Factory International, the organisation behind Manchester International Festival and the city’s new flagship venue, Aviva Studios, announce their latest free skills, training and education opportunities for people from Manchester delivered through their Factory Academy programme and partnerships with local schools.
The award-winning Factory Academy delivers free courses to local people and provides opportunities for training, enrichment and careers in Manchester’s ever-growing creative industries.
With the official opening of Aviva Studios next month, following its successful preview during MIF23 this summer, the new venue provides further opportunities for local people to learn in a world-class environment.
A new Stage Management course starting this week will allow participants to learn from Factory International’s in-house production team to gain an insight into the backstage world of the live events industry. Two students will go on to secure living-wage paid Stage Production Assistant roles, where they will help to bring Factory International’s official opening show, the Matrix-inspired Free Your Mind to the venue in October.
Upcoming courses in October include Managing Creative Projects, where students will learn from expert industry tutors, to develop the skills needed to deliver their own creative project and find out what funders look for in successful applications. Another course, Broadcast and Film teaches skills in production filming, editing and visual effects (VFX) direct with industry professionals. This course will also allow students to gain a BTEC accredited qualification: Introduction to Digital Media. Launching in November, Foundations in Freelance will support participants to turn their passions into freelance careers and develop the skills needed to freelance in any industry.
Factory International is also supporting local people through a new partnership programme with schools across Manchester. Starting next week, it will provide 200 students from Melland High School, Parrs Wood High School, St Peter’s High School, Levenshulme High School for Girls and Fallinge Park High School with free artist-led creative sessions designed in line with the National Curriculum to boost arts access for young people and provide early insights into creative careers, combining weekly artist-led sessions, guest workshops from artists such as the award-winning Boy Blue who are co-creating the opening show of Aviva Studios, and trips to the venue.
As part of Factory International’s work in developing the next generation of talent in the region, the schools programme will be led by local artists Lay Full Stop, who performed alongside Angélique Kidjo at MIF23 and Reece Williams, who performed at MIF21. Factory Academy alumni will also support the delivery of the programme through paid apprenticeship roles.
Since launching in 2018, Factory Academy has supported over 650 local people through its free training programmes and aims to support 1,500 people by 2025 as part of a 5-year plan to create more accessible pathways into creative careers. Courses are targeted at people who are under-represented in the sector, who are unemployed, on Universal Credit or are earning less than £20,888 to apply for the fully funded programmes, which include free training courses, several of which lead to an accredited qualification, apprenticeships, traineeships and paid internships. Thousands more will benefit from further learning and engagement opportunities including online learning, masterclasses, open days and workshops.
Through Factory Academy and their Schools partnership programme, Factory International is training the creative workforce of the future and inviting local people to utilise Aviva Studios as a place to train, learn and experience the creative industries. The venue’s development is led by Manchester City Council, with backing of £99.05m from HM Government and £7m National Lottery funding from Arts Council England. Factory International is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, which means funding thanks to taxpayers plays a huge part in supporting its work.
Randel Bryan, Executive Director at Factory International said: “As we prepare to move into our new home, this marks an exciting new chapter where for the first time we’ll have a world class cultural venue that will provide an unparalleled learning and development environment, where local people can develop their skills and confidence alongside industry leading professionals at the top of their field.
We also look forward to the launch of Factory Schools next week, which will connect hundreds of local pupils across Greater Manchester with the creative industries, inviting them to our venue as a place they can learn, discover and pave the way for their future careers.”
