"Being a natural salesperson, I talked myself into the role at the Company because I saw their work and fell in love with it! Although I had no formal experience of arts marketing in this country, beyond successfully promoting my own work within the immediate community, I had the work-based knowledge of promoting education that I acquired as Marketing Co-ordinator for the new National Centre for Work-Based Learning Partnerships at Middlesex University."

"Yes, I had just completed a Master's in Press and Public Relations Management and as soon as I joined Chicken Shed, I joined the AMA (Arts Marketing Association) and attended their conference, which I found really helpful in terms of pointing me towards texts, research websites and individuals who put me on the right path. I also found Bernard Ross and my week with the National Fundraising School extremely helpful in clarifying my own thinking about the need for a co-operative relationship between marketing of, and fundraising for, an arts organisation."

"My most recent role at Chicken Shed was to specifically market the Company's education programmes. Like most theatre companies, Chicken Shed relies on its education work to support the funding of its performance work, as it does not receive revenue funding from the Arts Council. My work involved promoting its various formal and informal programmes of learning, all of which relate to the inclusive performing arts, in order to generate new student intake, new partners and new funding. This included initiating and project-managing its promotional literature, organising distribution, attending networking opportunities, training students in marketing and fundraising, handling all press and publicity needs, and working closely with colleagues across the organisation to try and promote internal as well as external understanding of its work."

"I would say courage, persistence, preparation, in terms of researching prospects and then finding the right person to make the bid. If I have one tip, it is to always smile when making a phone call to a prospective funder. A corporate contact once told me that he would always look forward to hearing from me because I brightened an otherwise dull day. For someone working in a bank all day, a call from a theatre company can be fun, exotic, out of the ordinary. How much more likely you are, then, to be put through to the right person or else, more crucially, to win the heart of a 'champion' within the organisation who will then act as your pathfinder and guide to get you where you need to be - to where the money is."

"All types of arts-related organisation need marketing people - they just don't realise it! Often, the artist themselves will think that they are the best person to market their own work. Unfortunately understanding one's own creative product is not the same thing as framing it in a way that will attract audiences, funders and 'Joe Bloggs' on the street who may never have visited a theatre, an art gallery or a concert hall. Increasingly there is a need for arts organisations to take their work out of customised buildings and into the communities that they purport to serve. Access is not just about wheelchair ramps in theatres, it is about a state of mind where artists genuinely want to connect inclusively with other human beings and not just the literati or the glitterati. I have just written my first full-length play - a comedy of errors on this subject called Marketing Cinderella - and I'm looking for a brave theatre company to take it on. Any offers?!"

"Computer literacy particularly for research, confident networking abilities, and intuitive common sense that allows you to absorb theory and then put it into practice for your particular situation."

"Seeing people come to see the work of the company or individual you are promoting. Even more satisfying is when they choose to engage in a relationship as a result of that 'first strike'."

"Are you a 'people person'? Are you passionate about the arts? Do you talk to people at bus-stops about the exciting work of your organisation? Do you care enough to understand that it may never make you personally rich or famous but want to do it anyway? Then do it!"

Suzi Clark Britton has since left Chicken Shed Theatre Company to explore a freelance career as a writer, motivational trainer and marketing/fundraising consultant. She can be contacted at suzicb@btinternet.com.