BCA Career Spotlight: Administrator
Spotlight on: Almaz Anderson
“One day at a time”
Almaz is one of the newest members of the BCA team and finds it inspiring to work in an organisation where many Black women are in leadership roles – a rarity in the arts and heritage sector. Almaz starts her days by checking her calendar, responding to the latest email enquiries from members of the public, and ensuring that our stakeholders are kept abreast of developments regarding programming and exhibitions.
As an administrative assistant, Almaz spends much of her time doing admin processes and figuring out how they can be improved to benefit the organisation and facilitate collaboration between departments. A recent project of hers involved working cooperatively with the IT team to ensure technological uniformity across the organisation and that all staff members, existing and new, had access to all the programmes and software needed to successfully carry out their roles.
Since university, where she studied Film Studies and Screen Practice, a large part of Almaz’s career has been situated in the arts sector with an internship at MTV studios, a voluntary position at Black Filmmaker magazine, and a variety of roles at the British Film Institute before moving to Black Cultural Archives.
Almaz offsets the sure, stable hand her role requires with more creative pursuits such as writing, filming, and editing. With the small and hands-on nature of Black Culture Archives, she has the opportunity to help with projects centred around these hobbies and relearn and develop the associated skills.
In a demonstration that the personal is often professional, one of Almaz’s goals in 2023 is to ‘learn more about Black British history’, and given that she works at 'The home of Black British History', we are sure she is in the right place to achieve this objective.
“One day at a time” is a line from Almaz’s favourite poem by Lemn Sissay. Though it is at odds with the forward-thinking required to execute her role, it is a salve she recommends be used by those still trying to chart the course of their careers and one she uses safe in the knowledge that her proudest professional moments are yet to come.
Schools: Seeing Ourselves Workshops
Did you know that we offer interactive 'Seeing Ourselves Workshops' aimed at raising career aspirations in the arts for children in Key Stage 1? Explore different roles in the arts and heritage sector with associated characters 5-7 year olds might better relate to:
Conservator (Superhero), Archivist (Explorer), Curator (Storyteller) and Artist (Spy).