Away with work

In my second full month of my apprenticeship, I have achieved lots of new tasks and skills as well as travelling with work on day events, such as auditions, workshops and our productions!

I have started to learn the fundamentals of working as an event assistant as well as following health and safety procedures. From training with my apprenticeship team, to working with my work team, I have been able to practise some of these fundamentals on my own. This includes being trusted to hold onto work items (brochures etc) in a safe manor, contacting people regarding confidentiality/ consent forms, leading team meetings etc.

However, the newest thing to me so far has been traveling to work events for day/ overnight trips, this included 3 different occasions being:

1. Primary School Workshops - taken place at Solent University : For this I met up with my team in the morning not far from our office at Solent University. We had been planning for a few weeks prior this workshop event with concluded of 3 primary schools (St Monica's Primary, St Georges and St Patricks) working with our conductor for 'Riders To The Sea' in a recording studio to capture some harmonies that will be included in our production. I helped out by setting up the studio first of all, directing individual students/ schools to where they needed to go at the front entrance, and answering general questions from teachers and parents. After this I sat through the workshop and took some short clips for our socials, whilst also asking teachers which students parents had/ hadn't consented to being in any photography. - Overall it was an amazing experience of a day and it was really exciting to see how we do our workshops in person and be able to help out throughout the day.

2. Auditions for Schicchi - taken place in The Dang Studios, London: For our developing/ upcoming production of Gianni's Schicchi, we hosted auditions for Instrumentalists who also sang Opera. I started the day by travelling up to London by train, and I met my colleague's The Dang Studios in London for 9:30am and helped set up the studio. I was prepped with my tasks which was simply greeting people when they arrived and noting when/ if they had arrived, and then showing them to the rehearsal room where they had place to set up and practise prior to the audition if they choose, then calling their names and leading them to the auditioning studio when the time came. - Overall I had a really fun day, it was very exciting to meet so many creatives in one day, some graduates and others professionals. I also found it really cool how they allowed me to sit in for some of the auditions and shadow them. I now feel I have gauged an idea on how auditions run and feel that I would be able to show that when I'm able to attend again in the future.

3. Ventnor Fringe Festival, Isle of Wight - Lastly, we had our first production for our touring OperaCocktail on the Isle of Wight at Ventnor Fringe Festival. I had worked out by communicating with my team that I had accommodation down there and was therefor able to attend to shadow/ help for the first day. This was really exciting for me, as I made my way down the day before as I was prepped online with the schedule and notes before attending the next day. The morning of the performance I met my colleague's in Newport where we were holding rehearsals, here I shadowed Enya (stage manager) and helped with tasks throughout the morning, including setting up space and props, communicating with the artists and making sure all needs were met. We then travelled down to Ventnor with all the props needed for the production and helped set up the tent. Enya helped by guiding me on what she was doing as well as what I could do to help. Once the production began in the evening, I then stood at the back with a short tripod ensuring we got the entire show on camera. - Overall the turn out was amazing, it was a super fun and exciting experience and I would 100% go again if possible. It was amazing getting to see the production we had been working towards perform live and see the outcome of it, as well as witness all the back stage come to life.   

   
   

Overall, the second month has been amazing when it comes down to shadowing and learning new aspects of the hands on workshops and productions. It was amazing to see all the things I had been helping with pan through in person and I'm so excited to see how I can be when these opportunities arise again, now that I have more knowledge on what goes on behind the scenes.