Hippodrome Silent Film Festival

Festival Producer

Oct 2010 - Jun 2015

Five years working with Falkirk Council and Falkirk Community Trust to set up, develop and co-ordinate the management and delivery of “one of Scotland’s true gems” (★★★★★, The Scotsman, March 2015) in one of the Trust's beautiful heritage venues, the 104-year-old Hippodrome Cinema in Bo'ness. During those five years, around 9000 people of all ages engaged as audiences or participants and over 200 performers were commissioned to accompany a range of films spanning the silent era.

Growing the reputation of HippFest - as it's known - for showing silent film with live performances by musicians from across the UK and Europe is a source of personal pride. Working closely with Festival Director Alison Strauss, my role in the first (and only) festival of its kind in Scotland was wide-ranging:

★ Planning overall Festival management across 12 venues and specifically managing youth engagement, community tour and pop-up local events
★ Developing strong and sustainable relationships with the Bo'ness community
★ Leading the Festival's strategic planning and operational structures
★ Contributing to successful funding applications and sponsorship activity
★ Co-ordinating all guest contracts, schedules, technical requirements, travel, accommodation
★ Maintaining important internal communications across staff and volunteers

IMAGES: Falkirk Community Trust/Hippodrome, Alex Hewitt

HippFest continues to go from strength to strength, taking place annually in March: