Ever fancied dipping your toes into the world of live event production?
The Academy of Live Technology is where the world’s biggest artists go to rehearse before heading out on arena tours.
And whilst it’s pretty impressive that you’ll walk through the same halls as Kayne West, Arctic Monkeys, One Direction, Pink, ITV, Netflix and more, it’s even more exciting that you can kickstart your career in the same space.
At degree and master level you can explore different specialist areas of live entertainment design and production, but for those looking for fast-paced, skills-based courses, there’s also a number of Skills Bootcamps to get stuck into.
The idea of the Skills Bootcamps are to give those who are considering a career in the industry the opportunity to see what a real day-in-the-life in live events is all about, and a taster of the skills needed to be able to work on major projects around the world.
These might appeal to someone looking at starting on one of the Academy of Live Technology’s degree courses and want to learn more before sending off their application; as well as post-graduates looking to find their specialist areas, or someone who would like to know more about changing the path of their career and want to learn all about the ins and outs of the industry.
These courses really do bring the best of both practical hands-on and theoretical sessions together and take an inclusive approach to ensure that all types of learners feel heard and understood throughout the courses.
At present, there’s four different Skills Bootcamps that you can enrol in:
Skills Bootcamp in Event Management
About the course: This five-week course covers all areas of Event Management, splitting into different areas of planning, as well as marketing strategy; communication and credentials; health and safety and professional etiquette.
Planning is split into multiple sections, including: strategic, stakeholder, sustainability, financial planning (and procurement), as well as exploring site management plans.
Start Dates: Monday 12 February and Monday 18 March 2024
More dates are expected to be released throughout the year here.
How to apply: You can register your interest and start the application process here.
To take part in the Events Management course, you must be aged 19 or over and live in West Yorkshire (including Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) and you cannot be in full-time education or undertaking an apprenticeship at the time of joining.
This course is fully-funded and free of charge to those that meet the criteria, but are limited to one per person, per year.
Skills Bootcamp in Event Production
About the course: This bootcamp is designed to give you a flavour of four different areas of event production, over the course of five weeks. Giving an introduction to live sound engineering; rigging and event safety; show calling and stage, production and tour management, you’ll train using the world-class facilities onsite that have already been tried and tested by the likes of Pink, Metallica, The Killers, Netflix, Amazon and ITV.
Start dates: Thursday 15 February and Monday 18 March 2024
More dates are expected to be released throughout the year here.
How to apply: You can register your interest and start the application process here.
To take part in the Events Production course, you must be aged 19 or over and live in West Yorkshire (including Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) and you cannot be in full-time education or undertaking an apprenticeship at the time of joining.
This course is fully-funded and free of charge to those that meet the criteria, but are limited to one per person, per year.
Skills Bootcamp in Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine, for those of us who aren’t in the industry, is ‘the most powerful real-time 3D creation tool’ and a great up-skill to have under your belt if you’re looking to carve a career in virtual production, live events, TV, film or even game design.
The five-week-long course takes you through the basics of using Unreal Engine and its application in game design, VFX, virtual production and immersive events, before you start to look at more technical skills like level design, lighting, materials, cinematics and camera, game mechanics, blueprint visual scripting, UI widgets and project development.
Start dates: Wednesday 14 February and Monday 18 March 2024
More dates are expected to be released throughout the year here.
How to apply: You can register your interest and start the application process here.
To take part in the Events Production course, you must be aged 19 or over and live in West Yorkshire (including Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) and you cannot be in full-time education at the time of joining.
This course is fully-funded for those that are unemployed, self-employed or in part-time education. If you are employed, the Academy of Live Technology will ask your employer to contribute 10% of fees for small and medium-sized enterprises, and 30% for large enterprises.
Skills Bootcamp in Virtual Production
The virtual production course also covers the basics of Unreal Engine, but instead focuses on the specific application of the state-of-the-art software in the virtual production industry over a ten-week-long part time course.
There will be opportunity to learn all about materials, lighting, levels, cinematics, camera, storyboards, production design, and on-set virtual production skills and technical skills before you’ll shoot your own virtual production project in groups, and understand the roles of Producers, Directors and Virtual Production logistics a well as post-production skills.
Course dates: 10-week course will run part-time from Monday 12 February – Monday 30 March 2024.
More dates are expected to be released throughout the year here.
How to apply: You can register your interest and start the application process here.
To take part in the Events Production course, you must be aged 19 or over and live in West Yorkshire (including Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) and you cannot be in full-time education at the time of joining.
This course is fully-funded for those that are unemployed, self-employed or in part time education. If you are employed, the Academy of Live Technology will ask your employer to contribute 10% of fees for small and medium-sized enterprises (£300), and 30% for large enterprises (£900).
You can find the full list of short courses offered at the Academy of Live Technology here.
Feature Image – The Hoot Leeds