Marketing & PR Manager
Ariane Oiticica is founder of Unavoidable PR, a marketing and PR agency for the creative and cultural sectors.
She is also Marketing & Communications Manager for the award-winning theatre company, Tangle.
Ariane graduated from Queen Margaret University in 2011 with a BA (Hons) Drama and Theatre Arts.
What are you currently working on?
Through my agency, Unavoidable PR, I work across a range of marketing communications, from media relations to marketing campaigns and social media management, to graphic design, and press and marketing consultancy for theatre, visual arts, contemporary events and charitable or inclusivity-focussed projects.
Right now, I’m working with Battersea Arts Centre on communicating the future of its hugely successful programme The Agency and working with Soho Theatre as they prepare to open their brand-new Walthamstow venue in 2023, managing all comms around it in advance to the big launch.
I’m also a freelance Marketing & Communications Manager for Tangle, an award-winning theatre company championing African and Caribbean excellence. We're currently working on our educational and training programme and recruitment AMPLIFY, which offers mentorship opportunities for backstage professionals from the Global Majority, right alongside our plans for our new show opening in October 2022.
For the past two years, I've also had the opportunity to return to QMU as a Visiting Lecturer, talking to Level 4 students from Drama, Theatre Arts, Public Relations and Marketing courses about my experiences since leaving university and the basics of working in Communications and Marketing for the Arts.
And, because I like the adventure and the occasional routine break, I also work as a movie ‘supporting artiste’ – aka extra!
Tell us more about your career path since leaving QMU.
During my first year at QMU, I got a job at the Edinburgh Fringe, working as an assistant for two London-based publicists and I worked with them at every Fringe until I graduated. After graduation, I moved to London and the very same publicists (who have become two of my closet friends) helped me apply for my first roles. This eventually led to a job for a long summer spell in Cannes.
Over the past 10 years, I’ve worked on many exciting shows, exhibitions, and events. I worked as part of the press team at the Barbican Centre for four years and as Press Manager at Soho Theatre for another three years, before going freelance in 2019 and setting up my own agency Unavoidable PR.
I’m incredibly grateful to all the wonderful people I‘ve worked with and for the invaluable learning they’ve shared.
I relish being at the centre of the creative experience; be it a new production from conception to stage and beyond; or watching an exhibition from its initial idea through to its installation.
One advantage that freelancing brings is the opportunity to travel. It’s allowed me to work in Europe over winter in sunnier, warmer climates!
What are your most memorable experiences of being a QMU student?
I loved working as a Student Ambassador at QMU, helping at Open Days and recruitment events in schools and fairs. I enjoyed giving campus tours to prospective students and answering questions about student life, QMU and living in Edinburgh. I remember the excitement and hopeful anxiety in the faces of prospective students, and I enjoyed sharing my experiences with them.
"I was also a member of both student drama groups; Cobweb Theatre Company and the QMU Drama Society – doing all sorts of jobs from acting, producing, stage management, but most important, practicing what would become my eventual career choice in marketing and PR. This experience was incredibly valuable."
What advice would you give to students and new graduates starting out?
Try everything; you never know what you might find out and where you may end up.
Don’t be afraid to fail; that’s how we learn.
Don’t worry about finding the perfect job straight away; do one job at a time and before you know it, you’ve built yourself a career.
Most importantly - have fun.
