Production Futures partners with Cheshire College
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The arrangement sees the college’s programme leader for events and technical theatre, Angie Berwick, become Production Futures’ education ambassador, a role which it is hoped will lead the way to collaborations with a variety of education institutes across the UK.
Angie is well-placed to take on the challenge, combining as she does her Programme Leader role with more than 20 years’ experience of running her own events business. She will provide expert strategic advice to Production Futures on the needs of young people in education, as well as working with education providers to raise awareness of the opportunities within the production industries, helping them to develop job-ready talent when the time is right.
Production Futures chief executive, Hannah Eakins, believes that working directly with education institutions to maintain the visibility of the industry to government, parents and young people, has never been more important.
“A better understanding of, and closer relationship with, the education sector is key to our aim of ensuring that there is a consistent pipeline of talent entering the production industry. We’ve worked informally with Cheshire College as a partner for some years, but meeting Angie in person, and enjoying a lengthy discussion about improving the connections between education and opportunities in our industry, showed us that our views were very closely aligned.
“Angie has experience of linking her students with the industry, having worked closely with Robe Lighting and lighting designer Tim Routledge in this area. We realised that if we combined our passion, effort and knowledge, we could work together to create a wider collaboration between industry and education to include FE, HE and apprenticeships.
“This partnership is the beginning of a very exciting collaboration with the education sector, with Angie’s expertise and the example set by Cheshire College leading the way. We look forward to working closely together to ensure that we serve the best interests of young people and encourage more and more education institutions to join our mission.”
Cheshire College offers Technical Theatre courses ranging from Level 3 to Level 5, and the department provides students with the practical training and industry experience to become fully qualified, confident and skilled employees within the sector.
Paul Browne, assistant principal of curriculum at Cheshire College, adds: “It has been fantastic to see the relationship between Production Futures and the College grow over the years. We are thankful for their support and advocacy within the industry, promoting the necessary technical training students require to gain sustainable and diverse employment within the sector.
“We have no doubt that Angie will be an asset to the team, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact this partnership creates.”
Lighting designer Tim Routledge concludes: “Angie is a huge supporter of her students, and I couldn’t have been prouder of the 2 students that came to work on the ESC with us who were a credit to the college and the hard work and talent that is available in the area.”
