Here was the advertisement for this event which is what attracted me to it:

“This spring Cambridge Junction will throw open its doors for an evening, for anyone who would like a career in the creative and cultural sector, connecting the future creative workforce with industry professionals. Held in conjunction with Creative and Cultural Skills, our Creative Careers Industry Evening will work in a similar way to our hugely popular Industry Days, with the main difference being that you can come along independently of your school or college.

The evening will provide an insight into the wide range of job opportunities in the arts and exposure to what happens behind the scenes. The evening will consist of a tour of the venue, a meet-the-staff session about entry routes, career paths and individual experiences, and a chance to participate in sound engineering and directing workshops with industry professionals.

As an Arts Award Supporter, our Industry Days offer the perfect opportunity for those completing an Arts Award, to gain first hand industry knowledge.”

I participated in a 3 hour workshop at the Cambridge Junction on Wednesday 20th March 2019.  To begin with I attended a workshop on Sound Engineering for an hour.  The sound technician Toby showed us his Yamaha M7 mixing deck.I learnt how to adjust the high hat, kick drum, snare drum and crash cymbals.  After setting up individually on each instrument, he then moved onto gain staging to ensure there was enough signal coming in.  I learnt how to add reverbs to make the sound nicer. Toby finished college and then joined the Junction as an apprentice.  

After that Layton showed us how to setup the drum kit.  We connected each drum to microphones using XLR cables which were connected to the sat box.

Later Chris took us on a tour of the entire Junction.  He manages apprenticeships and events and started out as an apprentice himself.  I learnt that the Junction was usually contacted by hire agencies or self prompted for various events.  It was a very impressive venue with 3 main theatres and an upstairs bar with a smaller meeting room. They also had several offices that were let out to local companies.

We then had a presentation by several members of staff about what their jobs entailed:

Helen: said she had been the general manager for a few years having originally trained in technical theatre and sounds.  She oversees the finance, contracts, health and safety aspects and operations.

Richard: is the finance manager and described a few of his day to day tasks.

Ed: has been the marketing and communications manager for the last 11 years.He tries to let more people know about the Junction.  Most of his work is web based.  He takes care of press releases, printing leaflets, administration tasks, helps setup shows and reach targets. He said that Laura (who wasn’t present that day) did the digital side of things including the website and social media.  

Rob: said he has been the booking and quality manager for the last 25 years and originally started out with his own record shop.  He described how agents would reach out to him to book the Junction as a venue for the tours they were producing.

Dan: said he was the arts producer and described some of his jobs.

Matt: said he has been the artistic director and CEO for the last year.He originally started out as a musician 25 years ago.  His passion is to bring international events to the Junction.  He talked about his policies, strategy and vision.  He is raising £25 million for a new building project.  

He advised us to find something we were passionate about and follow it up as you never know where you may end up.

He told us how most people who worked at the junction started out under their apprenticeship scheme earning £10000 per annum.  

He told us how the junction provided residency space for performers, their troupe scheme and the YPC (young performers company) aimed at 14-19 year olds.

My final workshop was devising a show run by the fabulous Hannah Jane Walker, who is a writer and a performer.  I create a show entitled “Mrs Cherish?” with my partner which was all about cherishing our planet and preserving nature.  

Please also take a look at my video of the highlights of the workshop: https://vimeo.com/331322505

I highly recommend going if you want to research a career in the arts.  It was a lot of fun!  Many Thanks to Beth Bailey for organising this and for supporting the Trinity Arts Award scheme.