Access Creative College brings together students and industry creatives to offer Virtual Festival
Over the last month, @Access_Creative College (ACC) has brought together students from across its UK campuses along with College alumni and a host of luminaries from the UK’s creative industries to produce the ACC Virtual Festival.
The Festival was curated to keep students and social media followers engaged as well as raise awareness of the creative industries and the people within it. The packed line-up features everything from live music to workshops and Q&As, hosted by a mix of current students and a multitude of creative professionals made up of ACC alumni and the college’s array of industry connections.
Delivered through the ACC website and Twitch, the Festival has so far attracted over 1500 unique visitors. During lockdown, the production of the festival forms part of the students’ learning curriculum and involved disciplines from event management and music production through to music performance and sound production.
Sessions in May include:
4th May 3.00 – 4.00pm – Drumming workshop with ACC Norwich tutor, professional drummer and percussionist Rich Nolan.
6th May 3.00pm – 4.30 – Restream – Throwback to 2018 when ACC ambassador and former student Ed Sheeran offered a secret session with students. Full recording to be shown for the first time
12th May 12.00pm – 1.00pm. DJ and Electronic music producer P0gman, ex ACC Birmingham Student returns to host a music workshop
For further details on the line-up visit
Operating as England’s largest private training provider, Access Creative College has a sole focus on the creative industries and plays an important role in developing talent and skills that are vital to the future growth of this sector in the UK. As businesses across the UK continue to be hit hard by the pandemic, especially in music and events, ACC is using the virtual festival as an opportunity to inspire and promote greater collaboration between its students and those already working in their chosen fields.
Phoebe Maxwell, Access Creative College Virtual Festival Organiser, commented,
“ACC prides itself on its industry connections and ability to provide its learners with a series of work placement opportunities. Festivals and live events are a big part of that, most of which have now been cancelled or put on hold indefinitely, so ACC decided to do its own completely online. We obviously get the importance of social distancing, but this doesn’t mean we can’t bring everyone together through the power of streaming. The aim is to create something exciting, fun and inspiring in this difficult and uncertain time.’
“With no confirmed end date for the lockdown, we’re planning to run the festival for as long as we can and give as many people as possible the opportunity to share some of their knowledge and passion, so if you’d like to be involved, get in touch! This could include a live performance or a workshop where you can share your screen with listeners and talk them through some top tips for mastering a certain craft, or it could be a live Q&A about your industry and what you do. Sessions can also be as long or as short as you like.”
Anyone with a creative skill who would like the opportunity to perform or host a session as part of the festival, can contact Phoebe here.
Previous artists who have taken part include:
Kane Holley: Live Gaming Stream
Kane is currently studying Games Art. This session focused on gaming and 3D modelling, whilst talking about his experiences at ACC so far.
Laura Wheale: Live Gaming Stream
Laura is a Games Art Student, known online as TheHemikoWay.
Cameron Crux: Live workshop/ performance
Cameron Crux is a DJ/ producer who is currently studying Music Technology. He hosted a production workshop where he showed off how he makes his tracks by creating a new track, live.
P0gman: Music Workshop
P0gman is a DJ/electronic producer and an ex ACC Birmingham student.
Max Miechowski: Live workshop/ Q&A
Max Miechowski is an award-winning documentary and portrait photographer
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