FEATURE: MUSIC & THE PERFORMING ARTS
experiment with all aspects of their chosen field of study as it provides them with the opportunity to safely make mistakes and learn organically through trial and error.
• Improving their skillset: While gaining in-depth knowledge of a core discipline and demonstrating the ability to learn is important, having employability skills tailored to their industry of choice is vital for graduates when entering the workforce. By choosing practical courses, students will not only be equipped with a particular set of skills aligned to their field of interest but will also ensure that their skillset is future proof.
• Increasing understanding: Rather than simply learning about various types of equipment and how it might be useful for different jobs, students afforded extensive practical training can learn about, use, and sharpen their technical skills while studying. This means that when they transition to the workplace, they won’t have to spend time learning how to physically operate tools and equipment on the job as they have already gained hands-on experience.
• Engaging with industry experts: Through practical education, students get to complete projects, engage with job-specific tasks, and learn specialised techniques under the direct supervision of active and experienced industry professionals who have real-world knowledge and experience. In the live events and creative industries these are usually not your everyday academics, but professionals at the top of their game. Under their tutelage, students get to create unique and ambitious projects that push the boundaries of creativity and expression. Additionally, students develop not only the key transferable competencies and skills necessary for the workplace, but also a network of contacts in their field before they graduate.
• Boosting knowledge retention: When learning in a theoretical, text-based style, the brain attempts to remember words. However, when learning in a practical environment, students
remember actions and scenarios, which the brain finds easier to retain. As such, a hands-on approach often results in more ingrained knowledge, with the ability to retain information quickly and for longer periods of time.
• Fostering engagement and collaboration: Students who are actively learning are actively engaged and learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo endeavour. By making learning collaborative and social rather than competitive and isolated, students can share ideas and respond to those of others.
• Exposing them to cutting-edge technology: Experiencing technologies that are at the forefront of industry first hand is invaluable. An example of this is virtual production, which has been a game-changer across various industries, and which can be found not just in film production, but also in high-end television, advertising, and even as part of live events. Virtual Production is changing the way content is created, with Unreal Engine leading the charge. Originally a tool to design video games, its potential has been noticed by stakeholders across the entertainment industry, particularly the booming virtual production industry. Through practical training in cutting-edge technologies, students are given a strong foundation, placing them ahead of the curve.
• Supporting critical thinking: Critical thinking increases in a hands-on learning environment because students must make decisions on what to do next to achieve the desired outcome of a task. Critical thinking skills are vital to the workplace as every situation encountered cannot be learned from or prepared for from a book.
• Unlocking creativity: While creativity is a valuable skill in the modern workplace, it is one of the hardest to teach using traditional methods. Experiential learning helps students understand that creativity is developed with effort and hard work. By being allowed to practically flex their creative muscles, they learn to develop better ideas and more innovative solutions.
Benefits for industry
In a competitive job market, employers are increasingly looking for graduates with transferable workplace skills, meaning those whose education incorporated hands-on experience. By gaining practical experience throughout their education, students have a smoother transition to the working world. This not only boosts students’ confidence in their abilities, but it also assures employers that the new graduates they employ have gained the experience and training needed to work with a high level of independence and competence, that they have already been exposed to the tools and environments in which they will work, and that they have successfully navigated various real- world situations.
An immersive experience
With the live events industry calling for creative individuals who ‘know how to do things’, those keen to pursue a career in the live events and creative industries should seek out higher education that offers an immersive, hands-on component as this will equip them with the practical skills they need to succeed in the working world.
In this regard, Backstage Academy is unique in that offers an experience like no other. Dedicated to fulfilling industry’s growing need for skilled workers, its undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, short courses, and bespoke training programmes provide students with the relevant skills, knowledge and experience they need to take advantage of current and future opportunities.
The academy is located on campus at Production Park in Yorkshire, which is not only the world’s premier campus for live events, film, TV and virtual production, but which is also home to a community of live events businesses and six studios. It is the only place on earth where pioneering work is continually fed back into the educational ecosystem. Studying at Backstage offers students the exclusive opportunity to work with and learn from the leading designers, artists, technicians, producers and managers in the industry.
Additionally, it offers students access to cutting edge technology, including best-in-class lighting and sound desks, LED video walls, and the latest media servers and software. And with Production Park being the home of XPLOR, the world’s first research and innovation centre for entertainment technology and production, students also get the chance to see tomorrow’s technologies being developed.
Choosing a university may be one of the hardest decisions for young people and every year thousands commit the next few years of their life to a new school. With the live events industry booming, the need for capable creative individuals is ever-increasing. Those looking to pursue a career in the live events and creative industries should seek out an institution with an immersive, hands-on approach which will allow them to leave ready and able to enter the industry.
For more information visit: u
https://www.backstage-academy.co.uk/
November 2022
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