An exciting summer school partnership between Forth Valley College and Creative Scotland culminated in a celebration at the Stirling Campus on Friday (29 July 2016).
The summer school was aimed at fourth, fifth and sixth year pupils from the Forth Valley area and aimed to offer an insight into film-making and the visual arts.
It ran over a course of 10 days during July at the College’s Stirling Campus and was supported by Cashback for Communities through Creative Scotland’s Cashback for Creativity Programme.
The 24 participants had a taste of several disciplines including photography, art, sound production and produced short films and radio podcasts around the theme of the environment.
Ali Warner (15) a pupil at Braes High School in Falkirk, said: “It has been amazing and I had a really good time. They don’t offer these types of classes at school and I think it has inspired me to go on to pursue a Creative Industries course in the future. I will definitely think about coming to Forth Valley College’s Stirling campus to study.”
Iona McCormick (15) a Stirling High School pupil, said: “I loved it. It has inspired me to want to study photography.”
Shannon Petale (16), a former St Modan’s High school pupil who is coming back to FVC to study an NC Sound Production course in August, said: “It was great and much better than I thought it was going to be. It was good to meet new people and get to know the college. I will definitely recommend it and can’t wait to come back and study Sound Production.”
Scott Cook (15), a St Modan’s High School pupil, said: “I really enjoyed working with the video editing programmes that was the best bit for me. I would definitely recommend the Creative industries Summer School.”
Billy Deakin (17), a pupil from Alva Academy, said: “I really enjoyed the course, making new friends and using all the new facilities. There were lots of things to do, but the photography was certainly very inspiring for me.”
Steven Stewart (17) a former Lornshill Academy pupil who is coming back to the College this month to begin an NC Media course, said: “It was great to meet new people and make new friends. It has really benefited me as it gave me a taste of everything which is important and I now really want to come and study film.”
Principal for Forth Valley College, Dr Ken Thomson, presented end of school certificates at the event.
Gail English, Media Lecturer within the Department of Creative Industries at Forth Valley College said: “Our second annual summer school has been a huge success and we’ve been delighted with the feedback from the young people who took part. We wanted participants to recognise the wide range of exciting careers available in the Creative Industries and our programme touched on many different areas including film-making, editing, graphics, photography and art.
“We also organised a number of visits to inspirational venuesand these were designed to encourage aspirations to work in the Creative Industries, hopefully this has been achieved and we’ll see many of the participants study with us in the future.”
Laura Black, Arts Officer, Cashback for Creativity at Creative Scotland, said: "We are delighted that another successful CashBack for Creativity summer programme at Forth Valley College has offered further opportunities for young people in the Forth Valley area to participate in two weeks of film making and visual arts activities. This summer school not only introduced young people to new courses and skills in the Creative Industries, it has also created a space to build confidence in young people to move onto further learning and training opportunities.”
