Intern Insights: October – Georgina Clarkson

Marketing Intern, Georgina Clarkson, joined Newcastle Cathedral in November 2021, a few short months after the Cathedral reopened after its major redevelopment works funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

In this article, Georgina reflects on her time and the experiences she has gained…

As I come to the end of my internship, I’ve been reflecting on how much I have learned and experienced in the past year! From wedding gowns taking over the Cathedral and battling the Newcastle storms putting up poster boards, to the National Cathedrals Conference and helping co-ordinate seasonal campaigns.

A year ago, I didn’t really have a proper idea what marketing was and definitely didn’t know all the Cathedral jargon that comes too easily now!

Over the past few months, I have taken on more hours and therefore work. This has meant I’ve been able to take ownership of little projects and parts of day-to-day marketing. It’s so exciting to see all your hard work come to light in press coverage, filled seats at events, and beautiful posters and leaflets arriving from the printers.

During the Period of National Mourning, I met with and helped to coordinate press visits to the Cathedral. It was so interesting to see their perspective and the way they work. I also helped to prepare materials for the Service of Commemoration, to which local dignitaries and members of the public were invited to pay their respects

My biggest project over the last few months has been writing and designing a new tourism leaflet for the Cathedral. It feels cool that there’ll be a little piece of me nestled away in the Cathedral after I’m gone. The leaflet has taught me a lot about how to write to a new set of objectives than I am used to. The process is something that I’ve really enjoyed and hope to do more of in the future.

I feel quite amazed that my internship is almost over, but I have really enjoyed it. It’s taught me so much about heritage and culture marketing – definitely the sector I would like to go into as my career.

Georgina’s role has been funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the Cathedral’s ‘Common Ground in Sacred Space’ heritage project.