re already trying to organise our next music event! 

Then, I began bringing together our pitch for the Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce ‘Impact’ Award. We’re absolutely thrilled to be a finalist for this accolade, alongside the wonderful Dundee Science Centre and Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Limited. 

The rest of the day was mostly dedicated to team meetings to plan the week ahead and designing artwork for various adverts; whether promoting our museums to tourists, or sharing our travel trade offer to international buyers. 

At the end of the day, it was time to schedule social media for the week ahead and start creating bigger pieces of content for our blog and YouTube channel for the next 6 months, in line with what exhibitions and events we have planned.

Days always go very quickly, and are never the same! Between Discovery Point and Verdant Works Museum, there is always a fun task to be done. 

Tuesday

I’m Sophie Hinde, and as Heritage Manager I look after the Heritage and Education team and I work with Mel Ruth Oakley, our curator, to pull together the temporary exhibition programme and new displays.

What I love about my job is that each day is completely different, I can go from researching about whale conservation to learning about traditional ship building skills as the project on the ship progresses. I am currently focusing on a few big projects with impending deadlines so my day to day involves a lot of project management and research.

The first project is the arrival of the Hope Cross and the creating a fitting display for that. Today, I have been looking at the dimensions of the space we will be displaying the Cross in and ordering the backdrop for the display - an incredible early colour photograph of the cross taken by George Hubert Wilkins shortly after it was erected by the Quest crew in memory of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

The second is the capital project at Discovery Point which will rejuvenate the existing galleries and create two new gallery spaces to expand the stories we tell about the RRS Discovery and the early age of Antarctic exploration. I have been chatting to some project partners about content and research for these and working with Kim to create some public feedback sessions about the gallery designs.

I have also managed to squeeze in some time to research into Dundee’s role in the Whaling trade and how the Discovery Oceanographic Expedition in the 1920’s provided the crucial data to start conservation practices to protect the Antarctic whale populations.

Wednesday

My name’s Linda Allan, and I work part-time as Development Officer with Dundee Heritage Trust. Our small team is responsible for sourcing donations to enable the charity to deliver its vital education and conservation work.

I enjoy the flexibility of hybrid working, and Wednesday is my usual day for being in the office at Verdant Works. This morning, we held one of our regular staff forums, where colleagues from all teams meet over breakfast rolls to discuss ideas and improve how we work together. I love this collaborative approach, and the Development Team can always count on the support of the other teams to help us reach our fundraising goals.

First task of the day is usually checking in on donation activity. Our most recent appeal is raising money to bring the Hope Cross to Dundee. We have had an excellent response to this campaign and some very generous support from individuals and other polar and maritime organisations.

Cultivating and maintaining donor relationships is a hugely important part of the job, so we make sure that timely thank you letters and regular appeal updates go out to our supporters.

I have a lunch catch-up with the newest member of the team, Pamela Lowry, who has come on board to help us prepare for a large-scale capital project at Discovery Point. She has an infectious energy and enthusiasm and is already proving to be a great asset, with vast experience of working with major donors.

Another regular task for the team is to research and apply to a variety of Trusts and Foundations. We also work with both Heritage and Education teams to put together grant applications for government and public funding, especially for larger projects.

To end our day, the team celebrate the news that a Dundee business we recently approached with a sponsorship proposal has said ‘Yes!’ – this is always a boost, not just to our funds, but because it means so much to have our local community behind us as we work to keep Dundee’s heritage alive.

Thursday

My name is Kim Turford-Mowat and I run the Education and Communities team at Dundee Heritage Trust.

As the schools are now on holiday our day to day changes a little bit! 

We have two students in at the moment, a Career Ready Intern who is working on a report about school visits over the past year, and a master's student from DJCAD who has just finished an animation for the Hope Cross project and will be working with us to design what our offer to teachers will looks and sounds like, after researching this before schools broke up.

We also ran a flower crown workshop at Verdant Works, these are pay what you can and run every other week over the Summer Holidays. Having the International Garden Photographer of the Year exhibition means we can be creative with our programming and celebrate the area’s past. 

I have also been working on how we categorise our audiences, shifting the focus to why people come to museums and what they want to see, over demographic categories. I’ll be trialing these out with the public next Thursday. 

The blend of more academic and strategic work alongside still getting to have my feet on the ground (and flowers in my hair) is one of the reasons I love working for a small charity like DHT, it really offers variety and means I can test and tweak things in real time! 

Friday

Hello, I’m Paul McFawns and I am the Conference and Event Manager for Dundee Heritage Trust. I manage both venues, Discovery Point and Verdant Works along with my colleague Bianka. Our days are never the same here, which makes our job exciting.

In any given week we can be setting up for a conference, decorating the beautiful Verdant Works High Mill for a wedding, or welcoming guests onboard the R.R.S Discovery for a private dining experience at the captain’s table.

We handle everything with the client, from the initial concept, then showing them around the venue, to running their event on the day. Our job is to make their vision a reality. Hosting weddings at our venues, we get to be part of the couple’s special day and make it memorable for them. We don’t just do weddings, we host a variety of conferences, dinners, concerts, exhibition space for local growers to showcase their products. The venue spaces we have here are so adaptable for so many different experiences.

Day to day we are in the office answering emails and telephone enquiries, liaising with local suppliers for inhouse stock, catering requirements and laundry services.

Then we are getting ready for the next event, so reading over the events information and getting the rooms set up to the client’s specifications. We have had great feedback from our customers: ‘It was a pleasure working with both of you, and as the event organiser, I really appreciated knowing that you were both on hand to support with any queries which came my way on the day.’