The Creative Way

Showcasing id-East

2010-06-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

id-East brought together media industry experts to assess the work submitted by schools and colleges across East London. They were asked to select the pieces of work that they felt demonstrated creativity and imagination as well as technical competence - the decisions they made were tough as the work was of an amazingly high standard but we now have our winners and we'll be celebrating their success at The Royal Festival Hall on the 29th of June - it'll be a great event so if you would like to come along then please do get in touch (s.williams@uel.ac.uk).

id-East Showcase Event

2010-06-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

id-East is currently assessing all of the great work submitted to our competition and will be finalising who the winning students are in the coming week. We are also organising a fabulous showcase event which will show off all of the work we received from the participating schools and colleges across East London. The event will take place on Tuesday 29th June and will be in the amazing Royal Festival Hall, invitations will be being sent out very soon, so look out for yours!

Framestore Visit

2010-05-17T07:09:00.000-07:00

Last week the globally renown and award winning VFX company, Framestore, asked id-East to come along to their head quarters on Wells Street in London to learn more about what cutting edge VFX is, how to get work and key attributes that recruiters in the visual effects world are looking for. The aim of the visit was to really enthuse students about the wonders of what working in the world of special effects could be like and what they might expect to be to be doing within it.

id-East invited students and tutors from the schools and colleges participating in the project to come along and spent an hour in the main cinema of Framestore with Ben Owen the Crew Manager and Recruiter at Framestore. Ben introduced the business of Framestore and then showcased some of the incredible work that they have done on films like the spectacular 3D Avatar; the visually award winning Sherlock Homes and the feature length animation Tales of Despereaux. Some of the demonstrations really highlighted the processes involved in building up an image and Ben explained some of the work that takes place in getting an idea worked through to completion. He also suggested the forms of key industry standard technical expertise expected from those successful in gaining employment at Framestore as well as the dedication and commitment.

It was a really successful visit which left students inspired and informed with some being absolutely blown away by the level of detail in some of the special effects being used in producing moving images in multiple media, including advertisements, animation, TV interludes and film. One student exclaimed “I had no idea there was so much to it, it’s amazing, a bit scary just the level we need to get to, but amazing!” Everyone who attended seemed really impressed and keen that more activities take place which expose them to real live industry expectations.

The next visit on offer to the id-East partnership will be a little later this week to Channel 4, which will also give id-East students even more insight into the world of working in the media!

If you would like any more information or would like to be involved then please do contact Sarah Williams at The Creative Way (s.williams@uel.ac.uk).

Music Industry Live at Mid-Kent College, 07/05/10

2010-05-14T02:53:00.000-07:00

What a fabulous day to showcase the latest developments in the music industry this was! Hosted by Mid-Kent College - in the shiny and impressive new Medway campus - this modern environment was the perfect setting for a day packed with demonstrations of cutting-edge music technology.

Students from Mid-Kent College, Havering College of Further and Higher Education, and local GCSE students from The Hundred of Hoo school streamed into the glass concourse to sign up for the day’s workshops and to eagerly queue for the opening of the trade stands.

Exhibiting at the event was: Ableton, Audient, Bose, IK Multimedia , JHS Guitars , Roland , Steinberg, Toolroom Records , The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance and The University of Kent .

Demonstrations and workshops ran throughout the day. These proved to be extremely popular with the students - they were all booked up before the event had even opened. And they were well worth booking in for!

First up in the theatre was Craig Blundell - percussion specialist, drummer and producer – demonstrating the wonders of Roland’s Hand Sonic , RC-50 loop station , the TD9 drum kit and the SPD-S sampling pads. Seeing a master at work on these incredible pieces of kit was an absolute treat. Craig Blundell’s technological genius, and immense percussion skill, provided the perfect opportunity for the young music students to witness the vast musical scope that such kit presents.

Up in the studio, Andrew Schravamade, Steinberg, had a heaving room of students gripped with a Cubase 5 demo. Andrew’s humorous delivery entertained, as he demonstrated the features of this software. Completely flattening the vibrato on a recorded track, he joked about the Cher-(DoYou Believe in Life After Love)-effect, asking the students to promise to never make such heavily-produced tunes, jokingly threatening to kill any who might be tempted; though he swiftly remarked “But you’ll probably have a no.1 hit, in which case I’ll be asking you to drive me around in your Porsche!” And, at the end of the session, with the promise of half-price software to students, the room quickly emptied out to the trade area where the students could have a play for themselves.

Other demos and sessions featured: JHS Guitars , The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance , masterclasses with Funkagenda and an Ableton and Novation workshop.

The day proved to be a huge success in bringing together members (students and staff) from within The Creative Way partnership, to share a learning experience in the technical and creative advancement of the music industry; and to widen the students’ gaze in respect of the possibilities within music-making, and within the available progression routes via Higher Education towards a career in music.

Partners working within the Music Industry Live project plan to continue such events in future years, allowing students and staff to continually keep abreast of music industry advancement, and to continue to build the very valuable industry links for the delivery of vocationally-rich curriculum.

Next Music Industry Live event – Tuesday 18th May at the Albany Theatre, Deptford. For more information email info@musicindustrylive.org

Lindsey Pugh, Programme Manager for Performing Arts and Music, The Creative Way, 11/05/10

Dance Toolkit

2010-05-14T02:44:00.000-07:00

Last week saw the second, and hugely successful, Higher Education Progression Toolkit day for The Creative Way Dance Network

Students from the network’s Further Education partner colleges, from across the Thames Gateway, were warmly welcomed into Laban for a day packed with activities.

Right from the start of the bursting agenda, there was a real buzz about the day. The college students gathered to register, and made their way through the bright and colour-kissed concourse of the Laban centre for the day’s introduction in the lecture room. One student excitedly declared, “Today’s going to be really good!”

With all students gathered, Veronica Jobbins, Head of Professional Studies: Education and Community Programme, Laban, delivered a presentation filled with information about the various study routes in dance: University, Conservatoire or Vocational School?

Following this was an interactive session focused on the ‘healthy dancer’. This provided a forum for the students to consider the ways in which dancers can strengthen, maintain and nourish their bodies for optimum performance within an active career.

With minds brimming with the varied possibilities within a dance career, the students continued the morning with a dance industry panel discussion, to learn more of the opportunities available within this vocation. The panel included: Sarah Dowling, dance-theatre artist; Pearl Jordan, creative homeopath, dance artist and choreographer; Paradigmz, performance artist; and Anne-Marie Smalldon, Artistic Director, Combination Dance Company and Sky Blue Pink Productions

This panel of professionals offered a real treat of inspirational stories of their own varied career journeys, with strong motivational messages instilling self-belief and determination in the dance students. Ama, Lewisham College dance student, expressed thanks for “a good choice of panel; all from different routes; all with something valuable to say”. She concluded: “I feel really inspired. I’ll take something from all of them”.

The infused messages from the panel discussion - encouraging the students to learn all that they can, be a ‘jack of all trades’, flexible and, ultimately, more employable – provided the dance students with all the encouragement needed for the afternoon’s mixed programme of dance workshops in ballet, contemporary and street dance. The studios were hives of activity, bursting with energy and enthusiasm. Students keenly engaged with all styles of dance, giving all that they had to each scheduled session.

At the end of a very gratifying day, the college students expressed much thanks to colleagues at Laban for hosting the day, which offered great insight to the variety of available study routes in dance – noting the programme’s particular success in demystifying the courses offered via conservatoire and vocational training, posing the question, ‘why don’t other conservatoires and vocational schools do this?’

Back at their various Thames Gateway institutions, one week on, reports from the students’ tutors are equally positive. The students have reportedly been left enthused by the industry panel’s encouragement that, with determination, they can achieve great things. This has impacted in the positive realisation that they can make their own opportunities in life, and in their careers. Now equipped with information about the available study routes, the students now feel empowered to make informed choices about their next step towards a career in dance.

Lindsey Pugh, Programme Manager for Performing Arts and Music, The Creative Way, 06/05/10

id-East launches.

2010-04-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

This unique programme is just about to launch with a whole new look and a feel. id-East is a unique project, funded by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and supported by Channel 4, Framestore, BBC and Apple. Inspired by multi-media nature of the 2012 Olympics, the project aims to raise awareness of the creative talent which exists in the schools and colleges of East London, specifically around digital media, and to develop a hub through which media related organisations can access and influence the ideas and innovations developing in the East of London while also providing cutting edge information to educators about the new evolving careers within the media industry.

A number of schools and colleges across East London have been invited to submit work produced by their media students by May 6th, each piece will be viewed by a panel of media industry experts and those thought to demonstrate real creative flair will ‘win’ the prize of a place on an intensive media Summer training programme taking place at the beginning of July delivered by Bridge Training, who are based beside the new International Broadcast Centre in Hackney Wick. All of the work will be presented at a fabulous showcase event taking place on June 24th where winners will be presented with their award and a whole range of media experts and educationalists will be in attendance.

Running alongside the id-East competition are a number of media industry visits which teachers, tutors and students are invited to attend to learn more about how certain aspects of the media industry work and the variety of job roles that are available. So far we have visits taking place at Framestore, the BBC, Channel 4 and Apple.

Lots more information will be coming out about id-East in the coming weeks but in the meantime if you would like any more information or would like to be involved then please do contact Sarah Williams at The Creative Way (s.williams@uel.ac.uk).

New University Challenges

2010-02-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

Post by Liz Pearson, Director The Creative Way

This week’s record rise in UCAS applications provides a sharp reminder – if one were needed – that the demand for higher education looks set to rise. But HEFCE’s recent announcement of cuts in teaching budgets provide an equally sharp reminder that rising demand is outstripping the capacity of the public sector to fund any significant increases in the supply of HE.

Last week’s Creative Way Round Table event at The Work Foundation looked at the case for continued investment in higher education in the Thames Gateway and explored the range of potential innovations which might strengthen provision and boost the case for investment.

Will Hutton framed the discussion with an overview of the accelerating process of structural change in the economy, emphasised the shift to knowledge based sectors and knowledge intensive occupations, and pointed out that this shift provides the basis for a higher share of GDP to go into higher education - in the longer term.

The trick now is to ‘catch the tide’.... and position for the longer term.

Some interesting issues were raised. The question of curriculum, for example. What does a curriculum for a knowledge economy look like... ? (interesting here to reflect on developments now underway elsewhere, at the Universities of Aberdeen, Hong Kong and Melbourne, for example). How do we meet increased expectations as to the experience and rewards likely to flow from participation – and personal investment – in higher education? And what are the implications of closer industry involvement in the funding and provision of higher education?

These are all big questions.... and one response in harsh times could be to batten down the hatches and withdraw from collaborative engagement. A more enlightened approach, and one the discussion seemed to favour, will be to strengthen collaborative engagement as a means of de-risking the process of piloting innovative changes in curriculum, new models of delivery and new funding models.

We’re now facing harsh times – but as Sir David Melville reminded us, Thames Gateway institutions have a strong track record of successful collaboration – and the capacity for successful innovation.

Contact us at The Creative Way if you’d like to find out more....

Rebel Rebel

2010-01-29T06:21:00.000-08:00

Here’s another great example of collaboration between two Creative Way partners:

London Metropolitan University has joined forces with a group of students from South Essex College of Further & Higher Education to highlight the negative aspects of urban street culture for a new exhibition Rebel, Rebel.

20 students on the BTEC National Diploma Fashion & Clothing – Fashion Promotion course were asked to look at street fashion through the decades and the links between fashion, gang culture and negative trends. The challenging brief was co-written with Marianne Forrest, Senior Lecturer for BA (Hons) Design at London Met’s Sir John Cass Department of Art, Media and Design (The Cass). (taken from the London Met website click here for the rest of the article...)

This is part of a Creative Way funded project being run by Jo Stringer at South Essex College (formally SEEC). Jo is developing a new L3 qualification in Fashion promotion. What’s particularly interesting is that she’s building it in consultation with HE institutions across the Thames Gateway. And not just with fashion course leaders. She’s also busy building links with other disciplines such as photography, design, and graphics to ensure students have choices when they’re ready to move into HE. Jo has even managed to create links with Canterbury Christ Church University’s BA Photography course. This is taught at CCCU’s Broadstairs campus and, without a boat, it’s about as far from Southend as you can get in the Gateway. Four L3 students have applied to progress as a result of partnership workshops.

Collaborations like this are knitting together education and skills providers across the Thames Gateway. While critics of the wider Thames Gateway regeneration project question its purpose and impact, the Creative Way partnership of colleges, universities and private training providers are quietly building an architecture of real educational opportunity, improving the skills and qualifications profile of the region and devising innovative and collaborative ways to deliver creative education.

id-East

2009-12-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

id-East
Identifying Digital Media Talent in East London

The world is now a digital space with digital media touching pretty well everything we do. Digital media drives new ideas, brings new applications and generates new jobs and new business.
id-East brings new opportunities.
We’re looking for talented young people in East London schools and colleges to take place in id-East 2010. You’ll have the chance to:
• Take part in the id-East student challenge – enter your digital media course work into our competition and awards programme
• Find out more about working in the digital media industry through our programme of master classes and industry visits
• Take part in our on-line Creative Exchange programme
• Showcase your digital media work at our awards event to be held in June 2010
We want digital media professionals to get involved too...could you:
• Run a master class for young people interested in a digital media career
• Host a work place visit
• Provide work placement opportunities for talented young people
• Offer sponsorship or awards.
id-east 2010 will be launched in January 2010. To find out more and register your interest, contact Sarah Williams at The Creative Way (s.williams@uel.ac.uk)

Innovation Architecture

2009-12-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

Entry by Richard Pyle, Policy & Communications Manager

Yesterday Judy Kenney and I were fortunate to be invited to a meeting at the Work Foundation of their Ideopolis City Leadership Network. This group involved key representatives from local and national government who are charged with some kind of urban development. The speakers were Will Hutton, Barbary Cook (Policy & Business Development Manager at Belfast City Council), and Chris Murray (Director of Core Cities).

Core Cities is a network of England’s major regional cities (i.e. not London) working in the area of economic development. Chris talked about the work their partner cities have been doing identifying the major drivers of regional growth and how areas like planning, public procurement, and skills can all be focussed to effect real economic change. Of particular interest to us was what Chris said about the importance of the creative economy. When asked how he’d spend £10 million right now, he was clear that it would go into developing the creative economy; thus creating the environment to attract people (and money). This really chimes with the work of The Creative Way – matching skills to employment opportunities in the creative industries to drive economic growth in the Thames Gateway. Chris was interested to hear what we were doing as an example of something that’s already happening.

Will Hutton concentrated on one particular element of their Ideopolis Programme – the architecture of innovation. The Work Foundation argues that in order for cities to drive local economic development they have to create a climate of innovation. In identifying what might achieve that climate, they have created “Innovation Architecture”. This concept identifies 6 drivers:
1) Knowledge creation & diffusion
2) Selection and dissemination or research
3) Entrepreneurial experimentation
4) Human capital development
5) Market formation
6) Financial mobilisation

It seems clear that our partnership is well placed to work together to confront these challenges (well the first 4 at least). Indeed much was said about the need for pilot partnerships to look at how these economic drivers can be practically realised. For information on some of our work in these areas, have a look at our website, in particular the section on our Media Skills Project. We’re also in the process of identifying further projects, all of which seem to address this agenda on one or more ways.

Will Hutton told Judy and I that he was off this week to present the Innovation Architecture to Cameron and Osborne (the government’s already seen it). It seems to be gaining some momentum. My only concern is the impact of decisions like this on our ability to realise this agenda.

Making Tracks

2009-11-26T05:14:00.000-08:00

Today The Creative Way is gathering at Point Blank Music in Hackney to celebrate the signing of a number of progression agreements created as a result of our Making Tracks project. This aimed to increase progression to and through HE for students in the Thames Gateway who are studying music or music production at college. A partnership was formed between Canterbury Christ Church University, Point Blank Music (a private training provider in Hackney), and a number of colleges in the Thames Gateway. Students were given guaranteed interviews to Point Blank's HNC and/or CCCU's music production degrees, which are taught at their Broadstairs campus. The HE institutions also ran workshops for students in which they were given the opportunity to try state-of-the-art equipment and listen to performances from current undergraduates. This work will continue as part of the progression agreements being signed today. Below is an interview we did with one of the students, Geoff. Geoff's story hits on a number of themes.
We come across stories like Geoff's all the time in our work:

No family tradition of creative careers ‘they didn’t see my creative side as a path to a career’.
The value of ‘proper production courses’ (ie as opposed to training courses from equipment suppliers trying to sell to you).
The impact of government withdrawing funding for second degrees.
The value of a practical, vocational, specialist course taught by specialist practitioners with contacts with industry.
Different types of courses suit different nees - HNC is the qualification needed for Geoff rather than the more academic qualifications, he already has a degree.

Anyway - we'll leave you to draw your own thoughts on Geoff's story. We'll feature more case studies in the coming few days. Visit our website for more info on the project.

Geoff Raggett is a singer-songwriter from Farnham, Surrey. His music can be heard here : www.myspace.com/geoffraggett. He describes his music as guitar-driven melodic pop. He is inspired by the simplicity of good pop, especially music from the 60s, as embodied by artists such as Burt Bacharach. He calls it nursery rhymes to music.

He is influenced by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Donovan and the 60s folk scene, and Nick Kershaw. In the summer of 2009 he graduated from Point Blank Music College with an HNC in Music Production. This development of this HNC was funded by The Creative Way as part of their Making Tracks projects.

What was your educational journey that led up to you starting the HNC in Music Production?
I studied a degree in Tourism Management at Brighton University before this and graduated in 2000. I did this, I think, because it was the prescribed path, you went to university, it was the next cog. I come from a family of hard-grafters, they didn’t see my creative side as a path to a career, it was a hobby.

What did you do after university?
My friend worked at RBS so through her I got a job there. It was just glorified temping really and like so much in life, I got through the backdoor, it wasn’t really intentional. I really wanted to concentrate on my music though, so I moved to London in 2004 and started working in music venues, such as BarFly, so I was in the right place, meeting the right people.

What made you consider going back into higher education?
At the beginning it was the norm for aspiring artists to book a studio for a day and record and produce your songs that way. The studios were about £200 per day and you often had to pay a producer too. With artists like Mike Skinner though, that changed a bit. People kept appearing saying “I did this myself, from my bedroom”. The ipod came out, people were promoting their work over myspace, which was great, but it also meant that the standard of tracks being sent to publishers was much higher.
All of this made me realise that I’d had enough of relying on other people and that I needed to look into having the skills and equipment necessary to record and produce my own stuff. My first instinct was to look at what equipment I needed. I went to specialist stores and paid for their in-house lectures and one-to-ones, thinking that these would give me an idea. I didn’t find these useful, most of the employees were just trying to sell your their products, were disinterested in my music and how the equipment could make it better, and really didn’t want to be there. It was then that I started to look into proper music production courses.

What barriers existed to you returning to higher education?
I was already in debt and the government took away funding for students who’d already completed a degree, so I couldn’t do a full 3 year undergraduate again. There was also the pride issue, I was back in a class and I was 29/30 years old. I was the mature student I used to hate! I wasn’t messing about, I planned my time, didn’t do the all nighters or freak out like some of the other students. That said, I was still in there 24/7 come March!

What did you enjoy about the course?
It made me realise the importance of being around other artists and collaborating. I used to be very protective of my ideas, my songs were my babies. I think a lot of the other students on the course started off like that too. It was great seeing how other people’s ideas completely transformed your songs and made them completely different.
I was working on a song, Veronica Vessie, with Ephraim, who was also studying on the course. We had a clear idea of what we wanted the song to sound like, very 60’s influenced. We were also working with another student who was coming at it from a completely different angle. Then he laid down this beat which completely transformed the song, making it much more commercial/pop and more likely to receive day-time radio airplay. It took a bit to admit he was right!

What technical aspects of the course helped your work?
I’m more of a performer and a songwriter than a producer, but as I said, I needed skills to produce my own work. The course introduced me to Apple’s Logic programme which I use to record and produce my songs.
We also had a Music Business Module from Julia Jones. She showed us how many jobs there are out there in the music industry – you just have to be thoughtful and have a wider scope. At the moment, for example, I’m offering my skills commercially to support me. I go to open-mic nights and artists pay me to record their work. I use the skills I acquired from the HNC. It also means I’m learning whilst I’m working.
I really enjoyed the final project. We wrote 3 songs as a group (The Calloways) and had to come up with the branding and marketing plan etc. We demanded a final performance – it wasn’t in the curriculum but I think it is now. Paul Letworth also came in to do a tutorial. He’s produced artists like Florence & The Machine, Friendly Fires, Bloc Party, and Kate Nash. He played us a song by one of his acts before and after the production process. The difference was astounding!
Mostly though I got exactly what I needed – the ability to realise my own songs. That is what I’m now doing. I now know exactly what equipment to buy to get the most from my music. I don’t think the course gave me any kind of massive epiphany. Instead it taught me that the creative process is a gradual one and to find my own sound. I don’t want to be another wannabe Richard Ashcroft, there are so many of them, I want my sound to be commercial enough to be used in the media for example. The course helped me shape my music in that way.
At the moment I’m hoping for some interest from publishers, but it takes time, and as I said, I’m from a family of grafters so I’ll keep going!

You had a guaranteed place at Canterbury Christ Church Universtity to get a full degree because you completed this HNC, why didn’t you take it?
Well first of all, I’d already done a degree, so the government weren’t going to fund me. It would have cost far too much. Quite a few people have gone on to the course, but for me I’d already had the full degree experience and I retained those academic skills. The HNC was just what I needed – a very focussed, short, and technical course that gave me the skills I needed right then. If I went back it would be to do vocal therapy, something I’m really interested in – how to make someone who’s already a good singer, even better. Degrees needs to be linked with a very specific industry and have some kind of financial certainty at the end of it. You get into so much debt, after all.

What would you say to someone studying their GCSEs now?
I would say to go travelling or work in the industry that you love for a while, then decide what you should do in terms of further education. I mean, my first degree was not a waste, but it was cheaper in those days than it is now!

2009-11-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

A new space for us to give you an idea of our work in connecting education and training opportunities with careers in the creative industries. We will update regularly with insights into our work - perhaps pulling out important leasons learned and ideas of ways to move forward. We'll also keep you updated on our projects and events.
More info at www.creativeway.org.uk
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