Alison Fisher
Thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund, our busy team was able to grow last year, with the creation of a full-time Project Manager role, brilliantly filled by Alison Fisher. The busy part continued, hence why it’s taken nearly 9 months to catch Alison for a chat, but I managed to grab a coffee with her at The Land of Oak and Iron to see how the job is shaping up.
Project management means different things in different industries, for Alison, this is what a week can look like:
“THIS WEEK WE'VE BEEN WORKING IN CRAMLINGTON (DIGITAL DRAWING WITH NORTHERN BUTTERFLIES GROUP), CHOPWELL (DREAMIT WITH THE YOUTH CLUB), BENSHAM IN GATESHEAD (PEACE OF MIND WITH AN INTOUCH DIGITAL SKILLS COURSE), HEXHAM (WITH HEXTOL FOUNDATION FOR A CONTENT CREATION COURSE), AND NORTH TYNESIDE (NORTH TYNESIDE ART STUDIO WITH ANOTHER DIGITAL DRAWING COURSE).”
And that’s just a few of the projects Alison is personally overseeing (and there are other colleagues running other programmes). I asked if it’s the variety that appealed to her:
‘IT IS A REALLY VARIED ROLE, AND SOME DAYS I'M TRAVELLING ALL OVER THE REGION VISITING MULTIPLE COURSES AND MEETING LOTS OF PEOPLE, SOME DAYS IN THE OFFICE WORKING ON THE BEHIND THE SCENES PLANNING AND PAPERWORK, AND GENERALLY ENJOYING THE VARIETY OF MY DAYS! NO TWO DAYS WITH DIGITAL VOICE HAVE BEEN THE SAME, AND I REALLY ENJOY THE RANGE OF PROJECTS AND COURSES THAT WE RUN - FROM DIGITAL DRAWING TO FILM MAKING AND CONTENT CREATION, TO THE DIGITAL ME ANIMATION PROJECTS WORKING WITH VULNERABLE GROUPS, TO THE GEOSTORIES PROJECTS FINDING MORE ABOUT PEOPLE'S MEMORIES ABOUT THEIR AREA - IT'S ALL REALLY INTERESTING STUFF!”
Alison’s career path to Digital Voice has been varied too:
“WHAT INTERESTED ME ABOUT WORKING WITH DIGITAL VOICE IS MY BACKGROUND IN SOCIAL HISTORY AND COMMUNITY WORK. I STARTED VOLUNTEERING IN REGIONAL MUSEUMS AS A TEENAGER, THEN WENT ON TO STUDY HISTORY AND THEN A MASTERS IN MUSEUM STUDIES - ALL SPECIALISING IN SOCIAL HISTORY AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH WORK. FROM THERE I JOINED SEVEN STORIES, THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND SPENT MANY HAPPY YEARS WORKING WITH AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS TO TELL THEIR STORIES. FROM THERE, I MOVED TO WORKING WITH NSPCC, WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS SERVICE WITH A LARGE TEAM OF LOCAL VOLUNTEERS TO DELIVER SAFEGUARDING PROGRAMMES INTO SCHOOLS - THIS IS A REALLY VITAL SERVICE, TEACHING CHILDREN TO SPEAK OUT AND STAY SAFE. I SAW THE JOB LISTING AT DIGITAL VOICE, AND THOUGHT THE COMBINATION OF EMPOWERING LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND ALLOWING PEOPLE TO TELL THEIR STORIES, AND WORKING WITH VULNERABLE PEOPLE TO ENGAGE AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DIGITAL WORLD REALLY COMBINED MY KEY INTERESTS AND BACKGROUND WELL - AND I'M PLEASED TO SAY THAT IS HOW IT'S TURNED OUT, NOW I'M ACTUALLY WORKING HERE.”
It was clearly meant to be!
Before we finish our coffees, I ask Alison the tricky question of what aspect of her role she enjoys most (only tricky because people struggle to pick just one!):
“I'VE THE BEST JOB HERE, AS I GET TO MEET VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE PEOPLE THAT WE WORK WITH, AND I REALLY ENJOY GETTING TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR PASSIONS, BACKGROUNDS AND WHAT HAS BROUGHT THEM TO JOIN ONE OF OUR PROJECTS OR COURSES. IT'S ALSO A REALLY LOVELY COMMUNITY FEEL TO OUR OFFICE AND WORK ETHOS, AND I CAN FEEL THE YEARS OF GOOD PROJECT WORK THAT HAS GONE ON IN DIGITAL VOICE BY THE SMILING FACES I SEE WHEN I SPEAK TO PEOPLE AND TELL THEM WHERE I'M FROM.“
Smiles all round - a belated welcome to the team Alison, we’re very glad to have you!
To find out about the programmes Alison mentions and more.