A Day in the Life of Michael Ockwell, Chief Executive and Creative Director of Mayflower Theatre and MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton
I have been fortunate to work in Southampton since 2012 and am privileged to call this City my adopted home. My role involves connecting and communicating with a variety of people from within the City and also outside of our region and I am particularly delighted that Southampton is bidding for the City of Culture for 2025, as I have been involved in that process since its inception.
A standing joke in my family, is my children asking at breakfast how many meetings I have had today - my life seems to revolve around meeting people. However, that is a key part of my role; facilitating discussions, putting people together to create exciting projects and enabling my colleagues to maximise their full potential through the opportunities we can offer them.
My job has never been a 9-5 and the days can be long, especially when there are new shows to see in either of our venues or productions to view further afield that we might want to bring to Southampton. I see myself as a cultural broker, hopefully finding and offering inspiring experiences to all that come in contact with our organisations. We have some amazing people working within the Mayflower Theatre and MAST and part of my role is to choose productions that visit our stages.
I firmly believe that people do business with people that they like and who share the same values, this is why we have been pleased to support Wessex Heartbeat over the last 10 years.
A day in my life...No two days are ever the same in my job but I love the feeling that we are making a difference in our City but more fundamentally, a difference to the mental health and wellbeing of our residents. Whilst Wessex Heartbeat offer such brilliant practical support to our physical wellbeing, I see our theatres role, is to help replenish the soul.
Michael Ockwell, Chief Executive & Creative Director