My job: Theatre of dreams at your disposal

Sally Woodfield says keeping tabs on artists as they travel is challenging. Photo / Ted Baghurst

Name: Sally Woodfield.
Age: 42
Role: Self-employed performing arts publicist, marketer and director of her company, SWPR.
Hours: An average 50-hour week - more if you count the time spent attending concerts, performances and events.
Salary: I pay myself a salary of $60,000-$80,000 a year depending on the work.
Qualifications: Post Graduate Diploma in Education in Counselling, University of Auckland (currently completing Masters Degree of Education-Counselling specialisation).

What is involved in your job?

I work with New Zealand and international clients to market and publicise their performing arts events.

My clients range from independent theatre companies including Tim Bray Productions and Indian Ink, to regional festivals such as Tauranga Arts Festival, Hamilton's Fuel Festival, National Jazz Festival, Womad, Matariki Festival and Going West Books and Writers Festival, as well as New Zealand and Australian independent promoters.

I'm also the publicist for Chamber Music New Zealand and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. I am based in Auckland but work on events throughout the country.

The job is varied and includes dealing with venues and ticketing agencies, developing and implementing marketing strategies, writing media releases, researching artists and talking to media about the events.

Working on many different events means I need to be organised and have robust systems in place.

Things do change, though - whether for personal reasons or a "crisis" and it is a matter of knowing when something is important enough to drop everything else and juggle priorities.

Do you work on your own?

I use contracted help when I have busy times, but am very hands-on in all the projects I do as I believe that makes a difference to my clients.

Your background?

I am a trained journalist and worked in newspapers and magazines.

My mother was a potter and now paints and I grew up in the art world surrounded by art and music. I was lucky to have such a Bohemian upbringing although at the time I wished my mother was a secretary. I played violin, viola and flute and was encouraged to pursue the arts so danced and did theatre at school.

After training as a journalist, I was arts and entertainment editor at the Waikato Times. I later worked editing specialist magazines which gave me strong production knowledge. After that, I worked as a freelance journalist and "fell" into public relations at Manukau Institute of Technology.

Then I found my way back to working in the arts again at The Edge before going freelance.

What training helps you?

Being a trained journalist means I have strong interview and writing skills and a nose for what journalists want. I have completed some marketing papers at university and my background in music and around artists has stood me in good stead.

Required skills?

The ability to manage budgets, good people skills and communication skills, patience, perseverance, flexibility, adaptability, recognising opportunities when they arise and thinking outside the square.

What is the best part of your job?

Opening nights, reading glowing reviews and hearing people enthuse about their experience.

Travelling - my partner David Inns is the chief executive of Auckland Arts Festival and we travel a lot within NZ and Australia. In the past year I've been lucky to see some fabulous work, including Thomas Ostermeier's Hamlet at Sydney Festival - a piece which will stay with me forever. I'm off to [Edinburgh Festival] this year for the first time.

And the worst part?

Having a great product and just not being able to get media interested so they can encourage audiences to attend. Also getting great coverage and good reviews and still no one goes.

Challenges?

Tracking down artists when they are travelling and convincing artists to do interviews when the schedule is tight. When technology fails - the day my hard drive died was hard.

Any favourite performers?

Sir Ian McKellen has to be top of the list - I've worked with him twice (Royal Shakespeare Company's tour of King Lear in 2007 and this year for Theatre Royal Haymarket's Waiting for Godot) and he is great, professional and generous with media. Working on Womad has also been a great thrill.

Advice for someone interested in similar work?

A background in journalism or marketing is useful and you have to have a passion for the arts. Look out for internships or volunteer at events or help out fledgling theatre companies and musicians.

What's on this year's agenda?

The APO has a great programme of concerts; Going West Books and Writers Festival in August and September; Indian Ink's The Guru of Chai has seasons in Wellington, Nelson, Hamilton and Napier; Chamber Music New Zealand has three more concert seasons to come.

Virtuoso pianist David Helfgott has concerts here in November, plus the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain returns for a nine-centre tour in November. And of course, balancing being a mother of two and supporting my partner as he heads into Auckland Arts Festival 2011 in March.