On Monday 17th June, the Watershed venue in Bristol played host to a MyWorld Skills Roadshow, organised by Frazer Meakin, MyWorld Research Fellow. The event was open to young attendees from a local school, helping them explore new skills and possible job opportunities, with industry professionals from Lux Aeterna and Aardman.

MyWorld had students trying out VR headsets, immersing themselves in environments crafted by the project’s researchers. While Executive Producer for Lux Aeterna, Emma Kolasinska, captivated young audiences and helped inspire the next generation of VFX artists, Gavin Strange from Aardman regaled the young people with details of their career journey and what it was like to work in the creative industries.

Frazer says “The enthusiasm of the school children was palpable.  It was fantastic to give the young people a snippet of what working in Creative Tech can look like. The day was made when hearing a participant report that they want to work in VFX now”.

There was also a MyWorld Skills Roadshow on the 12th June for 2 SEND schools with workshops from Pyka (a MyWorld sandbox group) helping design their AI conductor and Charlie Hooper Williams who worked with the young people to code reactive visuals to music and sound.

These two Skills Roadshow events were a follow on from initial work in schools creating prototypes of wearable musical instruments using conductive ink. The workshop pipeline gave secondary school students an introduction into the wonder of creative tech and a chance to start to develop the skills needed to work in the sector.