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Nottingham Contemporary’s exclusive Response placement returns for its fifth year, inspiring the future careers of NTU students

November 2021 will mark the start of Nottingham Contemporary’s fifth annual Response group placement, exclusively for students across Nottingham Trent University (NTU).

Quote from participant
Photo taken by Rosie Baird, 2021

This five-month internship is a collaborative editorial project exploring themes in Nottingham Contemporary’s upcoming exhibition Our Silver City 2094, to inspire the production of issue 5 of Response. In working groups, students plan, write, create, design, edit and produce all aspects of a printed publication - including a launch event, marketing and distribution.

For Jason, a Second Year Politics student, the internship experience was fundamental in encouraging his pursuit of political journalism following the completion of his degree:

“I contributed both planning and organisation skills, being in constant communication with much of the team throughout and enjoyed working towards the launch event with my team. I gained knowledge of what goes into making a publication from scratch, including an insight into the design process. I definitely gained more of an interest in the journalism field“.

Response placement quote
Photograph taken by Rosie Baird, 2021

Placement Opportunities

Nottingham Contemporary will select up to 20 students from a range of courses and year groups, across the Schools of Art and Design, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and second-year Confetti students of FdA Graphics and Digital Design. Throughout the placement, students meet and work with a range of staff across teams at Nottingham Contemporary, whilst collaborating with students across different schools, courses and years.

This placement offers behind-the-scenes access, and valuable professional exposure to one of the UK’s leading contemporary visual arts organisations, as well as experience producing print.

“This really is an amazing opportunity, it feels very professional and eases you into this area of work so that you would know what to expect if you continue it as a career. Even if this isn’t your usual area of work it is so interesting to take part and you might find it’s something you love that you never realised before.”

Rosie, First Year Photography student, participated in Issue 4 of Response in 2020-2021

Picture of response article
Photograph taken by Katy Culbard, 2021

Networking

Students also benefit from opportunities to gain self-confidence, build teamwork skills, and develop networks beyond courses and schools. Neha, Third year Psychology student reflected:

“I gained a lot of experience on marketing an Instagram account to a specific audience. I also learnt a lot about contemporary art and it helped me understand meanings I never would have thought of alone. I found this very interesting. It was also really lovely to be able to meet and work virtually with a group of bold, interesting individuals. It’s like nothing I’ve done before.”

The NTU Employability Team wish this year’s cohort of successful applicants all the best with their placements and we look forward to exploring everything Issue 5 of Response has to offer.

Applying

Are you committed, enthusiastic, curious and open to new ways of teamworking and peer learning?

Can you adapt your schedules to incorporate this placement into your workload?

Can you offer skills in researching, interviewing, photography, illustration, InDesign, print-production, or writing?

If you can answer yes to these questions, read more here for information on applying between 30 September and 18 October 2021.