Eleanor Kay - Project Management Placement
Tell us about yourself and your creative background
I’m Eleanor, an MA Arts Management student at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Originally from Sheffield, I’ve lived in Cardiff for nearly five years, where I also completed a BA in English Literature at Cardiff University.
During my undergrad, I sought deeper connection with the city’s creative scene, volunteering with student publications and later working with Ffotogallery, including at the 2024 Ffoto Cymru festival. These experiences reignited my passion for the visual arts and showed me the value of collaboration and community in the sector, which I felt like I had missed through my academic focused degree.
The MA at RWCMD offered a practical route into a fulfilling, sustainable arts career which at first felt out of reach, blending my creative interests with professional development.
Tell us about the work you’re doing at Creative Cardiff
At Creative Cardiff, I’m working in a project and event management role, collaborating closely with Carys on the planning, development, and delivery of events.
This is a completely new area for me. While I have previous experience in marketing, fundraising, and working on policy and strategy for smaller organisations, event creation and execution is something I’m excited to dive into, especially on a bigger scale.
A major part of my role involves supporting the planning of Creative Cardiff’s upcoming 10th birthday celebrations. I’ll be contributing ideas and assisting with the coordination of events to mark this milestone, as well as providing support on other events during my time here.
What do you hope to do after you graduate?
After graduation, I hope to stay in Cardiff and continue working in the arts. I'm still exploring my exact path, but I’m especially interested in roles in event management, business development, or marketing. With broad interests across art forms, I’m drawn to multidisciplinary organisations like arts centres or multimedia venues that bring lots of creatives together in many ways.
I’m also deeply committed to improving inclusion and access in the arts, particularly for working-class and marginalised communities. I want to be part of a team that shares these values and works toward making the sector more equitable, especially within its workforce.
Creative Cardiff is my dream placement. I’ve admired the organisation throughout my time in the city and can’t wait to work with the team, build new skills, and connect with more creatives across Cardiff.
Sophie Martin - Communications and Engagement Placement
Tell us about yourself and your creative background
I’m Sophie and I’m currently doing a masters in Arts Management at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. I was born and raised in London, but I have been living in Cardiff now for just under a year. I graduated from Bath Spa university three years ago having completed my undergraduate degree in dance. I started my journey in the arts from a young age, going through the typical stage school pipeline. Growing up in London I was fortunate enough to be able to fully immerse myself in the arts scene by constantly being surrounded by so much rich culture and by constantly visiting the west end.
Through my upbringing and education, I have developed a real passion for the arts, more specifically dance, and I’ve made it my mission throughout my education and life to be an advocate for the arts and when I found out about the course at RWCMD I thought it was the inevitable next step for my career progression and I can’t wait to see where it leads me.
Tell us about the work you’re doing at Creative Cardiff
At Creative Cardiff I will be working closely with Tori in a PR and Communications role. My work so far includes devising and creating campaigns to widen Creative Cardiff’s outreach into communities or sectors that haven’t been reached before, which hopefully I can see through in my time here, alongside aiding in the creation of social media content.
I am really looking forward to growing and learning new skills through this placement as this area is relatively new for me and I don’t think there’s a better place to learn then Creative Cardiff.
What do you hope to do after you graduate?
What I hope to do after I graduate is still very up in the air, all I know is that I want to still be involved in the arts as much as possible. As much as London is a very big hub for creatives, Cardiff has worked its way into my life, and I’m currently split between staying here or moving back home. Either way, my goal is to still be in and around the dance sector advocating for its place in education and within the arts sector. Being here at Creative Cardiff is the perfect place to expand my network and take that first step into the professional world.