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MA Arts Management graduates

Our arts management training equips students with the skills and experience needed for a career in the creative sector. Here you can read what some our recent graduates are doing now.

Aled Lloyd Rees

After six years as the Artistic Administrator at Theatr Iolo, Aled is now the Cabaret Producer at the Wales Millennium Centre.

My time at Theatr Iolo provided me with invaluable experience in arts administration, supporting the development and delivery of innovative theatre for young audiences. It was during this period that I decided to further my expertise by pursuing a master’s degree in arts management, with a particular focus on Creative Producing. This journey allowed me to deepen my understanding of producing, audience engagement, and strategic arts leadership, equipping me with the skills to champion and develop new creative work. In 2024, I successfully completed my MA, and I am now dedicated to curating and producing cabaret that is bold, inclusive, and celebratory of diverse voices at the Wales Millennium Centre
Aled Lloyd ReesCabaret Producer

Emily Connor

Emily joined the Arts Management course at RWCMD in 2023. During her placement with London Sinfonietta, Emily shared a freelance job opportunity with the National Youth Orchestra (NYO)

I started with NYO working over the summer to assist their recruitment period, and have since been hired full time as Programmes Coordinator. In my role, I assist the Programmes team in delivering projects in the school holidays for both the main NYO orchestra, and their NYO Inspire programme. This involves inviting musicians to events, prepping music, booking freelance staff, overseeing rehearsals, scheduling travel arrangements, sorting instrument hire, setting up concert and rehearsal spaces, and much more. I thoroughly enjoy the work I do, and it is so rewarding to see the outcome of all our hard work, in the high-quality music produced by the young people involved
Emily Connor

Siân Jenkins

After graduating with a BA in Music from the University of Nottingham, Siân started studying for the MA Arts Management in 2020, undertaking work placements at RWCMD as well as at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Siân progressed into the industry as a Development Assistant at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, before being promoted to Corporate Partnerships & Events Coordinator. In her current role, Siân supports all aspects of corporate fundraising through delivering bespoke events and other benefits to corporate sponsors, as well as creating engaging sponsorship proposals to attract support.

After nine months at Sadler’s Wells, Siân will soon be moving to the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) as Corporate Relations Manager; a role that will offer her additional challenges and an opportunity to make a significant impact on the LPO’s corporate portfolio through building creative proposals and working with the musicians on creating occasions for sponsors.

For Siân the fundraising module as part of the MA Arts Management was instrumental in choosing her career option, and the industry knowledge as part of the MA also significantly helped accelerate her career, which enabled her to progress to management level within one year of completing her studies.

Isobel Craven

Isobel began her career with BBC Orchestras after graduation. She participated in project work for BBC National Orchestra of Wales before relocating to Manchester to work in orchestra management for BBC Philharmonic. Isobel moved back to Wales in 2018 to work for Welsh National Opera in artistic planning with an emphasis on schedule coordination and resource planning.

Isobel is currently Artistic Planning Manager for Welsh National Opera, responsible for the scheduling of the company’s productions from rehearsals to performances and tours, along with the project management of a company-wide planning software system.

Isobel Craven

Lára Sóley Jóhannsdóttir

Lára Sóley Jóhannsdóttir has been the Artistic Director and CEO of the Reykjavík Arts Festival since November 2024. Lára began her professional career in northern Iceland after completing her violin studies at the College in 2006. She worked as a freelance musician and managed various arts projects and concert series.

Lára was named Akureyri Artist of the Year in 2015 and served as concertmaster of the North Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2018. She also worked as an events manager at Hof Culture and Conference Centre from 2010 to 2014 and was the acting managing director for part of 2014.

She completed an MA in Arts Management from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 2019 and subsequently became the Managing Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2019, a role she held until last 2024.

Hope Dowsett

Hope studied Drama & Theatre Studies at Aberystwyth University from 2011 to 2014, and went on to work with a range of arts organisations including Shakespeare Schools Foundation and Small World Theatre before completing the MA Arts Management in 2019.

One of the highlights of her college experience was completing an industry placement with leading inclusive theatre specialists Hijinx Theatre in her final semester. She went on to work with Hijinx as a freelance Arts Administrator from 2019 to 2021 leading on their digital communications during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since September of last year, she has worked as Music Projects Producer for National Youth Arts Wales; connecting young people with musical potential across Wales to projects designed to empower, uplift and inspire them.

Hope is passionate about inclusivity and engagement. She is proud and counts herself lucky to have a job that enables her to improve representation and diversity across the Welsh music sector.

'The course’s vocational focus is unique, and the placements offer valuable experience in the industry. It’s vital to get that time to have on-the-job training, learn more and get experience of what it's like to work in the industry, in different areas - and just to try things out.  
You get to meet so many amazing people from across the arts industry, so you're already starting to build that network of contacts. When you’re working you could meet those people again and again, and so it's the start of relationship building, which is really exciting. '
Hope DowsettGraduate