Students from the School of Arts and Humanities work with NTU Employability to raise the profile of creative industries

Second year students from the School of Arts and Humanities recently had the opportunity to complete a creative work experience placement with Nottingham Trent University’s Employability team. The students Harvey Clitheroe (BA Journalism), Tom Bradburn (BA English and Film & TV) and Lucy Moseley, Sarah-Jane McKendrick and Anastasia Donkor-Buabeng (BA Media and Film & TV) worked together to complete a brief set by NTU Employability.

This project brought students together from different courses, tasked with documenting the LEAP Creative Industries Expo using a video, article and photography, with a focus on the importance of creative careers to students across all disciplines. It posed a unique opportunity for the group to work with students from other courses, sharing skills and experience and developing peer-to-peer learning. The experience also contributed to the modules 'Humanities in the workplace', 'Working with the Media' and the second year journalism module by providing a work experience placement to students.

The students interviewed exhibitors during the day to learn more about what employers look for, why the creative industries are so popular and how the industry may change in the future. They also interviewed students that attended, to find out what they enjoyed about the event and how they used the opportunity to gain work placements and ideas for post-graduation. This material will be used by the Employability team to promote the event next year across social media and online, with the article the students produced included in NTSU magazine Platform. It will also be embedded into the joint honours Arts and Humanities placement modules in order to encourage more students to consider a career in the creative industries and attend the LEAP Creative Industries Expo event in 2020.

The students filming on the day.

We spoke to some of the students about their work experience. Harvey Clitheroe told us about how his experience has enriched his degree: “I’ve recently started a module about Photojournalism and I wanted a chance to practice and improve my skills with photography. I really enjoyed the experience and it’s made me think about taking up more photography opportunities in the future.”

Tom Bradburn took up the challenge in order to improve his creative skills. He commented: “This was my first experience working on a video project, using the equipment and interviewing someone. It’s been a way for me to experience something new and consider possible career routes after University. I feel like working with people from different courses, who have different levels of experience than me, has enabled me to really improve my communication skills and work as a team.”

Lucy Moseley feels that the experience has encouraged her to engage with NTU’s Employability services more in the future. She said: “Working on this project has definitely improved my communication skills. I’m a shy person and so working with people from other courses has enabled me to open up and become more confident. I’d never heard of the LEAP event before, and attending it was a really eye opening experience that has encouraged me to go to more NTU Employability events in future.”

Employability Business Adviser for the School of Arts and Humanities, Carolyn Owen, commented: "The students really embraced this cross-discipline placement opportunity, which also helped to build their teamwork skills and confidence, and we look forward to developing the initiative across other projects”.