Well, it’s Been A Year. Thank you all for reading my stupid writing that I don’t put enough thought into for a newsletter I barely market even though that’s kind of my job.

It’s been my first full year as a freelancer and it’s been alright so far. Working remotely depressed me when I was in-house, but for some reason when I’m on my tod with just the dog to talk to and without waiting for a dreaded Slack notification I seem to deal with it better?

Anyway, I’ve got the most popular links from all my newsletters this year below, but I thought I’d also do the classic ‘things I’ve learned this year’ list too:

• I’m a naive believer in meritocracy and level playing fields, but we made up those concepts in a well-meaning effort to counter humanity’s base nature. It’s true what they say: networking is the key to everything.

• Strategy is both the most important thing in the world and the least important thing for doing content. You need it to define what you do and don’t do, where you’re trying to get to and who’s involved, but when all of that foundation is established the end result is somone sitting at a laptop or on their phone thinking of something to create. I’ve started making the strategy process much leaner and quicker, then focusing just as much effort in testing that strategy in the trenches.

• Usually people just need good ideas. Social media means posting something ideally every day and it’s exhausting. Getting a team comfortable and confident enough to brainstorm, constructively criticise and have the bravery to try something new is gold dust.

• You can kind of teach old dogs new tricks, but very often you just need someone who’s innately good. That good can come in different forms: they might be great on camera, they could come up with amazing ideas, they could be a fantastic writer, they could be perfect for wrangling and supporting colleagues. It takes a village, but you’re usually amplifying individual strengths rather than forcing people to do something they’re not good at.

• GLAM can learn a shit ton from performing arts, and vice versa. GLAM are great at stories and structures, performing arts are great at people and getting shit done.

• I’m terrified of Making Tax Digital.

Content of the newsletter so far

• Choose a fall drink and we’ll tell you which artifact you are

• someone who knows everything about witchcraft and spells 🤝 someone who has bay leaf ashes in a pot

• me forcing my date to listen to a historic analysis of the Shropshire Union Canal

• the very unaesthetic parts of my house

• Ladies!!! If your man isn’t all of these things then that’s not your man, it’s St Simeon Stylites

• No bad angles when you’re a 1,300 year old hand-written and hand-decorated Anglo-Saxon manuscript

• Hidden secrets from the museum of arts

• My name is Daniel and I’ve been a professional stage manager for 23 years

• TFL/MTA mash-up

• Sad Tiny Chef :(

• Your brain thinks these crabs are different sizes

• my campus

• Lo-fi clip clops and bleats to relax/study to

• I am not a Christmas present, I am a long-term archaeological conservation project

• Our nephews keep going on about 6-7?

• POV: You enter the Mary Rose Museum expecting to see “a bit of old wood”

• Artists at the museum / Art historians at the museum

• My dad peeled a bit of the boat’s paint off

The bullet point bit

• Some things which weren’t content were also the most clicked-on:

  • Remember: your message is not the hook

  • Interview with the National Trust’s Social Media Manager

  • Literally just a website about shoelaces

• Louise Cohen also did a round-up of what she’s learned as a content strategist this year, and she’s one of the best.

• The Hodge Review of Arts Council England is out and it’s…actually not the worst, and basically says ‘the goverment should really invest in arts and culture but we don’t have any money, so instead we should encourage philanthropy and make the sector pay for itself’. As someone who once managed an NPO I’m glad they’re recommending making reporting less onerous, devolving decision-making and rolling applications. Don’t agree with the push-back on boycotting sponsors though, which is basically making green- and genocide-washing part of government cultural policy. Just Fund The Arts And Encourage Us To Make Money Without That Please.

Personal stuff I do for me and you can just skip this if you like

🎮📖 what I’m consuming as a consumer

I liked the new Knives Out way more than Glass Onion. A bit long and a bit of a wasted cast, but it had heart.

🐕 Keith

Here he is. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I won’t be back until January.