Events, News & Stories

We were delighted to welcome Steps to Success programme to offer a creative carers workshop at the De La Warr Pavilion. The programme supports young people to find the best route for them at the end of year 11. Part of this is bespoke workplace experiences which match the participants career-related goals.

During the workshop we talked through creative career possibilities, had a tour of the building meeting staff and finding out about the wide range of job roles available, spoke to one of our apprentices, Daisy, looking at the variety of training options and lastly chatting through the pathways into creative courses in local colleges.

Haven Young Creatives and Talent Accelerator planned and a produced a music based work experience for two weeks based in Newhaven Marine Workshops, supported by Towner Art Gallery.

Students worked with music professionals- Jason and Emmanuel. The students finished their work experience with new knowledge on the music industry, online tools they can use to upload their music and completed songs with lyrics and sounds entirely made by the students.  Check out some of the music produced during this week on this post. 

Talent accelerator organised a one-week work for year 10 students. The aim for the week was for the students to organise and make their own exhibition for year 7 students to visit on Friday. It was a wonderful week, and the students finished the week with a fantastic exhibition, it was clear the group finished the week with more knowledge on how you set up an exhibition.

Work experience is a great insight how different industries work and it’s important the young people get involved as it gives you more direction on work where you can go and how you can get there.

This particular work experience was for SEN students, it is vital for people with SEN to take part in work experience as it gives those with SEN an understanding that they belong in creative industry and input matters. We were really happy to be joined by Lucy an artist from Project Arts Works who was developing her workshop facilitation skills. Check out Lucy’s work here.

Talent Accelerator has been busy delivering assemblies and workshops across East Sussex supporting young people to take their first steps into the creative industries. It has been wonderful to meet so many young creatives with exciting ideas and bright futures.

If you would like Talent Accelerator to come to your school/provision to work with young people interested in creative careers, please get in touch kim.byford@dlwp.com

Talent Accelerator set a design brief to the Level 3 Media students at DV8 Brighton to develop a range of idents to be used in a short information film about creative careers. The students travelled over to the De La Warr Pavilion for the launch of the project and asked some excellent questions to help them understand what was expected of a finished product.

The finished idents were great and fulfilled the brief really well. They will be used in the finished film and will give the students a credit to have on their CV supporting them in their first steps into industry.

Talent Accelerator set a design brief to the Level 3 Games Design students at DV8 Bexhill to develop a game that allowed players to redesign the De La Warr Pavilion. Together we explored the history of the building, how embedded it is in the community and toured all of the areas of the building including the ones members of the public don’t see! Thank you to those who took part! The names are listed below:

• Bia Vlad
• Ren Ali
• Adam Flack
• Jack Lawton
• Sol Kirby-Richards
• Caleb Minter
• Nick Body
• Dean Dancy
• Reece Quinny
• Oscar Warner-Tearle
• James Macenhill
• Vinnie Watson

The students let their imaginations run wild and created a range of exciting ideas. If your college or school would like a workplace brief to work on please get in touch kim.byford@dlwp.com

On Monday 18^th March 2024 Talent Accelerator and the Young Promotors programme presented a panel discussion with Grace Latter ( writer, editor, proof-reader, TEDx speaker, unlikely model, reluctant influencer, and invisible illness/chronic condition collector) and  Lauren Eva, a former fashion stylist, coffee shop owner and now nail artist, has had a wealth of experience in what it takes to completely change your career. Brought up in Brighton she has resided in Hastings for the last seven years learning all about the town and its people through her work and her sausage dog! Hosted at East Sussex College Lewes.

You can watch the event on YouTube here.

Together, Grace and Lauren openly discussed and navigated through the complexities of social media, addressing its highs, lows, the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly. Following their discussion, the audience had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session, contributing their voices to the conversation. The session was filmed by Red Kite Films so that it could reach a wider audience.

Talent Accelerator have organised two Arts Award Training events for local educators and creatives. The training allows them to be an Arts Award assessor delivering bronze and silver awards. Arts Awards are nationally recognised qualifications that inspire young people to grow their arts and leadership talents.

Find out more about Arts Award here.

Talent Accelerator was invited to deliver a series of creative careers workshops to year 5 & 6 students at Ore Primary school by East Sussex Careers Hub. We had a great time with Blue Whales, Orcas and Sharks classes – everyone joined in and came up with amazing drawings of themselves doing creative jobs!

Find out more about the Start Small; Dream Big programme here.

Supporting teachers to be able to keep up with industry advances is essential in making sure that young people have the information they need to prepare them for the world of work. East Sussex Careers hub have been working hard on a series of events to support this including Teacher Encounters. We welcomed Lucey Banner, Head of Media and Film at Seaford Head, in November 2023 as part of this programme to come and see the work that the communications team do here at the De La Warr Pavilion. Teacher encounters are designed to support teachers to engage directly with employers to see and learn about the different career pathways relevant to their subjects, and to observe how their subject is applied practically in business. Lucey worked with our communications team to see how they get the message out about to our local, national, and international audiences about the wide variety of programming we deliver. During her time with us Lucey designed a brief around the Colours festival which debuted at DLWP summer 2023. Students were challenged to create a new look identity which could be used online, in print, on socials and our website.

In December Kim Byford, Talent Accelerator Project Director, went into Seaford Head school to look over the finished student work, deliver a creative careers assembly and select a shortlist of the eight best designs. Those eight students then visited in January to present their ideas to our communications team, tour the building including visiting the Helo Orticia exhibition and talking to Daisy and Luke about how they started their careers in marketing. All of the designs were excellent, but Lenny’s really stood out and he was chosen as our winner!

This experience was a great way to help strengthen ties between schools and industry helping to make sure that creative learning for young people is relevant, engaging and up to date. If your school would be interested in teacher encounter placement in creative industries please get in touch kim.byford@dlwp.com

Find out more about  Teacher Encounters here.

Rother Young Creators and Talent Accelerator worked together to create a unique opportunity for young people in Rother be part of a collective running a local makers market. We offered young creators the opportunity to hold a stall at a Christmas Market held at the De La Warr Pavilion on 2nd December 2023. In a workshop run before the event by James Thomas Creative Brand Consultant the young people learnt how best to present your products, ideas for social media posts and how to ensure that you have enough stock. This was a pilot, and we hope to see the Rother Young Creators in the future for another maker’s market.

Talent Accelerator was able to provide 2 young people with opportunity to Shadow Stewart Drew for a day in order to find out what a day in the life of an Art Director is like. Mimi and Emily got the chance to come into the De La Warr Pavilion and Learn about Stewarts role as Director and Chief Executive!

They took part in discussions with Stewart and sat in on Meetings, whilst also finding out about other roles at the De La Warr Pavilion.

As part of Eastbourne ALIVE’s Youth Voice programme, Towner is leading an ambitious programme of bespoke school visits with Year 9, Special Educational Need (SEN) and home-educated and college students in the region. The young people will be supported to meaningfully engage with contemporary art through Turner Prize 2023 at Towner and Eastbourne ALIVE’s programme of public art and events across the town.
Working with the Coastal Schools Partnership, over 3,500 students have been invited to visit Towner on Mondays when the gallery is closed to the public. Facilitated by Towner’s Learning and Front of House teams with student volunteers from the University of Sussex, each student will be given a copy of Give it Some Oomph! a resource designed by and for Year 9 students from The Turing School, The Nibble Bibble Duck Toes collective with artist Richard Phoenix. Groups will also receive insight and guidance into creative careers through our partnership with Talent Accelerator.
This resource provides a useful toolkit and insights into how we can engage with contemporary art. It includes activities, a playlist and a video made by the group as well as exploring historical contexts, how we take ownership of a space and what we bring to an artwork and the spaces we encounter it.
These visits will be supplemented by additional, in-school artist-led workshops. Artists will share their practice and responses through themes explored in Give it Some Oomph!, this year’s Turner Prize artists and conversations with the young people.
Artist Facilitators: Hermione Allsopp, Sam Ayres, Sineid Codd, Tom Goulden, Ella Hempsted, Annis Joslin, Bill Leslie, Amy Leung, Daniel Locke, Christopher Sacre and Esther Springett
This project is supported and funded by Eastbourne ALIVE as part of the Eastbourne-wide Youth Voice programme.

On Monday 13^th November, kicking off Discover Creative Careers week, Talent Accelerator and the Young Promotors Programme presented an insight into industry talk giving young people the chance to learn first-hand the skills needed to take their first steps into earning money through working at local music events. We were joined by Eastbourne Music Collective (EMC) talking about the services and events they offer, as well as the skill sets, they are looking for in an expanding workforce providing sound people and equipment for small gigs.

Everyone who attended then be had the chance to observe and get hands on by running a soundcheck with a local band supported by music technician professionals.

Talent Accelerator supported the White Rock, Hastings, Summer Youth Project delivering a session to parents on how to support young people into creative careers, sponsoring an audition support session, funding a place for a young person for the week and buying tickets to be given to local food banks so that everyone could see the final performance.

Talent Accelerator brought together students from Cavendish and Willingdon schools in Eastbourne to give them the opportunity to showcase their performing talents on the Congress stage and explore their possibilities for future careers in the Creative Industries.

We kicked off the day with a Creative Careers workshop identifying the key skills needed in creative jobs, what jobs are available, identifying opportunities and using facts to dispel the myths that young people are told about in the instability of working as a creative. This was followed up by singing rehearsals lead by Natalie Roberts, Performing Arts Co-ordinator at Cavendish school, getting everyone ready for their rehearsals for the evening performance. In the afternoon everyone was able to meet three fabulous creative industries professionals all from East Sussex who explained their experiences and took questions. Elie Haffenden told us all about her work at DSM on Six the Musical, Rachelle Diedericks told us about her life as an actor who has worked on The Take That musical, The Band, Our Generation and The Crucible with the National Theatre and Thomas Hopkins who owns and operates TPH and Ginger Quiff Media about his career producing theatre in a wide variety of theatres both in the UK and US. In the evening we welcome friends and families to join us to watch a performance including two wonderful choral pieces which included all of the children and young people from both schools.

If your school/college would like to work on a creative careers event with Talent Accelerator in 2023/2023 please get in touch.

On 6^th July Talent Accelerator and the Young Promotors programme presented an immersive event open to all young people across East Sussex. Attendees heard from influential promoters, experienced technicians, and talented marketeers who have made their mark on the UK and further afield arts scene. There were plenty of insights, stories, sharing of experiences and time for questions. All of this took place on the iconic De La Warr stage which has hosted so many famous names!

Across East Sussex during the academic year Talent Accelerator has been busy delivering assemblies and workshops to children and young people about careers in the thriving Creative Industries in the UK. We have worked with year 2 all the way through to year 13 and have encountered so many wonderfully creative children and young people.

Talent Accelerator organised a work experience opportunity in collaboration with Haven Young Creatives for young people from Newhaven, Peacehaven and Seaford. These two one-week work experience placements for students from Peacehaven Community School, Seahaven Academy, Seaford Head Sixth Form and East Sussex College Lewes set up as a film production company. They story boarded their ideas, created music and lyrics, directed, acted and filmed the whole thing.  You can watch their films below.

Talent Accelerator invited six year 10 students from Saxon Mount School for their work experience to come to the De La Warr Pavilion as consultants on how to make the building more Neurodivergent friendly. They spent the week exploring the space and giving feedback on improvements they would like to see. It was a great week involving loads of laughter and sticky tape!

Talent Accelerator ran a small design studio with East Sussex College students to develop an online platform to match young people to work placement and volunteer opportunities offered by creative businesses and organisations across East Sussex. The young people on placement identified businesses and organisations across the creative industries, mapped them, made contact with them to identify opportunities and populated the platform. This is the first iteration of an online platform which Talent Accelerator is developing to support young people into creative careers through meaningful work experience.

Talent Accelerator celebrated the work of the East Sussex College Group’s creative students from the Lewes and Eastbourne campuses putting a spotlight on work from Music, Music Production, Fashion, Art & Design, and Performing Arts students.

The evening’s showcase included live performances from the Performing Arts and Music Students plus exhibitions by the Art & Design, and Music Production students.

It was a wonderful celebration of the amazing young creative talent we have in East Sussex!

The Bexhill Jobs and Apprenticeship Fair has its own own Creative Industries Zone organised by Talent Accelerator filled with creative businesses and organisations wanted to speak to local young creative talent. Talent Accelerator lead a workshop on the day to help people identify their first steps into a creative career.

Image Credit: Bexhill Jobs & Apprenticeships Fair, 2023,  © Lineker Photography

Talent Accelerator ran a 1/2 day workshop for DV8 students about starting a career in the Creative Industries. We were joined by industry professionals Ed Frith, Live Programmer at the at DLWP, and Sam Watts, HTC Vive – Content Partnerships Lead, to talk to the students about their roles and their career journey, followed by a Q&A session.

Talent Accelerator delivered a free 1/2 day workshop session for 16-25 year olds interested in a career in the creative industries. This included an overview of the creative industries, a tour of the pavilion, Q & A with employees from different departments and planning your next steps.

The lightbox of shifting colour from 2022’s event, co-created by De La Warr Pavilion in collaboration with Talent Accelerator evolved into an interactive experience! You were able to play the De La Warr Pavilion making the light panels turn off and on at the switch of a button We were joined by dancers from St Richards and Robertsbridge schools, accompanied by sound tracks from musicians from East Sussex College Eastbourne and helped by the Blueprint Collective to dress the machine to make the Beach Beacon come alive.

Talent Accelerator and University of Brighton presented an evening of accelerator techniques and opportunities to help creative businesses identify ways to grow  in the current difficult economic climate, including speakers from a variety of organisations offering bespoke support including ways to fund growth, how to find your creative community and adding young people to your workforce.

We had working sessions with students from St Richards School, Bexhill High, and East Sussex College Group Eastbourne across September  and October 2022 to find out what Talent Accelerator meant to them and from there, the common themes and design ideas. This was worked up by a local young designer, Jem Lewis, who came up with our final design incorporating the themes and ideas from the work of the young creatives.

Since we launched the Talent Accelerator programme last autumn, we have engaged with students and young people as well as employees about the creative industries, careers, and opportunities in our region. We’ve given talks in assemblies, invited students to discuss creative careers onsite at cultural venues, and spoken with educators to raise the profile of the creative industries in the region. It was now time to find an identity that reflected that.

In the spirit of the programme, we’ve been working with an early career local designer Jem Lewis to help develop a look and feel for Talent Accelerator.  It was important that we found an identity for the programme which reflected the values and intention of the programme so we teamed up with young people from the region to help us shape how a logo for the programme may look.

We had working sessions with young people and students from St Richards School, Bexhill High, and East Sussex College Group Eastbourne to find out what Talent Accelerator meant to them and from there, the common themes and design ideas were worked up by Jem.  The brief was complex, with over 100 contributors and we are delighted with the result and the collaborative design process.  We are pleased to launch our Talent Accelerator logo with the supporting strapline: Supporting young people in East Sussex into creative careers.

Work experience is a great way to help young people get a better understanding of the world of work as well as developing self-confidence, emotional development and even boosting academic outcomes. Unfortunately, in recent years the number of placements available has declined with a research report by Speakers for Schools finding less than half of young people in England are receiving work experience today. In the Creative Industries in East Sussex this a particular problem with many being micro businesses who struggle to accommodate a young person for work experience.

Talent Accelerator has been busy looking at ways to address this and has delivered a range of placements for young people .

17th-31st May 2023 students from East Sussex College worked on developing a prototype for an online resource that maps all of the creative business/cultural organisations across East Sussex as well as identifying opportunities that they offer that could be useful work experience for students aged 16-19 looking to boost their CV.

5th-9th June 2023 students from Saxon Mount School came to the De La Warr Pavilion to work with Talent Accelerator’s apprentice Mehrin Miah on exploring the experience of the building as a neuro diverse person. The students looked at areas of the building that they would change to make it more accessible and created some amazing designs/prototypes for decoration and installations.

12-16th June and 3rd-7th July 2023 in collaboration with Haven Young Creatives working with young people from Peacehaven Community School, East Sussex College, Seahaven School and Seaford Head Sixth Form we formed two film production companies. Each company devised, wrote dialogue, created soundtracks, performed and filmed a short film. The whole experience took place at the East Sussex College new Newhaven campus building.

3rd-7th June 2024 Talent Accelerator Project Assistant, Mehrin Miah, organised a one-week work for year 10 students at Flatland, Beeching Road Studios Bexhill. The aim for the week was for the students to organise and make their own exhibition for year 7 students to visit. We were joined by Lucy an artist from Project Artworks who is extending her workshop facilitation skills.

1st-5th July and 8th-12th July 2024 in collaboration with Haven Young Creatives working with Peacehaven Community School,  Seahaven School and Seaford Head Sixth Form we formed two music production companies. Each company devised, wrote lyrics, created soundtracks, performed and recorded an album. The whole experience took place at the Towner space at Marine Workshops.

If you are interested in looking at work experience differently, please get in touch  Contact kim.byford@dlwp.com