I’ve been doing a bit of work again for the Young Vic (look how fancy our season announcement was), and it’s been an interesting contrast to last year when I covered a gap for their social media manager.

The first time I was fairly new to theatre, not quite sure how the rhythms of shows worked, how to access cast and generally having no idea what everyone did. Museums are more of a constant hum, with the occasional blip of special exhibitions. Theatres are a runaway train where you’re working on the current show, preparing for the next show and working against the clock with the pressures of rehearsals, press nights and short runs.

So this time I’ve tried to take more of my own advice. By talking to more people, by being willing to try rather than aim for perfection, to be more honest about what is possible and impossible. Essentially, to not be a silo and bring more of the theatre in. It’s much nicer.

Content of this week

• If you ever do some capital development then please feel free to nick this Borat meme.

• At every place I’ve ever worked I’ve wanted to get kids saying things about art and history but it never quite fell into place, but I never considered getting a kid to do it like they actually know what they’re talking about. So nick a colleague’s kid who doesn’t mind being plastered on social media and having their likeness etched into the algorithm for AI to scrape their likeness for all eternity.

• I’m seeing a lot more of these ‘Come to work with me’ posts, which are basically Instagram Takeovers in a shortform video trenchcoat (and the trenchcoat is blinging and works way better).

• If you work in a theatre, nick this format to show just how long your hours are. I’m planning to.

• This is a format in the vein of that little frog guy being a perfect museum visitor but for gift shops instead. Nice work Wallace Collection.

• This applies to a lot of you.

The bullet point bit

• Dr Cassandra Kist at the University of Strathclyde is doing a study on exploring how AI is currently used, experienced, and negotiated in museum social media practice. If you’ve got 5-10 minutes then the questionnaire is here.

• Speaking of AI, this guy has been doing the rounds showing up how AI lies. It tells you you’re pretty when you’re not.

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

🎮📖 what I’m consuming as a consumer

I’m just inhaling the last two books of Dungeon Crawler Carl and watching people get their faces caved in in Invincible.

🐕 Keith

Here he is