Work highlights

“Phil has not just managed to make sense of my notes in creating a logically structured site, but has taken some initiatives which are uniformly helpful. He has provided links to things that I hadn’t thought of, and in a way that suggests he has really gone about this in a thoughtful manner, rather than mechanically fulfilling a brief. In all, it has been an absolute pleasure working with him.”

—Prof David Matthews, Director of the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, The University of Manchester

Liverpool Biennial exhibition tours | Tate Liverpool public talks | Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art presentation


Liverpool Biennial 1999 – Gave guided tours around Liverpool’s first international festival of contemporary art. Tailored tours to visitors needs and walking abilities with installations being situated all over the city centre.

Researched and delivered public talks at Tate Liverpool. Discovered that many visitors were just as interested in the building as the artworks so pioneered a talk on the history of the Tate.

Was invited to Gateshead to speak to front-of-house staff at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art prior to its grand opening in 2002. Discussed public engagement and regional audiences.

Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM)


Wrote press releases and brochure copy in first marketing role at the RNCM in 2004.

Had the dual role of promoting the conservatoire to prospective students…

…And promoting music concerts to members of the public.

Tate Liverpool


Returned to Tate Liverpool in 2005 and became Press & Marketing Assistant. Worked on major summer exhibition ‘Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era’.

Wrote copy for Tate’s website and brochures. Sent listings out and supervised media. Promoted special exhibitions including Sarah Lucas and Bruce Nauman.

Organised a fly-poster campaign for Jake and Dinos Chapman’s 2006 mid-career retrospective ‘Bad Art for Bad People’, with an ambition to target a younger, edgier audience.

Photographed Yangjiang Group’s firework performance as part of 2007’s ‘The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China’. This photograph then featured as a double page spread in Art Forum magazine.

Liaised with HMV to promote ‘Peter Blake: A Retrospective’, Tate Liverpool’s major summer exhibition for 2007, arranging a display of albums featuring art work by Sir Peter Blake including Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Supervised press photographers during the live Channel 4 News broadcast of the Turner Prize announcement in December 2007. It was the first time the Turner Prize had been hosted outside London.

Bluecoat


Joined the arts centre in time for its reopening in March 2008, following a redevelopment. Promoted a busy programme of European Capital of Culture events and dealt with press messages after a fire in May.

Promoted exhibitions and events as Bluecoat’s Marketing and Audience Development Officer. Photographed ‘Arabicity’ installation and liaised with the North West Development Agency to create large-scale ambient advertising.

Collaborated with Shoot Experience in 2009 to create ‘Shoot Liverpool: A Novel Adventure’. Wrote the script which sent participants around the city taking photographs which were then exhibited at Open Eye Gallery.

Launched a campaign seeking pairs of identical twins to participate in a live art event by German artists Angie Hiesl and Roland Kaiser. ‘TWINS’ took place over two days in a former factory in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle.

Joined up with Liverpool Echo in 2010 to live-stream ‘Bed-in at the Bluecoat’. Re-staging John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-in; artists, performers and members of the public were invited to take up temporary residence.

Project managed the summer 2011 exhibition ‘Honky Tonk’ along with a programme of related events including a music performance by co-founder of The La’s, Mike Badger. Commissioned the exhibition design .

CUC Liverpool (Contemporary Urban Centre)


Joined CUC Liverpool as Press and Marketing Manager in September 2011. Liaised with press and police when BBC Question Time was hosted at the venue amidst the Labour Party Conference and anti-BNP protests.

Collaborated with Ceri Hand Gallery to host ‘Notes Towards an Extreme Fiction’; an exhibition of prints by artists including Francis Bacon, Bridget Riley, David Hockney and Damien Hirst.

Promoted the closing party for ‘Liverpool Music Week 2011’ which was headlined by Ghost Poet. A huge roster of bands performed in multiple rooms across the expansive CUC warehouse.

Martin Harris Centre | Centre for New Writing | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures


Joined The University of Manchester in February 2012 as Marketing and Communications Officer (maternity cover) for the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama.

Promoted music, drama and literature live events at the Martin Harris Centre as well as working with the Centre for New Writing to promote postgraduate courses.

Worked on the launch programme for the newly merged School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. Events included Jeanette Winterson’s first ‘In Conversation’, and the unveiling of an Anthony Burgess blue plaque.

Faculty of Humanities web development projects


Migrated numerous School, subject area and research centre websites onto responsive templates as Web Content Editor. Worked with Sigma to undertake user testing of old and new sites.

Project managed the development of a WordPress site for UNESCO City of Literature. Liaised with a number of organisational partners including Manchester City Council.

Recent websites developed include the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) and the Manchester China Institute (MCI). Worked closely with the respective academics.

Created an online presence for the School of Law’s ‘Black Lawyer’s Matter’ social responsibility initiative and promoted the new Lemn Sissay Law Bursaries.

Engaging academic staff to create ‘Stories’ features. Articles of interest that avoid the hard-sell of courses while also making research accessible to a wider audience.

Led the Humanities Communications and Marketing monthly team meeting in April 2018: Got colleagues to create ‘paper websites’ to help determine priorities.