The Apprentices have been writing blogs at every milestone of their time at The Mighty Creatives, and as they reach their first month we upload their stories.
Kate
Smith-Atherton, Community Arts Apprentice
I have been a
member of the TMC team for a month now, although it has been very enjoyable, I
can honestly say it has been quite challenging too. Over the past month as well
as my induction, I have also attended a number of meetings. If I am being
honest, at first a lot of what was said in these meetings went completely over
my head, and I felt like I would never get my head around things, but now I
feel that I have just about got to grips with everything, including the
abbreviations used. Of course there are still things I don’t have complete
understanding of, and there is a lot more to learn, but the support from the
TMC team has been brilliant so far, and I am confident it will stay that way.
It’s nice to know that if I ever have a problem regarding the work I am doing
there is always at least one person I can talk to who will offer me advice, and
help me out the best they can.
As well as the
meetings, I have been to a few events, some of these events include; a creative
and connected conference/workshop day, a morning at a sure start centre, and a
poetry workshop. I have also had lunch a couple of times with the whole team to
welcome new members of staff; this too included myself at one point. As well as
this, I have registered/enrolled with Leicester College, and I am beginning to
put my portfolio together. I have also recently been given a few roles that are
my responsibility, these roles are something I am really keen to have responsibility
for, some of these include; booking rooms for meetings and travel for other
members of TMC, being a part of the Our State Of The Arts project (which I am
currently trying to organise a ‘flashmob’ event for) and I am constantly
researching new things that I think would be useful for the other members of
TMC to know, or information we could use. I have got a few other tasks I will
be helping out with/getting involved with in the following months too, these I
am also really excited about and keen to be a part of.
Even though I
have only been here for a month, the amount I have learnt, and the things I
have been involved with really are more than I expected. In the future, I wish
to continue working with communities helping them to engage in the arts and
culture around them, not just in Leicester, but maybe even in other countries
as well. If I can learn and be a part of as much as I have already four weeks,
then I am really looking forward to what the future holds. The community arts
apprenticeship I am doing is what I have always wanted to do, it is meaningful
and important to me, and I am truly thankful to have been given the chance to
be a part of TMC.
Ben Tuddenham,
Finance Apprentice
6 weeks on and I
feel a lot more settled and at home into the company, due to having a much
better understanding of the job I am doing, and being given the responsibility
of seeing them through alone.
A few weeks ago
most of the office went out for a meal and a few drinks after work, this was a
great chance to get to know people outside of work in a social environment, and
as such I got to know a few people I hadn’t had a chance to speak to properly,
and learn new things about others.
The following
Friday I got my first day out of the office! I went to Nottingham to the
Creative and connected 2 event, to get a better insight to what TMC do and who
they work with, this was an eye opener for me as before this I wasn’t really
sure about what TMC actually did on the front line! And again this was also a
good chance to speak to some of my colleagues more and get to know them.
I am now first point of contact for the
finance team, and as such I get a lot of ‘where is our money?’ calls from
suppliers, I can now quickly track down the right invoice, and tell them if it
has been paid/why it hasn’t/when it will be paid. I also have responsibility of
processing invoices, from the first step of them coming in the post/email,
right through to actual payment, I do every step apart from coding the invoices
to the correct budget, which is something I want to learn soon so I can do the whole
task!
My first 6 weeks
at TMC has been a great experience and a steep learning curve, which I have
enjoyed thoroughly, and grasped with both hands as it’s a great opportunity.
Writing isn’t my favourite thing, so I have put together a table of random
figures from my first 6 weeks instead!
|
Invoices paid
|
170
|
|
Stamps stuck
|
82
|
|
E-mails
e-mailed
|
232
|
|
E-mails
received
|
569
|
|
Teas drank
|
180
|
|
Words written
in procedures
|
2765
|
|
Cheques written
|
87
|
|
Inches of
subway consumed
|
78
|
|
Weight of cake
consumed
|
4 tonnes
|
|
Graze boxes
distributed
|
30
|
|
Total distance
travelled wheeling around on chair
|
2.8 miles
|
|
Minutes spent
on hold to o2 listening to Gary Newman – Cars
|
Too long
|
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