My Time as a Marketing Volunteer
My time as a Marketing Volunteer at Brighton & Hove Museums began in March 2026. As a MA Curating Collections and Heritage student at the University of Brighton, we are given the opportunity to partake in a range of volunteer positions locally. I already had a background in media and communications, so the role sounded like the perfect mixture of my interests.
On my first day, I was invited to join Social Media & Influencer Manager Adrienn, on a press photo shoot at the Royal Pavilion for the upcoming DRAGONS exhibition. Getting a tour of the new exhibition and seeing how these professional shots are captured within the stunning Pavilion was a brilliant start to my role. I was even invited to pose for a press photo! This was only the beginning of the social media work I worked on with Adrienn.
Later, I was featured in a short interview video where I discussed my favourite item on display at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. In addition to these features, I have helped create the content featured across social platforms, learning along the way about the local audience and distinctive social identities of the Brighton & Hove Museums sites. One of my favourite aspects of creating these pieces of content was exploring the online DAMS catalogue and the wealth of objects in the collections. Through the research I did for this content, I learned more about Brighton and Hove than I ever have before and have grown to love the city and its vibrant cultural histories even more.
Social media was already familiar to me when my volunteer role began. But some other areas of marketing were entirely foreign. Aiding Travel Trade & Tourism Partnerships Manager Lucy, was an entirely new perspective on media. Meeting and communicating with trade partners was something I had never experienced or considered as a piece of marketing for heritage sites. Yet, I have now grasped the key role these relationships play in driving visitorship and raising site awareness. As a part of this communication with trade partners, I spent a few weeks in May updating event listings on the VisitBrighton site.
A key task in assessing the overall efficiency of the B&HM site marketing, I have continually updated the CoverageBook reports on the museum’s 2026 performance as well as exhibitions, events, and campaigns. Using data from the external PR agency and independent research, these reports have been organised and filed to reflect the reach of the content and press coverage on the sites this year. This was a new system for me, one which I had not even heard of previously. Now I can easily log coverage, create new reports, and organise existing reports, all while finding it extremely satisfying to organise.
As a Curation student, one the most enjoyable experiences for me has been collaborating with curatorial and creative staff on marketing exhibitions and displays. With the pending opening of Brighton & Hove Albion: Stand or Fall, my meetings with Creative Program Manager Jody gave a window into the development of a new exhibition and gallery space and the ways in which the media team must understand audiences and outreach. I have had very little understanding of football or the Albion’s fanbase, so learning about the club’s background whilst dynamically assisting the marketing strategy was a fantastic learning experience.
From having a laugh in the office, to the busy days of filming, and lots of coverage logging, volunteering with Brighton & Hove Museums has been a learning experience I will not soon forget.