What is Create Studios? It’ s an award-wining professional digital agency which runs as a social enterprise and one of its core aims is to train and nurture the next generation of digital media creatives. It’ s supported by Swindon Council, Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund and in 2017 achieved National Portfolio Status from the Arts Council as a centre of excellence. Its Graduate Returner support programme, Create Futures, is the current scheme to help young people into paid employment in the creative industries locally and its second cohort for this project started last month( January 2018). The team offer a range of services to the community and local businesses including film, scriptwriting, editing, animation, music and app development.
When did your interest in the creative arts first become evident? I always loved writing and I loved film but when I grew up and considered higher education there were no media courses available at that time so I went off to London and took a degree in Applied Biology. I had a wonderful time but when it was over I was still committed to looking for a role in the media in some shape or form and was not really interested in entering a profession such as medicine or the sciences.
Who were your role models at that time? There were no female role models of colour who were prevalent in the media at the time and no easy route into the industry for someone who didn’ t have those contacts or connections. That’ s why I’ m so proud of the
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fact that Create Studios in a very natural and organic way, has become a very diverse team at a time when broadcasters still struggle to reflect diversity in their organisations.
What was your first job? I was very lucky to secure a training post with a production company in Oxford and this company had a specialism in educational and community based film-making and I loved that. I was working and filming on a project which brought me to the Create Studios in Swindon using their edit suite. The organisation was then based in the Town Hall. We developed a relationship and they later offered me a role as the education officer – I found out I was much better at managing film-makers than actually making the films myself!
Do young people have more opportunities today to study the creative industries? Today there are numerous courses in higher education which allow a young person to explore the area of the creative industries that ignites their passion. From broadcast media, to film to animation, illustration through to gaming and graphic design.
I do have some concerns around promotion of the creative industries within education at school as priority can be given to the sciences – with a focus on STEM subjects instead of STEAM subjects( including the arts). Even those sectors need creative thinking, problem solving and ideas. Dampening down creativity in the curriculum makes no sense as some of the greatest problems we face as a society will need
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creative and new ways of thinking to solve them.
What is your own personal cultural heritage? I’ m the youngest of four children. My parents were both teachers in their professional lives and they valued education highly and we grew up motivated to do well at school and move into higher education. We were in Buckinghamshire where we attended grammar schools which was the system which existed in that county at that time. This was a perfect stepping stone for me in that it gave me confidence in myself.
You are known for your work around culture and civic pride in Swindon, but what does the phrase‘ place-shaping’ mean? It’ s a widely used term now which is applied to partners such as Create Studios, local authorities, businesses and others who work together to promote and fulfil a vision and plan for a place which could be a town or a city. It’ s about celebrating the culture, aspirational life-style and wellbeing of a community so that it becomes an attractive and vibrant place to live and work. This brings economic opportunities and prosperity over time – these things don’ t happen by accident. It’ s about a shared vision and shared effort. Great examples of this can be seen around the cities of Hull and Coventry which have both benefitted from being named and honoured as Cities of Culture.
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When did you find out about your MBE? I had a letter in mid-November last year and therefore knew for a few weeks before it became public. It was a complete surprise and shock to receive such an honour. However, I’ m surrounded by fantastic colleagues who all support me and we all help each other – it’ s a team effort. It’ s a privilege to be acknowledged in this way and I hope to use this award to bring attention to the‘ place-shaping’ and civic pride initiatives we are involved in. We need to recruit and retain highly skilled people in the creative industries here in Swindon and Wiltshire – as it’ s a rapidly growing sector.
And finally,- Your favourite place in Wiltshire? It has to be Avebury. I drive through every day on my commute and it’ s an amazing place with the light reflecting on the stones in a myriad of different ways. It has a sense of timelessness, it’ s near to my home and there’ s a good pub! My commute is like a journey through time because of Avebury – from the ancient heritage of the standing stones, to the more recent industrial heritage of Swindon through to working with the cutting edge of technology and creativity which surrounds me every day.
@ create _ studios
For more info: www. createstudios. org. uk
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