Hi, my name is Elliott. I am part of the Young Promoters programme, supported by Youth Music and Talent Accelerator here at the De La Warr Pavilion. I’m also an aspiring musician and frontman/guitarist of a band called The Tellums.
I joined DLWP in November because I wanted to be involved in something creative. Originally I applied for the Marketing Coordinator Apprenticeship role. Unfortunately I didn’t get that role, but through the interview process got to know Sally, Kim and Luke, who put me in touch with Artswork.
Artswork is an external company that puts creative people in creative workplaces. So instead of the original role I’d applied for, I was able to find a placement position through them.
They gave me a month of training on general working life, like how to be in the workplace, working on social skills, how to respond to emails formally. Kind of just general beginner job stuff. It was all very useful, and all on Zoom. Then I was put into my placement at the start of November.
To begin with, I was the Creative Admin Assistant, working with the Learning and Participation department. I responded to email correspondence, created and printed resources and helped set up workshops. But in January my role progressed and I was asked if I wanted to help out with the gallery turnaround. I flourish in a practical environment, so I said yes, and I was with them for the next month to help install the new exhibition. But still doing some Learning stuff here and there.
I’m really enjoying my work at the De La Warr. I like that there’s something different to do every day. I can actually walk in some days and not necessarily know what’s coming, which is exciting. Like one day I ended up in Eastbourne – got a text in the morning, ‘do you want to go to Eastbourne today?’ And I said ‘yeah, sure’. It can be very spontaneous, which I like.
That’s how I came to join the Young Promoters programme. I attended one of the Industry Talks held at the Grove theatre, Eastbourne in November, and at the end of the event was offered the opportunity to apply to become a Young Promoter.
It’s a great initiative and although I’ve come into it later than some of the others (most people already have 1 or 2 gigs to under their belt) it doesn’t feel competitive or pressured. I got paired with a mentor early on, and we’ve been working on how to promote gigs with my band, the best way to develop our following and how to get the most out of the time we have together. We’ve written a whole plan for 2024 and already been in the studio because of that. All very exciting stuff!
I recently put on a gig at The Printworks in Hastings that was met with a lot of enthusiasm. We had a really great turnout of people all coming out to support local music from talented upcoming bands. Our main aim is putting local music at the forefront and I felt we did that well. I hope to continue this trend moving forward. We are looking to book more gigs with many more venues around Hastings and the surrounding area – the next key date being the 6th of April at The Printworks!
I’m really cherishing the opportunity to work with a mentor and to learn more about what it takes to be a promoter and lead a team. Kate has really helped me to understand the areas I should be focusing on. I feel that this programme pointing me in the right direction to get my music career started. I’m really grateful that I am a part of it and I am really looking forward to the future!