May 2023
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was held in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine. Hosted by the BBC and the United Kingdom for the first time in 25 years, it broke many records including the highest viewing figures ever on the BBC for the Grand Final at 11 million. The Eurovision Song Contest is the most familiar global non-sporting event with only the FIFA World Cup and Olympics placing higher.

Billy was invited to represent the BBC on event ticketing at the nine sold out arena shows welcoming 64,000 people in one week. The role required international diplomacy, accelerated problem solving, supplier, stakeholder and inventory management, learning new software and systems, on site operations, reporting, evaluation, and a commercially-focused approach.

The broadcast attracted a global audience of 162 million.

“Thank you for all your help on ticketing. It was invaluable and really good to work with you”

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

64,000 tickets
100% sold
73 stakeholder relationships

June 2024 & June 2025
Nevill Holt Festival is a month-long festival of opera, concerts, performances, and conversations, in a RIBA Stirling Prize-nominated theatre, and modern British sculpture gardens with glorious surroundings in the Leicestershire countryside. Building upon a decade of opera performances, the new festival presents classical music, theatre, art, jazz, comedy and contemporary music, alongside talks by leading novelists, historians, broadcasters and artists.

Billy delivered the marketing campaign and managed the ticketing for the inaugural multi-artform summer festival with a novel strategy and fresh brand to attract new audiences but building on the solid foundations of “a five star experience” The Telegraph. Audiences were quadrupled from previous events.

Returning to provide services for the second year of the festival, Billy broadened his scope to include cultivation and fundraising, aiming to increase membership and deepen engagement through timely effective communications, prospecting, and database analysis.

“A considerable marketing challenge”

The Telegraph

400% increase in ticket sales
75% new audiences
multi-channel campaign

May 2024 – August 2024
100 Days of Creativity was a celebration and promotion of the fantastic breadth of ways to express and experience creativity in Birmingham. It was a City Curator project delivered in partnership with West Midlands Growth Company via Visit Birmingham.

Billy invited submissions and supported the curation and promotion of the programme, targeting events from across the vast cultural industry in the United Kingdom’s second city. The role was systems and data driven, focused on brand, communications and independent working.

Project funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

200 events
65 clients
1,000,000 attendees

May 2022 – February 2023
Billed as the United Kingdom’s first permanent immersive digital art gallery, The Reel Store opened in Coventry with the first exhibition Machine Memoirs Space by Refik Anadol, followed by Life and Work of Frida Kahlo.

Billy led, scoped, and executed data evidencing of activity working with commissioners, delivery partners, funders, local authority and academic partners, implementing new processes, assessing data and writing evaluation reports. Continuous review of survey feedback allowed for incremental change and improvement in visitor experience throughout the exhibition period.

“Billy made a huge contribution to the Trust in so many ways that really do go above and beyond. He is the first to step up and help out, to cover activity when needed, to add to thinking, to support projects led by colleagues. Billy has been an asset to the Trust and will be an asset to any organisation that he works for in the future.”

HR & Admin Manager, Coventry City of Culture Trust

43,000 tickets
evaluation strategy
3 evaluation reports

August 2019 – January 2020
Opened in 2023, Aviva Studios, the home of Factory International, is a landmark new cultural space for Manchester and the world. Built with flexibility in mind, the multi-use space can adapt to host any kind of set-up — from intimate theatre shows and intricate exhibitions, to huge multimedia performances and warehouse-scale gigs fit for the greatest artists of our time.

In preparation for the opening of the venue, Billy led a research project to inform the visitor experience strategy including the audit of visitor operations at several major cultural landmarks including Royal Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Centre, Victoria & Albert Museum, National Theatre. The results of the research were presented to the Directors for consideration following completion of the project.

research
strategy informing
major cultural landmarks

February 2025
A spectacular gallery of illuminated artworks transformed Birmingham city centre for four evenings and for the first time, in what will become an annual event: Birmingham Light Festival.

Billy joined the event management team as a zone manager responsible for multiple artworks and events in the Jewellery Quarter with a team of volunteers to welcome visitors to the city in the evening. The role included technical get-in and get-out, liaising with artists and suppliers, managing the live event, ensuring smooth running of operations with evaluation, safeguarding, welcome, security, wellbeing, health and safety.

“Billy was brilliant; consistently demonstrating excellent organisational skills, attention to detail and great service for clients and audiences alike. We look forward to working with him again soon!”

Creative Director, Birmingham Light Festival

11 artworks
50 events
city-wide event

May 2022
Part of the closing of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, The Awakening was a world-first spectacular outdoor circus in Coventry from celebrated French aerial company Gratte Ciel.

Leading the successful marketing campaign for just ten weeks in parallel with directing the ticketing for City of Culture, Billy deployed video direction, social channel advertising, programmatic advertising, media buying, out of home, print production, distribution, copywriting, design, and email marketing. With the campaign on budget, the event attracted a majority local audience with all targets achieved or exceeded.

“Billy exceeded expectations as marketing campaign manager for The Awakening. It was a delight to work with him on this incredible event”

Senior Producer, Coventry City of Culture Trust

8,000 tickets
100% sold
120% financial target

November 2023
Lumiere is the United Kingdom’s light art biennial. Produced in Durham by Artichoke and featuring internationally acclaimed artists, this hugely popular outdoor spectacle is the blueprint for light festivals across the country.

The 2023 edition presented a step-change in the delivery of the four day event as the producers chose to operate the ticketing of Lumiere themselves, implementing software, systems and processes. Billy provided strategic advice and operational leadership in ticketing to the organisation across an extended period throughout 2023 including on-site delivery of the event for a week.

“Thanks for all of your support during Lumiere. We truly couldn’t have done it without you.”

Head of Digital, Artichoke

120,000 tickets
100% sold
new systems

October – December 2024
A collective, and a collective voice, Culture Central speaks with and for all sizes of not for profit and commercial organisations, individual practitioners and freelancers who work in the sector, across all forms of arts, culture and heritage, for the whole of the West Midlands.

Billy stepped in quickly for an interim period to support the external communications for the organisation, including composing and sending emails to the mailing list, originating and scheduling social media posts, maintaining the website and creating digital images for use on all platforms.

multi-media communications
copy writing
graphic design