Student Managed Events
“Everyone who has performed at the Factory has been very positive about the experience and loves the educational tie up”.Tom Nordon, Lecturer in Music Performance and Music Technology & Production
Case study
North Devon College
We stage a number of music, theatre and dance events throughout the year in our venue called The Factory with our Foundation Degree students in Music Performance and Music Technology & Production providing technical and stewarding support.
I have put modules in place to capture and reward the learning, including an event management module to allow the students to be involved in creating and organising events.
We are geographically disadvantaged in North Devon and work experience is incredibly hard for students to find. We had no proper live venues in Barnstaple and the town was crying out for this facility. With this facility we have enabled students to build a portfolio of work with professional touring acts and their CVs are beginning to look impressive.
Almost the whole student cohort were very enthusiastic at first and wanted to work on events. These numbers diminished during the year and we have ended up with a small committed team. However, we have been so successful that we are now moving to new premises where we can build this all over again!
Tips
- College management must be on board 100% for a venture such as this to work and also to fund such a project
- Managers were very wary at first and it took a long time for them to realise how beneficial the Factory was in providing work experience but also promoting the college
Pitfalls
- Running a venue is a huge undertaking/responsibility and I have found it to be a big commitment on top of the day job, both in time and responsibility!
- Students can be quite choosy about what they will or won't work on which can be annoying.
Resources
- Financial: Substantial
- Time: Large amount of time outside teaching hours
