During this weeks meeting we discussed the fact that we could possibly negociate the theatre price down or maybe even get it for free. This is due to a few members of the team knowing family of the man who owns the theatre. It’s the people you know ay! We also found out that the only reason we were being charged for the theatre was because they are not able to make use it during the evening. As we do not need the theatre during the evening (as it is a daytime event) Charlotte and I decided to visit the Mowlem theatre and were able to talk to the owner about the possibility enabling other performances to commence during the evening. This would then mean we would not have to pay for the venue. This then lead to further discussions of get ins and outs and it has not yet been decided if it is possible to do this. If it is possible to lower the price this will enable us to save money for other equipment and personnel we may need to hire for the day of the event.
Although we have spoken to the theatre owner we have not as of yet negotiated a new price for the hire of the theatre.
This week the team and I also decided to extend the application deadline to a month before the event which will be the 24th June. The deadline had been extended before as the application where not out in time due to printing problems. However after a discussion at our weekly meeting we decided that we could find no reason why the deadline could not be extended enabling more people to enter the contest. Another reason for the extension it that we have found that there are not enough people that know about the event as of yet. For the next couple of weeks we are going to hit people hard with advertising the event which then leaves potential contestants two weeks to apply to take art in the show.
As we have changed the date there are various grounds I needed to cover to make sure people knew about it. Facebook has been useful in communicating with our contestants and emails have been sent to all members of the Facebook group. We have also decided to print new flyers designed to attract the audience on the day as well as new contestants.
As a team we sat down and discussed the idea of a new flyer. We found that the previous flyers and posters lacked major information needed. For example it didn’t really explain what the event was or who was involved within in. It was helpful having Jack, Jack and Izzy there for this because they know what will appeal to our market and we were able to adapt the language of the flyer to suit them. The new flyer is to be double sided A5 using the same artwork and borders as our previous ones. One side is aimed at potential part takers of the contest explaining that they could win money and how to apply and the other side was aimed at the audience for example parents and local residents explaining the event and inviting them along. I think this flyer will prove much more effective.
My job was to redesign the layout of the poster and making sure all relevant information is clear. It was then to be passed on to Izzy who will the put it into a programme on the computer. This meant that I was working closely with Izzy which was interesting as I haven’t worked with teenagers on a project in the past.
Tuesday
WEEK 5
This week Charlotte and I focused on creating a street team to perform various circus type skills outside with live music. We thought that it would attract many people and will also be a chance for contestants to practice their act to the general public outside. As a pair Charlotte and I we discussed the idea of creating an outside display of activities where contestants would have the chance to perform their acts before going onto the main stage in the theatre and in between having bands playing on the stage. We also discussed acts such as stilt walkers walking and displaying their skills through the small town to attract interest and flyer for the event.
We then proposed this idea to the rest of the team who though it would be a brilliant idea and that it would create a good atmosphere to the day. We then went on to enquire and advertise the fact that we were looking for private performers who do these types of acts to perform on the days of the event. We are hoping to hear back from then but if we do not we will then look for companies that hire out performers. This can be just as effective but can also turn out to be quite expensive.
We also got in contact with a few bands local to the area who may be interested in playing outside of the theatre. We are currently liasing with three bands one of which is a carnival band called the Spiderman band which is a popular local band that may be interested so hopefully we will hear back from them with a quote within the next week so we are able to make a decision on which one to use.
Putting together this street team and enquiring about various acts took up a lot of time this week but it was enjoyable to do and Charlotte and I were thrilled they the rest of the team loved the idea.
As well as my weekly budgeting task the only other task I had had this week is to answer the many emails that have come through on the Facebook about the event. I found that a few of the emails were general enquires about the event from parents of potential contestants. To save time I wrote a standard email that explained the event, where it is and when it is and who is organising the event, this could then be sent to those enquiring about the event.
I also found that many people were getting in contact with us asking if we could send through the application to them directly via email. As we only have print out copies that are at several places in the town, charlotte and I proposed the idea to have an electronic cope that could be sent out and then printed off. The team agreed that this would be a good idea and would improve accessibility to apply for the contest. We then went about typing up the applications and rules and formatting them to be sent out. We had to make sure that the file was a read only file so that people were not able to change any information on the file.
We then proposed this idea to the rest of the team who though it would be a brilliant idea and that it would create a good atmosphere to the day. We then went on to enquire and advertise the fact that we were looking for private performers who do these types of acts to perform on the days of the event. We are hoping to hear back from then but if we do not we will then look for companies that hire out performers. This can be just as effective but can also turn out to be quite expensive.
We also got in contact with a few bands local to the area who may be interested in playing outside of the theatre. We are currently liasing with three bands one of which is a carnival band called the Spiderman band which is a popular local band that may be interested so hopefully we will hear back from them with a quote within the next week so we are able to make a decision on which one to use.
Putting together this street team and enquiring about various acts took up a lot of time this week but it was enjoyable to do and Charlotte and I were thrilled they the rest of the team loved the idea.
As well as my weekly budgeting task the only other task I had had this week is to answer the many emails that have come through on the Facebook about the event. I found that a few of the emails were general enquires about the event from parents of potential contestants. To save time I wrote a standard email that explained the event, where it is and when it is and who is organising the event, this could then be sent to those enquiring about the event.
I also found that many people were getting in contact with us asking if we could send through the application to them directly via email. As we only have print out copies that are at several places in the town, charlotte and I proposed the idea to have an electronic cope that could be sent out and then printed off. The team agreed that this would be a good idea and would improve accessibility to apply for the contest. We then went about typing up the applications and rules and formatting them to be sent out. We had to make sure that the file was a read only file so that people were not able to change any information on the file.
WEEK 4
For our weekly meeting this week we asked the teenagers Jack, Jack and Izzy not to attend as we wanted to discuss the judging format for the event. We discussed the idea of having at most 10 criteria that the judges need to follow when judging the contestants. This would make it fair for each contestant taking part as they would be critiqued on various topics rather than if they just thought it was good or not. We sat down as a team and came up with the judging criteria and how these different criteria would be judged for example on a scale of on to five.
We also discussed who we were looking for to take the roles of the judges. We have given the task to the police to try and get Jonathan Ross to be a judge for the talent show as they could be more influential than if we were to contact him through his agent. Jonathan Ross has a house local to the area and would attract a large audience to the event so it would be great to have him as a judge. However if this does not work out then we have discussed other celebrity options. We talked about getting in contact with Jonathan Ross’s wife who has jus released a new book who may be interested in being a judge, Another option would be June Brown who is also local to the area and plays Dot Cotton in Eastenders. We have a few options for a celebrity judge but we are still in the process of liasing with these people and confirming them as judges.
The other two member of the panel we would quite like to be a member of the council and then a member of the police as they are a big part of this project. This would also create more of a community aspect to the event as they are part of Swanage. From this meeting we went on to contact Ali Patrick who is a member of the council who gets involved with many community projects such as this one. She is still not as of yet confirmed as a judge but we are hoping she will accept the offer.
This week we also tried to focus on getting our flyers out to the children of Swanage. At our meeting we focused on brainstorming ideas of what ways we can do this. We discussed the fact that the posters and application forms are posted at each of the local schools but they are still not creating enough attention. We decided that the schools were definitely the place to push the event as this was the source of our target contestants so we came up with the plan to hit all the school buses with flyers posters and applications forms for the children at he end of the day. We got the police involved to create a bit more attention from the kids as they came along in their police cars and in uniform and explained about the event whilst Charlotte and I gave out posters. We managed to talk to a lot of the children and it seamed that there were a few interested in taking part. This was a trial run in the Purbeck Middle school so if we get interest from doing this we have discussed doing that same thing at the other schools as well.
Another task for this week was to set out the layout of the two days of the event. The event it over a two day period so we decided to split the contestants into two age categories. The winners of each of the two categories would be announced at the end of their day. Those aged between 8 and 13 would perform on the Saturday and those aged between 14 and 18 would perform on the Sunday. There would also be a space for each person to have a rehearsal on the Friday. Charlotte and I have also discussed the fact that we feel the children need a time to rehearse not only for them but also for the team to figure out the get ins and outs of their equipment needed. As the theatre is free on the Friday during the day we agreed with the manager that this could be used for the rehearsals.
We also suggested that the prize money of £250, £100 and £50 should be announced a various time throughout the show to create more initiative for the children to perform their piece. The prizes will also be given out to the winners at the end of each day via a small award ceremony and each category has the same prizes to make it fair.
We also discussed who we were looking for to take the roles of the judges. We have given the task to the police to try and get Jonathan Ross to be a judge for the talent show as they could be more influential than if we were to contact him through his agent. Jonathan Ross has a house local to the area and would attract a large audience to the event so it would be great to have him as a judge. However if this does not work out then we have discussed other celebrity options. We talked about getting in contact with Jonathan Ross’s wife who has jus released a new book who may be interested in being a judge, Another option would be June Brown who is also local to the area and plays Dot Cotton in Eastenders. We have a few options for a celebrity judge but we are still in the process of liasing with these people and confirming them as judges.
The other two member of the panel we would quite like to be a member of the council and then a member of the police as they are a big part of this project. This would also create more of a community aspect to the event as they are part of Swanage. From this meeting we went on to contact Ali Patrick who is a member of the council who gets involved with many community projects such as this one. She is still not as of yet confirmed as a judge but we are hoping she will accept the offer.
This week we also tried to focus on getting our flyers out to the children of Swanage. At our meeting we focused on brainstorming ideas of what ways we can do this. We discussed the fact that the posters and application forms are posted at each of the local schools but they are still not creating enough attention. We decided that the schools were definitely the place to push the event as this was the source of our target contestants so we came up with the plan to hit all the school buses with flyers posters and applications forms for the children at he end of the day. We got the police involved to create a bit more attention from the kids as they came along in their police cars and in uniform and explained about the event whilst Charlotte and I gave out posters. We managed to talk to a lot of the children and it seamed that there were a few interested in taking part. This was a trial run in the Purbeck Middle school so if we get interest from doing this we have discussed doing that same thing at the other schools as well.
Another task for this week was to set out the layout of the two days of the event. The event it over a two day period so we decided to split the contestants into two age categories. The winners of each of the two categories would be announced at the end of their day. Those aged between 8 and 13 would perform on the Saturday and those aged between 14 and 18 would perform on the Sunday. There would also be a space for each person to have a rehearsal on the Friday. Charlotte and I have also discussed the fact that we feel the children need a time to rehearse not only for them but also for the team to figure out the get ins and outs of their equipment needed. As the theatre is free on the Friday during the day we agreed with the manager that this could be used for the rehearsals.
We also suggested that the prize money of £250, £100 and £50 should be announced a various time throughout the show to create more initiative for the children to perform their piece. The prizes will also be given out to the winners at the end of each day via a small award ceremony and each category has the same prizes to make it fair.
WEEK 3
At the beginning of this week it was my job to set up a FaceBook account for the event in order for us to communicate with our audience and contestants. For this I have to write a small blurb for the event focusing it towards what would be our audience for Swanage Presents. I then created a Facebook group within the account which would focused at the contestants for the talent show. This means I am able to keep the contestants updated with the latest news and email them with any deadlines such as application hand in deadlines. The advantage of setting up the group is that I am able to send bulk emails out to the contestants rather than all the people on the account i.e the audience and people helping out on the project.
I then liased with Jack Jack and Izzy who are on the team, to add as many people who would be interested in the event. This for them meant recommending the Swanage Presents Facebook to all of their piers at school.
This Facebook page will need to be monitored on a daily basis for new fiends requests and emails.
Another task for this week was to compile quotes from printing companies who would be able to print the flyers and posters. This was due to the media representative from the police being stuck abroad with his flights being cancelled because of the volcanic ash clouds. I was able to contact many printers that I have used in the past and I managed to receive various reasonable quotes from all of these. Later on in the week however I found out that we no longer needed to go to external printers as the our media representative made it back in time for the printing deadline.
Updating the budget was another task for this week. At the start of the week Matt complied a list of quotes for sound engineers and lighting engineers that will be needed on the day. We then discussed which would be the best people to use and their fee was to be added to the budget.
This week I also got the chance at practising how to write a formal contract. I was asked by the team to write a contract between the community centre and the Mowlem theatre. Even though in past lectures I have learnt about contracts and what needs to be involved within them, I still did some research to find out the correct layout and structure of a contract. It had to include the dates of the events, the price agreed and the fact that we would need their technician present on the two days of the event as well as other verbal agreements that were communicated in the past. I then passed this onto Matt to make any alterations needed. This has not yet been sent to the theatre as we are still in negotiation with the price.
I then liased with Jack Jack and Izzy who are on the team, to add as many people who would be interested in the event. This for them meant recommending the Swanage Presents Facebook to all of their piers at school.
This Facebook page will need to be monitored on a daily basis for new fiends requests and emails.
Another task for this week was to compile quotes from printing companies who would be able to print the flyers and posters. This was due to the media representative from the police being stuck abroad with his flights being cancelled because of the volcanic ash clouds. I was able to contact many printers that I have used in the past and I managed to receive various reasonable quotes from all of these. Later on in the week however I found out that we no longer needed to go to external printers as the our media representative made it back in time for the printing deadline.
Updating the budget was another task for this week. At the start of the week Matt complied a list of quotes for sound engineers and lighting engineers that will be needed on the day. We then discussed which would be the best people to use and their fee was to be added to the budget.
This week I also got the chance at practising how to write a formal contract. I was asked by the team to write a contract between the community centre and the Mowlem theatre. Even though in past lectures I have learnt about contracts and what needs to be involved within them, I still did some research to find out the correct layout and structure of a contract. It had to include the dates of the events, the price agreed and the fact that we would need their technician present on the two days of the event as well as other verbal agreements that were communicated in the past. I then passed this onto Matt to make any alterations needed. This has not yet been sent to the theatre as we are still in negotiation with the price.
WEEK 2
This has been a great week for me. This week my main task was to help out with the thriller style video shoot. This was organised to be a promotional tool for the event and was aimed to attract people to be part of the audience at the event as well and applying to be a part of it. We used a dance group from a local Swanage school that had choreographed and performed the dance themselves. The dance was inspired by the Michel Jackson thriller dance and was performed to this song. There were six girls that performed the dance dressed in ripped clothes with white painted faces. It created a great atmosphere in the town as everyone came to watch.
It was great fun and I really enjoyed my day working closely with Matt and Anneliese. They managed to give m an insight of their skills when handling a promotional event like this.
I turned up on the day of the shoot to find out that the road closure that was meant to happen, hadn’t! This was a slight set back and I found out that it was due to miss-communication between the council and the police. However we managed to find two other areas for the shoot which were just as good. It was a really sunny day which was perfect for us as local people and tourists were out and about by the beach and interested in what we were doing. One of my main jobs for the day was to get as many flyers out as possible to promote the event.
Before any filming was to take place I had to collect any outstanding permission slips from the girls who where taking part in the video to say that their parents where ok with them being filmed. For this I had to make sure their name, date and guardians signatures were correct before any filming commenced. Through working on a project like this I have already learned from Anneliese that you need to constantly think about child protection and legal aspects of this as it is so easy to accidentally breach them. Licensing and permissions from parents is a big aspect of this project and I find it very interesting. As Matt was the only named person on the consent forms to film the girls he was the only one able to do it.
We filmed the dance video in two locations with three or four takes in each. The two locations were both in public places attracting many passers by creating much attention for the event. We had many takes of the thriller dance which meant there would be a lot a material that could easily be edited together. I was also able to learn a lot from Matt about how to create an effective video with the angels and different views you can shoot the video from.
Overall this day was a great day and the girls who did the thriller dance were amazing!
This week I also visited the Mowlem Theatre with Matt which is where the event is going to be held. This was a chance for me to see the venue for the first time. The theatre is local in the Swanage town by the seaside and it can seat 350 people so is fairly small and it is a little out of date with its technical equipment. With Matt we went round the theatre as he explained to me the different equipment they had they and how they are used and what they are used for. This was extremely educational for me as I have never worked in a theatre before and the technical aspects where one of the things I wanted to learn about on this project. After we figured out what equipment the theatre was able to offer us we then sat down went through any external equipment that we will need to hire in to the theatre for the event. This at first was a big list but after talking to the rest of the team we realised that we may not need as much lighting equipment as we thought.
In our meeting we discussed the fact that all acts of the talent show should have the same lighting and sound equipment to make it fair to all contestants. As there will be many band and dance act our initial thought was to create a show and as for these acts there are many things you are able to do with lighting and with other acts such as stand up comedy you can’t. However this may affect what is considered as quality of the performance so we concluded that all acts will have the same standard sound and lighting.
After this discussion I was then able to go back to the list of external equipment we would need to hire and price up each item to go into the budget. This meant liasing with Matt to find out local equipment hire companies and working with him to find the best deals through people he has worked with in the past.
It was great fun and I really enjoyed my day working closely with Matt and Anneliese. They managed to give m an insight of their skills when handling a promotional event like this.
I turned up on the day of the shoot to find out that the road closure that was meant to happen, hadn’t! This was a slight set back and I found out that it was due to miss-communication between the council and the police. However we managed to find two other areas for the shoot which were just as good. It was a really sunny day which was perfect for us as local people and tourists were out and about by the beach and interested in what we were doing. One of my main jobs for the day was to get as many flyers out as possible to promote the event.
Before any filming was to take place I had to collect any outstanding permission slips from the girls who where taking part in the video to say that their parents where ok with them being filmed. For this I had to make sure their name, date and guardians signatures were correct before any filming commenced. Through working on a project like this I have already learned from Anneliese that you need to constantly think about child protection and legal aspects of this as it is so easy to accidentally breach them. Licensing and permissions from parents is a big aspect of this project and I find it very interesting. As Matt was the only named person on the consent forms to film the girls he was the only one able to do it.
We filmed the dance video in two locations with three or four takes in each. The two locations were both in public places attracting many passers by creating much attention for the event. We had many takes of the thriller dance which meant there would be a lot a material that could easily be edited together. I was also able to learn a lot from Matt about how to create an effective video with the angels and different views you can shoot the video from.
Overall this day was a great day and the girls who did the thriller dance were amazing!
This week I also visited the Mowlem Theatre with Matt which is where the event is going to be held. This was a chance for me to see the venue for the first time. The theatre is local in the Swanage town by the seaside and it can seat 350 people so is fairly small and it is a little out of date with its technical equipment. With Matt we went round the theatre as he explained to me the different equipment they had they and how they are used and what they are used for. This was extremely educational for me as I have never worked in a theatre before and the technical aspects where one of the things I wanted to learn about on this project. After we figured out what equipment the theatre was able to offer us we then sat down went through any external equipment that we will need to hire in to the theatre for the event. This at first was a big list but after talking to the rest of the team we realised that we may not need as much lighting equipment as we thought.
In our meeting we discussed the fact that all acts of the talent show should have the same lighting and sound equipment to make it fair to all contestants. As there will be many band and dance act our initial thought was to create a show and as for these acts there are many things you are able to do with lighting and with other acts such as stand up comedy you can’t. However this may affect what is considered as quality of the performance so we concluded that all acts will have the same standard sound and lighting.
After this discussion I was then able to go back to the list of external equipment we would need to hire and price up each item to go into the budget. This meant liasing with Matt to find out local equipment hire companies and working with him to find the best deals through people he has worked with in the past.
WEEK 1
This week was the first time to meet the team I will be working with on my placement. There are 9 members of the team including Police two social workers and three kids, which is great as it means there will be a diverse range of creativity and ideas. As we are full time workers for this event, Charlotte and I were asked to work alongside Matt to be the event and technical managers for this project and liase with all members of the team outside of meetings. I think it will be educational to work with Matt as he has a lot of experience with the technical aspects of projects and he also runs his own festival on a yearly basis.
All members of the group have different roles, the police deal with all licensing and legal issues as it is their forte, the social workers help with the creative and child protection issues and the kids work with us on the create aspect also, giving us an insight to what our target audience will be looking for. It was interesting in the meeting to see the different opinions come across which show their work background. After each meeting we have on a Thursday, we write up the minutes and assign jobs for each person for the following week. This have proved tricky this week as the event is so far away there are not as many jobs to go around.
I have also been asked to keep control of the budgeting for the project. As it is a community project we have managed to receive many grants through community partnerships meaning that the project is well funded. So far we have managed to receive £3100 in grants and from what I can gather from our meeting on Thursday we are able to get a few things in kind or for cut prices (such as the theatre) so its looking good! It is my job to keep the budget updated on a weekly basis making sure all expenses are accounted for including travel expenses and prize money for the contest.
This week I have also worked with the police on closing a road in Swanage for Saturday in order for us to do a Michel Jackson thriller style video shoot. The video will be edited and used as a viral advert to promote the event. For this we have been liasing with the police and council in order to book the road closure.
At the meeting this week the group worked together to write and layout the application forms and rules for the event. This meant working with Anneliese to fully understand the consent that need to be given from parents in order for their child to take part in the event. This was interesting as I love to learn about the legal aspects of projects like this.
As this event is a family and community event we had to make sure the rules stated that all acts must be suitable for a family audience and that no dangerous equipment was to be used for health and safety reasons i.e fire. It was hard trying to cover everything you needed to cover when writing the rules due to regulations without having to restrict what type of acts can apply!
I then wrote up the consent forms which were sent to the police to be put onto the Swanage Presents letter headed paper and printed.
All members of the group have different roles, the police deal with all licensing and legal issues as it is their forte, the social workers help with the creative and child protection issues and the kids work with us on the create aspect also, giving us an insight to what our target audience will be looking for. It was interesting in the meeting to see the different opinions come across which show their work background. After each meeting we have on a Thursday, we write up the minutes and assign jobs for each person for the following week. This have proved tricky this week as the event is so far away there are not as many jobs to go around.
I have also been asked to keep control of the budgeting for the project. As it is a community project we have managed to receive many grants through community partnerships meaning that the project is well funded. So far we have managed to receive £3100 in grants and from what I can gather from our meeting on Thursday we are able to get a few things in kind or for cut prices (such as the theatre) so its looking good! It is my job to keep the budget updated on a weekly basis making sure all expenses are accounted for including travel expenses and prize money for the contest.
This week I have also worked with the police on closing a road in Swanage for Saturday in order for us to do a Michel Jackson thriller style video shoot. The video will be edited and used as a viral advert to promote the event. For this we have been liasing with the police and council in order to book the road closure.
At the meeting this week the group worked together to write and layout the application forms and rules for the event. This meant working with Anneliese to fully understand the consent that need to be given from parents in order for their child to take part in the event. This was interesting as I love to learn about the legal aspects of projects like this.
As this event is a family and community event we had to make sure the rules stated that all acts must be suitable for a family audience and that no dangerous equipment was to be used for health and safety reasons i.e fire. It was hard trying to cover everything you needed to cover when writing the rules due to regulations without having to restrict what type of acts can apply!
I then wrote up the consent forms which were sent to the police to be put onto the Swanage Presents letter headed paper and printed.
Swanage Presents: how it came about!
Swanage Safer Neighbourhood Teams were asked to create a project under the Purbeck Community Investment Challenge that will address police priorities one of which is to reduce Anti-Social behaviour.
The members of Swanage Safer Neighbourhood Team decided that the idea of a talent show involving young people involved in ASB and present their talents in front of senior residents of the Swanage area may help to reduce ASB and the fear of ASB.
Police initially enquired if partners such as Dorset Youth Service, Swanage Council and the Swanage Carnival Committee would like to become involved. The idea was received with interest and a small project team was created.
PC Ashdown at that point was given the task of project managing the talent show with the help of three other police staff and the partners above.
PC Ashdown decided to approach Marie Brennan the Course Leader of BA (Hons) Arts and event Management at Arts University College Bournemouth. Marie kindly agreed that students may wish to help with the planning and presenting of the talent show and that they could use it as part of their project work. This is were me and Charolotte came into it!
The members of Swanage Safer Neighbourhood Team decided that the idea of a talent show involving young people involved in ASB and present their talents in front of senior residents of the Swanage area may help to reduce ASB and the fear of ASB.
Police initially enquired if partners such as Dorset Youth Service, Swanage Council and the Swanage Carnival Committee would like to become involved. The idea was received with interest and a small project team was created.
PC Ashdown at that point was given the task of project managing the talent show with the help of three other police staff and the partners above.
PC Ashdown decided to approach Marie Brennan the Course Leader of BA (Hons) Arts and event Management at Arts University College Bournemouth. Marie kindly agreed that students may wish to help with the planning and presenting of the talent show and that they could use it as part of their project work. This is were me and Charolotte came into it!
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