Meet Emily - UK transplant, cat lover and festival veteran.
Emily got her first taste of working in events at the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. Since then, she has worked in ticketing at major festivals across the UK and Australia, including 3 Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Adelaide Fringe, Fringe World Perth, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival. Recently returned to Melbourne after a 3 year break (thanks Covid!), Emily is attempting to soak up all of the events the city has to offer.
Q: What were you doing before Midsumma?
I was working in ticketing full-time for Pleasance Theatre Trust, a major Edinburgh Fringe venue and London venue. Since then I’ve moved to Melbourne (via Perth for a couple of months) and started to build a new life here.
Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?
Sampling the veggies I’ve grown in my garden – having lived in London for most of the last 7 years I’ve struggled to have enough room or appropriate weather to grow my own food and I can’t wait to get started.
Q: What do you think sets Midsumma apart from the other places you’ve worked?
I love that Midsumma is focusing on accessibility from project conception through to delivery – it’s so refreshing to be having conversations about making events and programming accessible from the early stages of festival planning.
Q: What’s your favourite way to spend a weekend?
Trawling through junk shops looking for treasures - I’m currently obsessed with coloured glass. In the winter on a sunny day you can find me knitting on my front porch.
Q: What is your must-see production/show/event of the year?
I saw Fire of Love as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival – a love story/documentary about two volcanologists and the footage they took while studying volcanoes. The imagery is absolutely stunning.
Q: Where is your favourite place in the world?
Edinburgh during the Fringe has a buzz like nowhere else – streets and venues filled with artists, everywhere you go you’re meeting people who love the arts and you can enjoy performances 24 hours a day. You just need to accept you don’t get to sleep for a month.
Q: What gets you out of bed on a Sunday morning?
My cat wanting to be let out so he can go and find a different location to sit down in – usually on the top of the compost bin in the sunshine.
Find out more about Emily on her LinkedIn.
