The 'Student Experience' section may include some confusing details. Since creating this portfolio Backstage Academy has changed its name to Academy of Live Technology.
While I have changed the name of the institution on the title of this page and in my opening statement, details about my experiences, and documentation created prior to this name change have been left as "Backstage Academy".
STUDENT AMBASSADOR @ ACADEMY OF LIVE TECHNOLOGY
"Being a Student Ambassador at the Academy of Live Technology (formerly known as Backstage Academy) helped me grow my confidence in public speaking and enabled me to have a voice in helping the university progress and to speak to prospective students to help them decide on their next steps into higher education."
Throughout my 3 years as a student, I spent the majority of the time being a student ambassador for my course. During this time the role took many forms, from creating and managing events to attending colleges and careers fairs.
OPEN DAYS & APPLICANT DAYS
On open days I took on many different roles, including but not limited to managing other student ambassadors and stewards to managing presentations and talking to prospective students about my experiences at Backstage Academy.
My real time to shine and show off my expertise came when I was given a brief to design the applicant days in February and April 2022. I co-ordinated crew and stewards for the event, scheduled and managed deadlines throughout the design and operation of the event and ensured that the risk assessment was adhered to. I was also given the opportunity to give a talk on how to create a production.
UCAS: CREATE YOUR FUTURE
This UCAS event surrounding higher education courses for the creative industries took place in Manchester and saw myself and 3 other student ambassadors travel to Manchester to promote the university and talk to students about their possibility of a career in live events through studying at Backstage Academy. My role involved setting up a presentable and engaging booth for students to interact with.
Another aim of the event was to scan QR codes on each attendees ID badge so they could be sent information about the university after the event had been concluded as an outreach endeavour.
COLLEGE OUTREACH
With the Education Liaison and Outreach Officer of Backstage Academy I went to Gateshead College to run a workshop with their Level 3 Production Arts students.
On a separate occasion I also joined a campus tour with New College Bradford to explain the student experience at Backstage Academy.
RUTH GORSE ACADEMY CAREERS FAIR
I was trusted to attend this careers fair alone to represent the institution and promote the creative industries to children aged 11-16, informing them about their next steps into higher education and what we offer for the more creative individuals.
For this outreach activity, I problem solved on the go to create a presentable stall for pupils to interact with and used my problem solving skills to use my personal computer when the tablet provided didn't allow an enquiry form to work, meaning the event was still successful.
I also created a sizzle reel and promotional graphic to display on the laptop to entice pupils in and to visually demonstrate what the institution and the student community are capable of.
BURNLEY COLLEGE LOGISTICS WORKSHOP
For a college visit to Production Park I have created and run a workshop around international touring logistics and lines of communication on a production, which took approximately 40 music production and music performance students from Burnley College through a series of activities and games to hit a series of session aims.
When discussing with the lecturers accompanying the students from the college, they expressed that the students had an upcoming assessment around the logistics of touring into a small venue as musicians.
"It has been good for the students to get an insight into all of the things that they may have to consider when touring into a venue. It has been interesting to see the amount of different things that you wouldn't normally think you'd have to consider"
Chris O'Connor
Lecturer in Music and Music Technology
Burnley College
STUDENT INTERVIEW CAMPUS TOURS
Throughout the beginning of 2023, I have taken students and their parent/carers/accompaniments around the campus to give them a feel of what the campus is like and show them what facilities Backstage Academy has to offer. I also took this opportunity to have any questions that they had about the student life, degree assessment and campus facilities.
WATERFRONT HOUSE ASSOCIATION
The Waterfront House Association, created and managed events at Waterfront House to ensure that new residents (freshers) were welcomed and given the support they needed while liaising with Backstage Academy to ensure a pastoral support programme was available for all students.
WATERFRONT HOUSE GUIDE
I created the Waterfront House Guide for new students to begin to get acquainted with the area and the building, giving advise on usage of washing machines and where the local supermarkets are to the location of train stations to travel to university and even where students like to get a takeaway after a night of partying.
I ensured that each new student received a personalised welcome letter along with a printed copy of this booklet upon arrival on move in day. This required liaising with Backstage Academy and Linley and Simpson respectively.
FRESHERS' 2022
I worked within a team to produce a programme of activities for Freshers’ to attend in addition to events produced by Backstage Academy. To the right are a selection of posters pertaining to events organised by for the programme. Events included but were not limited to:
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New Kids on the Block Party
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Welcome to Waterfront House (House Meeting)
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Waterfront Pub Quiz
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No Cups Night
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100 Drinks 100 Minutes
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Vegas Night
WELCOME TO WATERFRONT HOUSE
I created a welcome presentation for the new residents explaining details of the building, including fire regulations, health and safety and how to use the washing machines, etc. I also invited other students to speak about subjects of expertise that would benefit the new students, such as how to get into General Crew work, resulting in a large portion of the freshers taking on crew work within the first month of them living at Waterfront House.
WHO KILLED PABLO EVANS?
For Halloween 2022, I wrote, directed and co-ordinated a murder mystery event surrounding the murder of a fake resident. It saw participants search the house for clues pertaining to the murder weapon and suspect. Each team had to interrogate certain members of the house to get additional clues and solve puzzles in order to solve the murder.
This was widely a success amongst all of the students and was praised for its creativity, enjoyment and difficulty. Students actively participated in the game, some bringing their own costumes to fully immerse themselves into the story.
MASTERCLASSES/LECTURES
I also helped co-ordinate masterclasses and additional lectures to help the first years clarify questions they had on modules and learn subjects that other students have expertise in. Some students lectured on pyrotechnics, others on automation. I took my opportunity to lecture on academic layout and Bolton Harvard referencing for undergraduate study at Backstage Academy.
FRESHERS' 2021
I created a programme of on site events for 2021 freshers’ and played a key role in co-ordinating the first week that students spent on campus. I presented the itinerary for the week to the new students while also setting up venues around campus for events and academic introductions to take place.
RGB: THE GAMESHOW
Directed and written by myself and presented by the Academic Director of Backstage Academy, Richard Sadler, RGB the gameshow presented popular game shows as mini game rounds in the show as students had the opportunity to add points to their teams with one team taking a cut of £200. It was successful amongst students at the time.
During the creation of this show, many road blocks were overcome, with crew withdrawing due to sickness and logistical issues with kit, despite this the show was delivered on time.
FRESHERS' FAIR
Liaising with Backstage Academy to attract companies such as 4 Wall and TAIT to the fair, the aim of this event was to provide initial opportunities for freshers to get to know the companies on Production Park while also providing interactive games for people to play while having a bite to eat and something to drink.
ACADEMY OF LIVE TECHNOLOGY MAJOR PROJECT
May 2023 saw the culmination of months of hard work from myself and the amazing team of students I worked with as we delivered the product of our major project.
DEFINITELY NOT THE WEAKEST LINK
As the Stage Manager and writer of the show I was responsible for managing the people on set and ensuring the questions were balance, challenging and interesting.
The show was hosted by Ashleigh Bristow aka Tizzy Von Tassel who provided us with loose creative direction and did an amazing job at keeping the show on track, interacting with the audience and the contestants to make the show more entertaining.
The event was both streamed online and held in person as a hybrid event to open it up to as many people as possible. This meant that the show was easily recordable.
You can view the full 40 minute episode below.