Shiona Walker is Senior Membership & CRM Manager at Scottish Ballet.

Along with Alexander Grieves, Projects & Integrations Administrator at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, she volunteers as co-chair of the North of England & Scotland Tessitura Community.

In our latest Q&A Shiona shares what she loves about her job, how Tessitura supports the work that she does and the inspiration she gets from the Tessitura community.

1. What does a typical day include for you?

One of my favourite things at Scottish Ballet is that no two days are the same, clichéd as it sounds. One day I can be in ‘blue sky thinking’ meetings for our membership programme. The next day I can be in the trenches with our power Users, building events or setting up analytics dashboards for our executive team. The next day I can be at one of our touring venues to support press night or a members’ event. It’s brilliantly varied and keeps me focused on our audience as much as our systems.

“One of my favourite things at Scottish Ballet is that no two days are the same. It’s brilliantly varied and keeps me focused on our audience as much as our systems.”

2. How does Tessitura support the work you do?

Tessitura allows us to personalise nearly anything in our process, in an array of creative ways. Many out-of-the-box CRM solutions I’ve used in the past have been so restrictive in comparison. Our organisation’s wish list of needs is never ending. To have near-unlimited solutions to these is vital.

“Tessitura allows us to personalise nearly anything in our process, in an array of creative ways. Many out-of-the-box CRM solutions I’ve used in the past have been so restrictive in comparison.”

3. Why is the Tessitura community important to you?

For the most part, we share common goals with other organisations in the community: streamline processes, drive growth and better understand our audiences with data. There are so many possible ways to approach these. Being able to talk to other members of the community about their success stories is inspiring. We can also explore why something didn’t quite work, and then collaborate to figure out the solution.

“Being able to talk to other members of the community about their success stories is inspiring.”

4. You are chairing an online meetup of your community this week. What are you looking forward to?

Getting everyone from the region together again! I was a ‘pandemic-starter’. I’m sure there are plenty of others like me, as well as many who have been part of the Tessitura community for years. It will be nice to see everyone and to each share a bit about ourselves. Alex and I want to learn how we can best support the needs of the North of England & Scotland Tessitura Community for future events. We hope to make a plan to meet in person soon!

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About the Tessitura community

The Tessitura community is at the heart of all that we do. From new users to seasoned experts, the Tessitura community is comprised of passionate people who know that arts and cultural organisations do best when they work together.

Interested in joining one of our regional, topical or affinity communities? New members are welcome and events take place regularly.

Check out our Community Hub.

Top photo: Scottish Ballet dancers in the company's new film Dive by Sophie Laplane, co-created with James Bonas. Credit Andy Ross.