The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Katy Hundertmark, CJS employee, Stills
Katy Hundertmark, 26, became a CJS employee with Stills a year ago. Here she shares her experience with the CJS programme and how she utilised the training fund:
"I became aware of CJS in October 2017 when I stumbled across a job advertisement on Creative Scotland’s opportunity webpage.
"Before starting at Stills I had been working in various fields for many years. Some of the jobs I did include English tutoring for a German kindergarden, work as a freelance photographer and Communications Assistant for an arts organisation called SCAN. On top of these jobs I gained a lot of experience through personal projects and exhibitions.
"After spotting the job advert on Creative Scotland I visited my local job centre and submitted an application form. The interview with my line manager lasted almost 40 minutes and I received a positive answer shortly after.
"My role as Information Assistant was set out to cover mostly front-of-house work, administration of course and facility bookings and assistance with day-to-day tasks. After an adaption phase of a few weeks I started assisting with various other jobs, including online marketing and social media engagement.
"Unseen Amsterdam brings together the international photography community to discuss and debate the directions in which the photographic medium is evolving, exclusively focusing on what’s new in the photography world. A few of the objectives of the training opportunity were to gain new insights into current international tendencies, attend talks and panel discussions and make new contacts. In many ways it is ‘the place to be’ for young professionals and this was reflected by the dynamic and diverse programme and audience.
"On my last day in Amsterdam I visited the Steijdelek Museum, one of Hollands leading Contemporary Arts Museums near the famous Rijksmuseum. I was very impressed to see so many modern photography pieces back to back with paintings and sculptures. A sign that times are changing and that photography is accepted as an equal in the ‘fine arts’ more and more. All in all the trip to Amsterdam was a very significant experience in my career and I returned to Scotland with fresh wind, new ideas that will feed into my personal work and my job at Stills.
"I would definitely recommend the CJS programme to anyone at the beginning of their working career. For now I intend to pursue my new role as Programme Assistant and gain more experience in the gallery environment, while continuing to develop my own creative practice."
