Greame Farrow, Director Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's
OURS IS A very broad church, covering all the arts, from music to theatre and dance. As such I have to be a bit of a jack of all trades and know about each.
I started with the festival as a volunteer, helping with get-outs - getting production equipment out of venues after an act. I came over from Sunderland because my girlfriend, now wife, is from here. Then I got a job as a cashier in Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast's only art-house cinema, and moved on to do PR for the festival, ending up as director.
It's a full-time year-round job. We have 65 events in 17 days, which is as many as some venues stage in a year.
We have a team of eight full-time staff, with 100 volunteers coming on board at festival time. In the run-up to opening night we work from 9am to around midnight daily.
First up each morning we have a team meeting to discuss ticket sales and to see what we can do to boost them. We sold 40,000 tickets last year. When you include free events, 60,000 people come to the festival. But the big stress is always ticket sales. No matter how well they sell, you still worry.
Getting the programming right is another big challenge. The festival grew up at a very difficult time in the city's history, and as a result Belfast people coming out to events wanted to be entertained and challenged at the same time. That's why we're the only festival where you'll see a classical-music concert back to back with a stand-up comic.
After that we have a production and logistics meeting. We have 479 artists coming to Northern Ireland. Their travel and accommodation all has to be organised and their needs looked after once they arrive.
This year we've got the biggest name we've ever had, Ennio Morricone, which was a real coup. We worked for two years to get him. He does hardly any shows, and the only other ones he's doing this year are in St Mark's Square in Venice and in the Kremlin. People are coming from Japan and the US just to see him.
The biggest issue we face each year is funding, but thankfully Ulster Bank stepped in as sponsor last year, and that has made us much more secure and taken some pressure off me.
But it's still a very stressful time. Every year when it's over I wonder could I possibly go through all that again. But the answer is always yes. I get a great buzz out of it.
I also get to travel around to see shows we might book and, just sometimes, come out of a theatre punching the air over what I've seen. That's the feeling I want for our audiences.
• In conversation with Sandra O'Connell
Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's runs until November 1st.
www.belfastfestival.com.
For accommodation, see www.northernireland.com