What I Learned: My Time as a Trainee Cultural Producer
Written by Mo Oguntuase
In December 2024, Mo joined Culture Within Newham as a Cultural Producer on a Trainee programme. In this blog, Mo explores what she will take from the experience.
How I got the Placement
In October 2024 I got the opportunity to join the University of East London Cultural Producers Programme alongside 12 other amazing producers. This programme has helped mould me into the producer that I am today. During the training, I learnt many different things surrounding the community arts sector, from arts in incarceration to arts with dementia patients. There have been moments where I have learnt more about myself as a person, and how I operate in different creative sectors outside of my chosen sector of Public Relations (PR), and how PR is involved in them.
During the placement we visited some of Culture Within Newham’s commissions, and I sat in on consortium meetings and met people who are so different from me at first glance but very similar in circumstances.
Getting into the Groove
‘The Wonderful Women of Newham’ was my first ever Project Page and while it did take me some time to get into the groove of writing it, I am so glad I had my colleagues to help teach me how to approach research, and accessibility.
The research process was an eye-opener into key words and phrases I hadn’t used much before, but also different ways to obtain information. I learnt how to get information for partner biographies when we didn’t have one on hand, by gathering information about a person or organisation to summarise who they are, and then putting it all in a way that will be best received by the reader.
Working on this project page also taught me so much about Plain English writing and web design. We discussed how human eyes are attracted to colour, how that impacts what people read, and how big the font should be to ensure the most important information is read by the reader and they don’t miss out on clear details. So much thought goes into web design both aesthetically and accessibility-wise. All of this is done to make sure Culture Within Newham is understood by as many people as possible. This is especially important because Newham is a community with many people whose first language is not English.
Culture Within Newham’s Digital Engagement Builder Lalah-Simone Springer and I would go over this together, constantly liaising so that I could present the information in an interesting, yet digestible way.
While working on this page I also learnt so much about the impact that the women of Newham had in the Suffragette and Women’s Rights movement. It was honestly so inspiring to me and I have learnt so much about them and their stories. There is a trail for the Wonderful Women of Newham which I plan to take one day to see in person where they operated and what they did in their lives.
Reflections
During my placement I learnt about running a creative community organisation that truly cares for the wellbeing and progress of the community. I have seen people speak about how to improve our community in such a selfless way, which is what is needed right now for Newham. I hold this borough so near and dear to my heart as it is all I have ever known. Seeing people be so passionate about facilitating creativity for Newham communities isn’t something I’ve seen much of, so this was refreshing and heart-warming. This placement has given me confidence and an opportunity like no other to evolve, in part through learning different ways to collaborate and work with others, while making sure everyone is heard.
My future ambitions have definitely grown and some changed due to this placement. I am so grateful I got to have this experience with this set of colleagues, because I don’t think I would’ve excelled and learnt the things I have learnt without them. I will carry these experiences for the rest of my career.
LinkedIn - Mo Oguntuase