Colette Baptie

From the bustling corridors of Glasgow Caledonian University to the vibrant stages of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Colette Baptie has made an exhilarating career for herself in arts and culture PR.

Her passion, persistence and a profound love for the creative industries has propelled her to the forefront of one of the world’s most iconic arts festivals, as she takes on the role of Press Manager for the Gilded Balloon at this year’s Fringe.

Her time as a student on GCU’s Media and Communications course helped her identify that arts and culture PR was the path she wanted to pursue.

“At the time, GCU was one of the only universities offering the type of course I wanted, which was a mix of theory and practical across communications and events.

“I was initially drawn to that style of degree because I knew I wanted to use skills like writing and critical thinking but didn’t want to do a traditional course like History or English Lit, which seemed a little more restrictive.”

This unique blend of theory and practice equipped Colette with a broad skill set which would be invaluable for a career in PR and event management, and opened her eyes to the possibilities that came with her degree.

“It was the PR and Event Management modules at GCU that made me realise where I wanted to work in the future, rather than in fields like video production, editing, or advertising.

“We also had a lot of great guest lecturers come in, and a few of these were from big PR agencies I had heard of, so that was always a great way to learn more about how we could actually put our degree into practice.”

From there, Colette took those opportunities that were offered to her through her course, doing an internship with a Glasgow PR agency between her third and fourth year, and working on T In the Park for two summers.

After graduating, she travelled to Australia and gained further experience at the Adelaide Fringe and the Australian Open, before returning back to a full-time job at the PR agency she’d interned with in Glasgow.

“I ended up there for almost five years and worked my way up from T in the Park intern to running the Press Office onsite for TRNSMT Festival.

I moved to another agency to get some more experience across different consumer accounts before taking the leap and going freelance last year, now doing arts and culture PR for different clients.”

Freelancing has opened up further exciting opportunities for Colette, namely working at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, which ran through the month of August.

To anyone who fancies a thrilling career in arts and culture PR, Colette’s advice is to prioritise getting experience and let your genuine love for the industry guide you.

“It’s a pretty difficult time to work in the arts and creative industries just now with a lack of funding across the board, but it’s worth it to work on projects and events that you really believe in.