Free Television training launches in Gloucestershire

A brand new scheme that will provide free training for media businesses, freelancers and new entrants in Gloucestershire over the next two years is announcing its first training initiative.
This first initiative is a free two-week Summer School that has been designed by industry professionals locally and is aimed at people who are looking to get a foot through the door in the media industry. The training scheme has been made possible through a significant £300,000 grant from the Gloucestershire Learning and Skills Council (LSC) through the European Social Fund.
Greg Browning, chair of the GMG, commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity for those wanting to work in Media. Often, people who want to work in Media have the wrong idea of what it is really takes. This Summer School will give them the opportunity to work on a real world project, to real world deadlines, with industry standard equipment. They will get the chance to meet local Media employers who will judge their work and give them useful hints and tips on what it really takes to work in the Media sector!”
The Summer School is comprised of two courses, an animation course (delivered in partnership with Gloscat) and a documentary course (delivered in partnership with Cirencester Media Academy). To make sure the courses are as close to ‘the real thing’ as possible, the courses will be delivered by local freelancers with years of professional experience. Rachel Johnson and Caroline Sutton, two freelancers delivering the animation course added: ”When designing the course, we wanted to make sure it’s as realistic as possible. We are working closely with BBC Gloucestershire who will brief the students to design a 1 minute animation about their lives in Gloucestershire for the BBC Where I Live Website. Having their work displayed on the BBC website is going to be great for their CVs and certainly bring them that step closer to getting a foot on the ladder. We wanted to make sure the courses are fun as well and have therefore included day-trips to the Cheltenham Film Studios and the Aardmann Animation studios in Bristol, creaters of Wallace and Grommit”. Furthermore, during the training people will have the chance to meet like-minded people and share experiences and problems that they have come across when trying to gain employment in the Media sector.
To book a place and to keep up to date with the newest training offered by the GMG, check out the website www.thegmg.org/train.
(GB)