As a 2nd year history student hoping to make it in the heritage industry, I could not think of a better introduction to it than what this internship provided. The Visitor Operations and Events Intern role at the Bishop’s Palace comes with responsibilities that many other internships do not offer, and as such provide valuable experience for those of us embarking in careers in this sector. One of these responsibilities was planning an entire summer of weekly family craft activities. This included choosing the 5/6 different activities, ordering the resources needed for them while working within a strict budget, liaising with the crafting volunteers’ team to ensure there were enough of them to help with the activities and ensuring the activities ran smoothly, reacting to any issues that may have arisen on the day. This provided valuable experience in the form of working within budgetary constraints, working under timed, pressured environments, and communicating with the wider team, whether that is understanding and anticipating the needs of volunteers, asking the admin team to order required resources or seeking recommendations or advice from management.
Another responsibility this internship provided came in the form of a database project. The main aim of this was to gather ticket, membership and event information from other heritage sites located within the relative local area of the Bishop’s Palace and compile this in a excel spreadsheet. This information can then be used by management when discussing ticketing and events strategy to ensure the survival and stability of the Bishop’s Palace in the years to come. This task allowed me to gain a detailed insight to the differences in how many heritage sites are run, and helped develop my researching skills around the heritage industry.
Other responsibilities included covering for Visitor Operations volunteers for their breaks, helping open and lock up the Palace and gardens before opening and after close, helping the set up of events and being on hand and flexible to aid the rest of the team in any ways needed. However, just as I supported them, they supported me. The advice and help that Laura, Rob and the rest of the team at the Bishop’s Palace have offered me throughout this internship has been invaluable. I could not thank them more for going above and beyond to ensure that while I had their faith and their trust to carry out my responsibilities in ways that I saw fit, they always made me feel supported in whatever task was at hand. For that, and many other reasons, I would heavily recommend this internship for those who want to gain experience in the heritage industry.
Ayman Allaouat