SOLIHULL College and University Centre says it is excited to keep leading the way in training the creative talent of the future.
This comes after an extra £26.7million has been injected into the region by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to train more than 6,000 people.
The announcement was made by West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street.
The College runs industry bootcamps to train participants to work in a variety of roles in the creative sector.
The Creative Venue Technician Bootcamp is currently taking place in partnership with several live venues in the region including the Wolverhampton Grand, the MAC, Birmingham Hippodrome, Warwick Arts Centre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The College’s Bootcamp manager, Sophie Jolly, said: “We have run several bootcamps already, including Filming Performance, Content Creation, TV Production, and we have several more planned for later in the year.
“We work with employers to tailor each programme to their current needs. This ensures our boot campers can hit the ground running when it comes to gaining employment and fill those skills gaps.
“This funding will help train up the next generation of creative arts workers here in the West Midlands and we are very proud to be part of it.”
Laura Gilbert, one of the bootcamp participants, says that getting into the industry is something she’s wanted to do since watching musical theatre as a child.
The 24-year-old said: “I’ve always been interested in theatre and live events – but I never knew how to get into it. I knew university wasn’t for me, so I went to work in retail.
“I loved it but realised now was the time for a change as I wanted to be more creative.
“It’s not always clear how to get these roles in theatre and live events and this bootcamp is giving me all the experience to further my career.”
Previous bootcamps trained 150 people to work in production for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham back in 2022 with many of those bootcampers going on to gain paid employment.
