Careers in FOCUS

Year 9 students from Capital took part in a three-day Creative Careers in FOCUS in collaboration with IntoUniversity Brent. Students were exposed to a variety of creative careers across TV, Media, Music, Publishing, Theatre and Government.

Day 1 of the programme involved guests coming to Capital to lead career workshops and talks. Day 1 saw the BBC, Civil Service (Department of Culture, Media and Sports) and Thames and Hudson publishers lead workshops around developing creative ideas and pitching proposals.

On Day 2 of the programme students went to Warner Music Group - London Headquarters. Students met a variety of professionals from across different departments including Artist Relations, PR, Marketing, Radio and Social Media/Digital. Students had taken part in a business stimulation and had the opportunity to choose any artist of choice that they wanted to sign to the label and had to pitch their campaign to the Marketing Manager of Parlophone Record Label - Warner Music Group. Students were given vinyls, records and merchandise at the end of the day! They later took part in an Enterprise and Entrepreneurship workshop with IntoUniversity staff where they developed a new Trainer Company and tried to get investment by pitching their ideas to an investor panel.

Day 3 students visited Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, where unseen roles and careers in theatre were exposed to students. Students met with Theatre Producers and Marketing and Communications specialists to develop an idea of their own new Pantomime. Students spent the day being informed on how to develop a Proposal and what to include from a Marketing and Financial perspective. Students worked in groups and pitched their ideas to a team of theatre professionals that work at Lyric Theatre. Groups were awarded for their efforts and participation of the day.

Some nice comments from students included:

The best things about this programme were:

'Meeting people in the music industry because it helped me think of my future.

'Being able to meet people because I do not get this opportunity usually.'

'Presenting because it helped me build confidence.'

Students said they learnt:

'The importance of innovation and decision making'

'How to sell my ideas'

'More career options'

'Skills such as marketing.'

Comments from volunteers:

'I love hearing students' ideas for books and the reasons why they think they should be published.'

'Lovely group of students.'