WayWORD Festival

I was a founding member of the WayWORD Festival, a student-run annual literary cross-arts festival funded by Creative Scotland and supported by the WORD Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen. In 2021 I became the Intern at the WORD Centre for Creative Writing. I: 

• Planned and executed over 100 events over three years, including workshops, author events, panel discussions, and performance nights

• Was responsible for the development of the ‘Master Plan’ in Excel

• Spearheaded development of events such as:

  • Narrative and Gaming

  • Worldbuilding Through a Poetry Lens

  • BSL in Theatre: An Interpreter’s Perspective

  • Queer Creators Panel

  • Dead Women Poets Séance

  • Narrative and Gaming: Dungeons and Dragons

  • BSL Workshop with Mags McNulty

  • Resistance Zines with Dead Women Poets Society

  • More Than Superheroes: Comic Books and Education

  • Make Your Own Zine Workshop with Ollie Hicks

• Aided moving the entire festival online via Zoom in the first year (2020) at short notice

• Coordinated with speakers to confirm dates and requirements

• Managed social media, created graphics, and created an Excel plan

• Archived and categorised festival materials such as presentation slides and holding slides

• Was the first point of contact for anything relating to accessibility and other EDI queries, such as BSL interpretation, captioning, and access riders

• Produced an accessibility best practice document in 2020 to advise the University of Aberdeen's Media Services on how to best use Zoom to support captioning and BSL interpretation

• Worked extensively with BSL interpreters and captioners to clarify vocabulary, logistics, and give other accessibility support   

• Won £8000 in funding from the University for festival accessibility alone

• Used the Unit4 Business World system to pay speakers, caterers, and other stakeholders, and managed ticketing

• Worked in partnership with the Creative Director to write funding applications to Creative Scotland, for which we consistently won over £20k 

• Mentored newer committee members regarding event production and how to fulfil their creative vision for the events they were working on

• Managed the WayWORD website alongside other committee members