What are you up to in your creative work at the moment?  

After graduating at the University of Sussex with a first in Media Practice, I undertook a 3 month paid internship with a corporate video production company and also worked briefly on a feature film in the Brighton and Sussex area. Currently, I am working in the TV industry in Bristol. I have started as a runner for a large post-production company, now going onto Production Secretary work. 

What are the highlights of your arts career to date?

My highlights have been definitely my experience at University. Whilst at University I volunteered at our own TV station on campus and eventually worked my way up to Station Manager running the station. It was amazing opportunity to have the freedom to create what we were passionate about in our own time as opposed to creating something to fit a brief/for our courses, or in the industry – for clients. When stepping back creatively to run the station from a more admin/scheduling point of view, it was great to see a new talent and amazing projects brewing and advancing the station. We ended up winning 3 NaSTA (national student TV) awards the year I was in office.  

(UniTV show-reel I edited for that academic year). 

What do you hope to be doing in five years time?

I would like to pursue a Production Management pathway in television, the logistics, and admin side, organising the shoots/budgets etc. Also, I would love to combine my passion for travel alongside my career, but also find the time to travel the world a bit more for pleasure too!

Which level(s) of Arts Award did you do, and how did you use it to develop your creativity or skills?

I completed my Bronze and Silver arts award. From these awards I developed my researching and blogging skills. With my Bronze, in particular, I learned how to create a stop-motion animation (and the number of man-hours that is needed to create just a 30-second clip!). It also increased my confidence in trying something new and different, meeting new people, and helped me reignite my passion for performing. My Silver award was more individual. I developed my leadership skills by teaching a small class how to use Photoshop. Furthermore, my Silver award led me to get my first part-time job in the arts establishment I researched and undertook work experience for! 

What advice would you give to young people doing Arts Award who want to follow in your footsteps?

Don’t be afraid to try something new and different – the Arts Award is all about exploring different arts avenues, as well as solidifying your current passions and what you know you are good at already. Also, be organised in how you present your evidence for each section so it is very clear for the examiner/moderator, I used blogs but scrapbooks also work well! 

NB: Also anyone who is involved in Girl Guiding – the Arts Award programme is great to add to your Chief Guides Award/Look Wider award (one of the highest awards in Guiding) under the ‘Creativity’ Octant.

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Other links and information; 

• Films@59: http://www.filmsat59.com/ (My current employer. They have a great work experience programme and entry level schemes for runners and budding edit assistants, for anyone Bristol based). 
• UniTV (University of Sussex Student Television): https://www.youtube.com/user/unitvlive 
• NaSTA: http://nasta.tv/ 
• My Silver Arts Award Portfolio: https://tazmusicvideochallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ 
• Look Wider Award: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/our-badges-and-activities/badge-finder/the-senior-section/look-wider/

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