Managing director Paul Barton has been working in the events industry since he was 15 in a wide variety of sectors ranging from events structures to production, site management and sponsorship across Europe, the UAE and Southern Africa. Paul's last industry post was with GL Events as site manager for London's 2012 Olympic Rowing and Canoeing events at Eton Dorney. Paul's career in education started in 2008 at the University of Exeter where he launched the first Events Management module in any Russell Group university, building it from 35 students to 350.
Associate dean, Paul Walters has 15 years' experience in Higher Education with a focus on the event environment and management. Paul, like many of the Backstage Academy team also has a combination of industry and education experience. His industry background is varied ranging from sport event management, festivals, film and television to exhibitions and theatre production. He has also lectured across the globe from Europe to China and has previously worked at Leeds Beckett and Manchester Met. Paul is also a published author within the subject area of Events Management.
As Associate Dean Paul will be heading up academia at Backstage Academy bringing a robust academic structure to the university centre. He will also be focusing on achieving QAA validation, which is a necessary part of the application for university title-ship.
Matthew Bate is one of Backstage Academy's new student services officers. Matt will be looking at the quality of student and academic experience in and out of the classroom, co-ordinating student surveys and ensuring Backstage Academy are meeting student's needs and expectations.
Matt has been brought in from Exeter University where he carried out a one-year sabbatical as vice-president of the Student Union. His proximity to being a student himself means he has a natural understanding of what students are looking for from their time in higher education.
Chris Madden is Backstage Academy's second student services officer recruit. Chris has a background in the music and event industries, including artist promotion for Virgin Records, before re-training as a psychotherapist specialising in educational welfare.
Lecturer Brian Jones years Higher has in the region of 15 years' education experience, specialising in music production, performance and engineering. He comes to Backstage Academy from Barnsley College, joining the academic team with a focus of launching music production courses starting academic year 2017.
Dr McNichol also joins the Backstage academy team from Barnsley College where he delivered music courses alongside Brian Jones. He will be supporting Paul Walters and Brian Jones on the Live Events Production BA Top Up course and also working with Brian Jones on the new Music Production courses for 2017.
(Jim Evans)
