Production Futures ON TOUR is set to take place at Production Park in Wakefield on Thursday, 28 September. This free-of-charge event will promote employability, transferable skills and paid work opportunities, and is set to attract a wide range of young people from across West Yorkshire.
This event will deliver a schedule which includes special guests, talks and panels, including ‘The World of Broadcast’, ‘Global Work Opportunities – The World is Your Oyster’, ‘Life Cycle of an Event’, ‘Freelancers – Ask Me Anything’, and ‘Set Design – Creative Ideas Brought to Life’.
Industry workshops will offer young visitors the chance to engage in a wide range of activities from preparing to be job-ready with industry-oriented CVs, to hands-on exploration of lighting programming, CAD, audio networking, as well as getting under the skin of music production, virtual production and event planning.
In the Production Futures Live Lounge, there will be the opportunity to meet future employers. CEO Hannah Eakins is delighted to be bringing this latest ON TOUR event back to West Yorkshire: “Our ON TOUR events have been a great success, attracting and then inspiring hundreds of young people to pursue careers in what is a hugely exciting and rewarding industry. The significance of the sector to the UK economy shouldn’t be underestimated, and a huge skills shortage across the board means that the next generation is well-placed to make a real impact. Very often, we find that youngsters are simply unaware of the variety of opportunities that fall under the umbrella of the production industry. Our aim is to increase the visibility of these opportunities, and in doing so improve the prospects of the whole industry.”
“It’s also important to note that we have adopted a code of conduct for our events which has been developed by the Association For Electronic Music (AFEM). We’ve had this in place at all our events this year, not only to ensure that ours is a safe and supportive environment for the young people present, but also to give visibility to AFEM’s campaign against sexual harassment and gender discrimination. As an organisation whose purpose is to encourage young people to flourish in the production industries it’s vital that we take this issue seriously,” Eakins commented.
Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin commented: “Our creative industries are thriving, and we’re creating more opportunities for people in West Yorkshire to gain vital skills and access well paid jobs. We want to open doors for our region’s young talent to progress, as we work to build a stronger, brighter West Yorkshire.”
Eakins furthered: “The Production Futures initiative originated as The Breakthrough Talent Awards and have been a fundamental part of our mission from day one. This expanded format takes us back to the roots of Production Futures and why we wanted to recognise young talent. We began as a very small awards ceremony in 2016 that sought not only to mark the achievements of young people in the production industries, but to inspire the next generation coming through. Since those early days, with the support of key industry partners, we’ve grown to become a community for real opportunity – the last 6 years have produced 22 winners of the Breakthrough Talent Awards who are now occupying significant roles at a wide range of companies, or have become successful, in-demand freelancers with the skills and confidence to meet any challenge. As our Production Futures ambassadors, they continue to be a huge part of our community and we are proud of all they have gone on to achieve.”
Eakins concluded: “We’re pleased to have increased the number of award categories to better reflect the wide range of roles and skill sets required across the production industry which rely heavily on transferable skills such as computer science, architecture, engineering and business management, as well as traditional events management, music, TV, film, media and live technical skills. We’ve attracted a huge number of nominations – the talent is definitely out there, it’s our job to keep finding it.”
