I undertook my Churchill Fellowship during the winter of 1974-1975, studying the management of opera companies in the USA and Europe, and while employed as the Company Manager of the Royal Opera Company, London. Shortly after returning to the UK, I accepted the position of Administrator of the King's Lynn Festival and the Fermoy Arts Centre, broadening my work experience from opera to all the major art forms.

In 1980 I moved to Yorkshire to take up the post of Music Officer with the Yorkshire Arts Association, which provided invaluable experience of British arts funding systems. Between 1983 and 1985 I was the Music Officer for Bradford District Council, organising among other things the 1985 Bradford Delius Festival. I moved to Sheffield in 1985 to become Director of Arts for Sheffield City Council, responsible for arts provision across the city. My work in Sheffield included the restoration of the Lyceum Theatre and the creation of the Millennium Gallery.

I left local government in 1997 to study for a PhD at the University of Sheffield on the history of the recording industry, followed by two postdoctoral projects, and the creation of the record company, CRQ Editions.