Today we have the pleasure of chatting to Jenna Mason; Arts and Culture Programmer for The Book Club, Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen and Patterns. She is also the founding Director of Carousel, a social enterprise to promote gender equality in the arts.
Her job involves working at Motherships Head Office in Shoreditch as part of the Creative Team behind Mothership Group. She researches trends in arts and culture and meets people/promotors to run events/workshops/talks in all the venues.
1.Can you tell me about your job, how you got into it?
I programme and manage the arts and culture events for Mothership Group who own bars, nightclubs and restaurants including The Book Club, Queen of Hoxton, and Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen in London and Patterns in Brighton. My job role also includes looking after creative projects like Queen of Hoxton’s rooftop bar theming which changes seasonally every six months, and our immersive Halloween theming at the venues – this year we’re planning a cult Netflix series ‘Stranger Things‘ inspired Halloween party at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen!
Education-wise, I studied Linguistics and Philosophy at uni and then did a masters in Parisian History and Culture. While working on my dissertation in Paris I set up a feminist arts festival called Ladyfest and my love of working in cultural events was born! When I got back to London I set up Carousel (a social enterprise to promote gender equality in the arts) worked for a literary charity and freelanced for different arts and gender equality organisations before joining Mothership group.
2. Tell us a bit about Carousel, how did you get involved in that and does it lend itself well to The Book Club?
I set it up primarily due to frustration with male dominated culture – I wanted to give a platform to artists whose work is too often overlooked and create a space to challenge the industry’s big boys’ club. This has definitely had an impact on the events I choose to programme for The Book Club. There’s a big emphasis on feminist events and these are some of the most popular and engaging events in the programme. It’s clearly something that resonates with our audience, which is brilliant.
3. Where do you look for trends in your industry?
Do you follow certain people online or is it more about going out and about and getting in the thick of it as it were?
I much prefer going to see things in real life than sitting behind a screen. I go to as many exhibitions and events as I can, and am constantly looking for new activities and happenings to keep on top of cultural trends. My favorite places for inspiration include The Wellcome Collection, Southbank, Tate, Whitechapel Gallery, and the ICA. I’m pretty rubbish on social media but I get hundreds of newsletters from interesting websites and read a lot of magazines which keep me up to date with what’s on from websites like Vice, Broadly, Dazed, Rookie Magazine and I love print magazines like Ladybeard (eagerly awaiting issue 2), Riposte and The Gentlewoman.
4. What is your favourite part of your working day?
I get to meet and work with so many interesting and amazingly creative promoters, artists and producers. The highlight of my day is always meeting up with them, finding out what they are working on and coming up with new ideas for events of workshops together. We often let people use the venues spaces for free, so it’s a great creative platform for people with amazing ideas who might not have the money to hire a venue outright. We’ve had everything from butterfly taxidermy and erotic cake decorating workshops to pheromone dating parties! An event can take up to six months to organize from inception to launch – for example our sell out Iris Apfel documentary screening and panel talk last year at The Book Club. We’ve also recently launched a series of our ‘Thinking and Drinking’ style events (which started at The Book Club) into Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, with music documentaries and film nights (in conjunction with Dogwoof), Gospeloke and the ‘Sounds Familiar Music Quiz’. It’s always enjoyable engaging a new audience with fun events like these.
5. You’ve booked a serious variety of events at The Book Club, have any stood out in particular?
Last year Nawal El Saadawi did an event with For Books’ Sake at The Book Club which was really inspiring. She is absolutely incredible - formidable but also really witty and engaging. Some of my favourite events have just been really fun though – I did a dog friendly screening of Laurie Anderson’s film Heart of a Dog at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen recently, which was basically a dream come true. The venue was full of dogs running around everywhere and it was the best kind of mayhem. We gave them doggy beer and popcorn which they all seemed to enjoy!
6. Tell us a little about the pre planning / inspiration behind the Queen of Hoxton rooftop? Where do you get ideas for that?
About 5 months before a theme launches, the whole Creative Team get together and come up with ideas for the rooftop – it’s a big project and it’s always good to have everyone’s thoughts. A lot of it is random idea generation from anywhere and everywhere, but we do look at what’s going on around the world and the kind of aesthetic that seems to be popular with our audience. We also consider which themes lend themselves well to amazing food and cocktail menus and immersive events. The current A Tribute to Dr Strange theme – our take on the summer of love – has been really fun. Given the state of the world right now, we wanted to create something that celebrates the ideas of peace, freedom and unity. Keep your eyes peeled for this winter’s theme – it’s going to be pretty special!
7. Have there been any people you’ve worked with in particular that have really inspired / excited you?
Of all the impressively talented people I’ve worked with, the person who stands out most is Alice Wroe who runs a project called Herstory, which uses feminist art to teach young people about the women’s history missing from the curriculum. I’d been following the project for a while so I asked Alice if she would hold a similar event for adults at The Book Club – we now host this a few times a year (the next one is in November, so keep an eye on the website!) I love what Alice does and her energy, positivity and commitment to change is so inspiring.
**8. What’s your favourite thing to do as an antidote to what sounds like an amazing yet intense job? **
I’m really lucky that my job is also my hobby – my weekends are usually filled with exhibitions, shows, books and beer.
9.If you had to give one piece of advice to someone starting out in events and hospitality industry what would it be?
I very much learned how to do things as I went along and I think that DIY ethos has been really useful. Set something up yourself, whether that means putting on the event you would want to go to, or finding some likeminded people to start a project with. It’s the best way to form a network and you learn a lot very quickly if you’re doing everything yourself!
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Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? Who knows! 5 years ago I wouldn’t have imagined I’d be here, so I try not to plan too far ahead. I prefer to keep my options open and see where it takes me.
11. Last one, could you really briefly run through a typical day?
I am not a morning person at all, but I usually drag myself out of bed between 7 and 8. I get into the office between 9-10am. I like to have a good breakfast like avocado on toast to fuel me for the day, which will usually involve lots of meetings - with the Creative Team, with promoters and with the venue managers. I’ll also spend time researching new ideas and working out logistics for upcoming projects. Lots of lovely friends work nearby our Shoreditch based head office so I usually try and have lunch with one of them. Then it will be on to making sure everything’s in place for that evening’s event. I try and go to as many of the events as I can, which will sometimes mean finishing work at 9 or 10pm. If the evening is free, I usually go to an event elsewhere or for food with friends. We’ve recently launched Smokey Tails restaurant at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen – they do incredible Midwestern BBQ food – which is a current favourite!
Follow Natalia on Instagram: @natal22
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.