Edinburgh College’s creative students are about to give the city a taste of creative magic as they take over venues across Edinburgh for Glow festival 2018. The students launched the festival with sneak-peek performances at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery last night. Continue reading Ready, steady, Glow! Edinburgh College creative students get set for annual festival
Edinburgh College was a hub of creative activity as it welcomed some of the country’s top professionals to its sixth annual Creative Industries Employability Day. Continue reading Tips from the top for Creative Industries students
With the UCAS deadline looming, new research exploring the future of the creative industries, from leading VFX academy Escape Studios, highlights how students are turning their back on traditional careers and their parents’ wishes in favour of the burgeoning creative industries. Continue reading Students have their finger on the creative pulse
A team of twenty Scottish-based trainees have been selected for an intensive skills development training programme on season four of the award-winning TV production, Outlander, 15 of whom will be taking their first step into the film and TV industry. Continue reading Outlander develops next generation of skilled Scottish screen talent
2016 has proven a bumper year for the UK’s Creative Industries, with record-smashing results cementing our reputation as a hub for attracting, producing and retaining creative talent.
Continue reading Blockbuster year for Britain’s creative industries
Edinburgh College invites you to join students and staff from our Creative Industries courses as they launch this year’s Let’s Glow festival!
The launch event takes place at La Belle Angele off Guthrie Street this Thursday evening at 6.30pm
Let’s Glow is a two-month celebration of the dazzling creative talents of Edinburgh College students, with a programme of performances and exhibitions around the city.
The launch event at La Belle Angele will feature performances by student musicians, actors and dancers.
The Let’s Glow festival will give Edinburgh the chance to enjoy performances and exhibitions from college students covering everything from music, theatre and dance to photography, film, art, animation, textiles and design. The programme of events will showcase the skills and talents of the students, demonstrating the work they have been undertaking at college over the last year.
Let’s Glow runs from 4 May to 22 June, with events taking place at venues across Edinburgh – including the college’s campuses and the likes of Summerhall and The Queen’s Hall.
www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/letsglow
#letsglow
£100,000 funding has been awarded through Creative Scotland to support ten full time, year-long traineeships across the arts, screen and creative industries, it was announced today.
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop in Hawthornvale will be one of the five capital-based organisations to offer traineeships.
The Traineeships Programme aims to support the employment prospects for people aged 20-30yrs interested in developing a career in arts and culture, by creating valuable work experience opportunities.
Traineeships will take place at Africa In Motion (AiM) Film Festival, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Media Education, Starcatchers and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS) in Edinburgh; GMAC Film and Barrowland Ballet in Glasgow; Ayr Gaiety Theatre in Ayrshire; The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney, and with Jewellery designer Eileen Gatt in the Highlands.
Leonie Bell, Director of Arts & Engagement, Creative Scotland said: “Creative Scotland is committed to supporting the creation of opportunities for young people to gain employment, work experience and vocational qualifications in the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland.
“These traineeships will offer young people the opportunity to develop the skills and professional experience needed to progress in their chosen profession by removing barriers to paid work experience.
“At the same time, organisations will benefit from fresh, innovative ideas and enthusiasm of the trainees.”
Traineeships will be offered across the following areas:
Visual Arts
Assistant Curator (Programme Team) – Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
Gallery Programmes Trainee: Exhibitions, Learning & Digital (Curatorial and Education) – The Pier Arts Centre
Film
Shadow Curator – Africa In Motion (AiM) Film Festival
Online Film Content Developer – GMAC Film
Trainee Project Assistant / Member of Production Team – Media Education
Theatre and Dance
Starcatchers Trainee Associate Artist – Starcatchers Productions
Programme Officer (Programming Department) – Ayr Gaiety
Dance Participation Artist, Participation and Outreach Department – Barrowland Ballet
Craft
Eileen Gatt: Jewellery designer/maker
Literature
Digital and Language Resources Trainee – TRACS based at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
All Traineeships will be advertised on Creative Scotland’s Opportunities site.
Welcoming the announcement Irene Kernan, Director at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, said: “The Creative Scotland Traineeship will support Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s aims of developing talent and supporting young artists in their careers. Being able to employ a trainee for a full year provides a valuable opportunity for us to bring new approaches and skills to the staff team and further develop our public programme to connect with local audiences.”
Edinburgh College Open Days next week
Edinburgh College is throwing open its doors next week and inviting anyone interested in careers in the creative industries to find out how they can get on course to success.
The college’s Centre for Creative Industries is hosting three open days to introduce prospective students to its range of courses across three of its campuses, including art and design, computing, broadcast media, photography, music and sound production, and the performing arts.
There will be opportunities to speak to lecturers and students, experience the cutting-edge facilities at each campus, and get hands-on with interactive activities.
The Creative Industries Open Days will take place from 3-6pm at Sighthill Campus on Tuesday (3 March), Milton Road Campus on Wednesday and at Granton Campus on Thursday 5 March.
More than 100,000 people are employed in the creative industries sector in Scotland, with careers in film, radio, media, theatre, music, and digital media available.
Jon Buglass, head of the Centre for Creative Industries, said: “These open days provide the perfect opportunity for prospective students to get hands-on experience of what studying at Edinburgh College’s Centre for Creative Industries is really like. It is an exciting time for the creative industries in Scotland, and our courses provide the perfect framework to develop the skill, nurture the talent and develop the creativity of our students to prepare them for a creative career.”
Visitors to Granton Campus can see the top-of-the-range performing arts facilities at the Performing Arts Studio Scotland (PASS), which provides training in acting, dance, make-up artistry, technical theatre and theatre costume.
Budding musical theatre stars and musicians can visit Sighthill Campus, where the Music Box facilities include recording studios, practice rooms and an auditorium. The Music Box is the high-tech home to most of the college’s music performance students, both classical and pop.
Those who would prefer to study the technical side of music production can visit Milton Road Campus, where courses in sound production and the music business are offered in the CRE:8 creative centre alongside the HND Popular Music.
The campuses also have excellent facilities for those interested in courses in photography, audio visual technology and radio. The college’s computing courses provide essential skills in software development, games design, web development and building and testing computers and IT networks.
The college’s art and design students work to exciting briefs in their chosen field, whether fashion, textiles and costumes, jewellery, interior design, architecture, contemporary arts, interactive media, graphic design or illustration.
Not all courses are taught at all campuses, please check the Edinburgh College website to identify the appropriate open day for your subject area.
Applications for the all the college’s Creative Industries courses starting in August are open now – find out more about the courses available on www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/august2015 or by calling the college course information line 0131 660 1010.
Applications for August courses will close on 15 May.
Edinburgh College Inner City Arts students will make film of Irvine Welsh short story The State of the Party
A BAFTA-winning director has launched his second film course at Edinburgh College for young and unemployed people, with the help of the iconic Scottish writer Irvine Welsh.
Muirhouse man Garry Fraser (pictured above), who won the Scottish Newcomer BAFTA in filmmaking in 2013 and has had his film Everybody’s Child broadcast on the BBC, set up the Inner City Arts course for young people from poverty-stricken areas in Edinburgh. The filmmaking course aims to prevent young people from becoming involved in self-destructive lifestyles of gangs and drug abuse.
This year, Inner City Arts students will not only work alongside an internationally respected film director but will also get the chance to bring the work of one of Scotland’s best writers to life, by adapting Irvine Welsh’s short story The State of the Party. As part of the course, the students will devise a screenplay and learn how to use filming and editing equipment to bring the story to the big screen. Students will receive expert guidance from Garry – the college’s filmmaker in residence – and they will also get the chance to consult with and speak to Irvine Welsh using video link-up in the classroom.
Using social media, Garry sparked up a conversation with Welsh about his latest course at Edinburgh College over Twitter. Garry – who is from the same area as Welsh in Muirhouse and similarly uses his background and upbringing as a source of inspiration in his work – asked if his students could use The State of the Party as the script for his latest film. The writer not only gave his permission for the students to recreate the story in film but also offered to speak to the students to offer his expertise and advice!
Irvine Welsh said: “I’m delighted to be involved in this project and honoured to have the Edinburgh College Inner City Arts students work with Garry Fraser on The State of the Party. Garry is an astonishingly talented and driven filmmaker, and intimately understands the darkness and humour of the piece. He’ll be both inspirational to, and inspired by, the young people he’ll be working with on the project.
“The State of the Party is a drug-fuelled parable about two young men’s descent into a hyper-real urban hell, and based on the dark premise that ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ and things are never so bad that we can’t make them worse, through our own muddled decision making. I’m very excited to see their interpretation of this story.”
Garry Fraser said: “I’m very excited to launch the next Inner City Arts course and give the group of young people the chance to work on one of Irvine Welsh’s short stories. The students can relate to Irvine’s work because he uses Scots language, showing that screenwriting is within reach to these young people who speak with the same voice – and that art isn’t just open to an elite few. I believe that art can break down barriers and free a troubled and creative mind, which is why these courses can really be life changing for young people who are from a similar background to my own – to give them hope and the option of a better future.”
“For me, getting into filmmaking was either life or death. If I hadn’t discovered it, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It was brilliant to see the students develop skills and confidence in their abilities during last year’s course. This year, the course will focus more on developing practical skills in filmmaking and the skills to empower the students.”
Conner Dickson, who is 15 years old and took part in last year’s Inner City Arts course, said: “I was always interested in acting before the course but I wasn’t sure how to get into it. I gained a lot of confidence on the course and came out of my shell as it went on. I felt I could say anything in front of Garry as he’s in the same boat as all of us and has similar life experiences. I wasn’t afraid to act in front of the camera and take part in the improvisation sessions, and actually discovered I was pretty good at it. I’m now looking at getting into acting and have applied for courses at college too.”
Ray McCowan, vice principal education leadership at Edinburgh College, said: “We need committed individuals like Garry to provide support to young and unemployed people. The young people he works with see him as a role model and a sign of what can be achieved through getting a solid education.
“This is just one of the brilliant examples of the work the college is doing to engage with young and unemployed people on its doorstep. Colleges play a crucial role in enabling people from all backgrounds to improve their lives, and we are confident that the course will again be a big success.”
Places are still available on the Inner City Arts course. To apply, or if you have any queries, please contact Garry Fraser by email at: Garry.Fraser@edinburghcollege.ac.uk.
A top music engineer who worked with David Bowie, The Beatles and Pink Floyd to create some of the most iconic albums of all time visited Edinburgh College on Thursday to share his sound desk secrets with students.
Ken Scott, who produced Bowie albums including The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and engineered The Beatles’ The White Album, visited the college to pass on some of his skills to HND Sound Production students.
Ken gave a talk about his incredible 50-year career and answered questions from students before conducting a stdio workshop to demonstrate how he mixed some of his classic tracks, using the college’s state-of-the-art equipment in the CRE:8 studio.
Ken was one of only five engineers to record The Beatles over their entire career, initially working with them as part of his first engineering job on the Liverpudlian beat wizards’ A Hard Day’s Night album. Since then, he has worked with Pink Floyd, Elton John, Duran Duran, Supertramp, Jeff Beck, Devo, Lou Reed and many more, and is still recording music.
In 2012, he released a memoir, Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust: Off The Record with The Beatles, Elton & So Much More, which was crammed full of stories about his time working with some of the most legendary figures in music.
Jon Buglass, head of the Centre for Creative Industries at Edinburgh College, said: “Ken has been an integral part in creating some of the most groundbreaking and revered music of the last 50 years and it’s a privilege to have him here. Our students were delighted to get the chance to hear his trade secrets and learn from someone who really has seen and done it all.
“Sound engineers are crucial in allowing artists to achieve their vision in the studio and the likes of Bowie, Pink Floyd and all these other massive stars Ken’s worked with couldn’t have expressed themselves so fully if he hadn’t been in charge of the mixing desk.
“It’s a tricky job as you have to juggle the artists’ ambitions for their music, which can be pretty demanding, with the practicalities of actually getting it all to sound coherent. Ken is obviously a master of the technical side as well as the art of working with musicians so he’s a genuinely inspirational figure and the students learned a massive amount from him. It’s no exaggeration to call him a legend in the field.”
Ken said: “I was lucky enough to be a part of what I consider to be the best training ever, thanks to what is now known as Abbey Road Studios. If I can pass along one iota of what I learned then and subsequently throughout my career, I must try to do it. I cannot explain the feeling I get when a student approaches me after one of my talks to thank me for showing the passion and understanding for all they are going through and will continue to go through during their entire career.”
