Matt is a highly experienced music and education marketer, with a varied background that includes copywriting, PR and email marketing. His primary focuses are the music, games and esports industries, regularly producing successful pieces from across all three sectors. In his free time, Matt enjoys playing games, perfecting his barista skills and baking.
Access Creative College London welcomed Bwoy Wonder to their Whitechapel campus to deliver a workshop to young creatives interested in music and the performing arts. Bwoy Wonder, Creative Director for Mandem Clothing and a fashion designer who owns two streetwear labels and has created pieces for globally renowned names such as Pharrell, Will.I.Am and Kanye West, stopped by the campus to deliver a workshop on Professional Development to students.
Speaking about why he delivers workshops to young people, Bwoy Wonder said “One of my proudest moments with young people is watching them become what they thought was unobtainable, going through the learning process and coming out the other side as fully fledged entrepreneurs and honest citizens of society.”
During the workshop, students listened to a talk on building a career, finding inspiration and utilising aspiration for success. They were then asked to create a hoodie design based on the theme ‘from the ground up’. Students pitched their design with the winning pitch being made into a real item of clothing and presented to the student.
The workshop was offered to students as part of an ongoing enrichment programme, designed to compliment Access Creative College’s curriculum and instil life and career skills, confidence and ambition in the cohort of young creatives.
“I learned that it is ok to be my own person and to put myself out there by knowing how to approach people with confidence. This talk opened my eyes to other areas I never thought of before such as budgeting, finance and the importance of Maths and English” – Billy Cook, ACC London Games Development Student.
Elaine Maxwell, Georgia Hardy and the campus team at Access Creative College Birmingham, are celebrating after raising more than £600 for Breast Cancer Awareness. According to Cancer Research UK, breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, responsible for around 15% of all new cancer cases (56,800 new cases each year). Elaine and Georgia have both been directly impacted by cancer, and set out to raise awareness and collect donations to support the vital work of Breast Cancer UK.
Elaine, a Pastoral Manager at the campus on Heath Mill Lane in Digbeth, shared why she wanted to raise donations for Breast Cancer UK, saying “I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in March this year, and had mammoplasty surgery. Treatment took its toll on me and if it wasn’t for the support of Macmillan, Look Good Feel Better and Little Lifts cancer groups and therapy, my amazing husband, wonderful family, and my work family, I don’t know how I would have coped. My journey continues with treatment, however I’m in remission, proving that early detection is vital.”
Elaine and Georgia teamed up with campus staff and students to put their plans in motion, starting with a voluntary donation for entry scheme for ACC’s end of year showcase at XOYO, which raised an incredible £550. Georgia, an Admin Manager, who sadly lost her mum to colon and lung cancer in July this year, said “Losing someone to cancer, like I did, leaves a hole that can never truly be filled. Supporting cancer charities like Breast Cancer UK is vital, not just to raise money to help beat it, but to also raise awareness of the signs to look out for and get diagnosed early. 30% of breast cancer cases are easily avoidable, just by slightly changing your lifestyle.”
As a follow up to the successful XOYO donation campaign, ACC Birmingham staff participated in ‘Wear It Pink’ day last week, offering a series of fundraising events including bake sales, movie showings and more. The team raised a further £132, bringing the grand total to an amazing £682.
The donations gathered have now been given to Breast Cancer UK, and will go towards research, prevention, treatment, education, and funding support groups, with the team already planning more events for Wear It Pink Day 2025.
Elaine said “Supporting breast cancer awareness is vital in raising much needed funds for women and men as early detection, often through screening, can catch the disease when it is most treatable.” with Georgia adding “The best advice I can give is to help raise awareness, hug your family and friends and donate when/ if you can, because it makes all the difference.”
As you may have seen, we’ve recently launched our ‘Media Spotlight’ series to highlight media students and alumni who have contributed to an incredible zine from ACC Birmingham.
In Part 1, we spoke to Sam, a recent Graphic and Digital Design graduate to find out more about how it was created and what it’s like to build a career in graphic design.
In Part 2, we meet Kat, a Film, Videography and Photography graduate. Read on to find out more.
Hi Kat, tell us about yourself.
I studied Level 3 Film, Video and Photography at ACC Birmingham before going on to study Media Production at university. I am primarily a photographer, which I picked up at the start of college, but recently I have been branching out more into video. I’m very passionate about my projects and mainly enjoy doing music related projects and fictional videos. You can find all of my work on my instagram page – @katjpeg_
Your work recently appeared in Access Birmingham’s media zine. Tell us about how that came together?
I was contacted by the college after leaving, asking if I would like to be a part of their zine and I really appreciated the offer because it just shows that all the work I did in college paid off. I decided to compile some of the work I am most proud of which consisted of a mixture of personal and college projects. I included both photography and some stills from music videos I have made to really showcase the range of things you can actually learn on the courses at Access. You can see a variety of styles I have worked in as one of the music videos is more vibrant than the gothic/grunge style I have started to specialise in more.
Your main focus in your work is gig photography, delving a little into music videos. What made you want to focus on music photography and videography?
When starting at Access the music course was constantly offering gigs for media students to go and photograph so I decided to just give it a shot and see how it went and I just absolutely loved it. I love live music in general so then being able to capture it whilst still enjoying the music was so much fun – plus you can get some really cool shots that you just can’t really recreate in a studio. With the musicians just focusing on their music and the crowd you catch such awesome candid shots, plus the instruments just make everything look 10x cooler. I also have my own background in music as I’ve played guitar for 7 years and just love music in general so I think that makes it easier for me to have a passion for capturing it.
As for the music videos, I was contacted by Sophie Grace from the music course to film a video for her song ‘Fall (For Once)’ and I found that I just really enjoyed creating that narrative with her and experimenting with different shots that would achieve the vision she wanted. From this I decided to make my own music video for my final major project and I went for a vampire theme as I love the gothic style and have always loved vampire media. That ended up being so fun to film, I loved planning all the costuming and just using a ton of fake blood to make everything look cool. I also find the post production of music videos really interesting as I find it really enjoyable to watch the project come together from the first cut, to adjusting the flow of the narrative, to adding cool effects like cinematic bars and colour grading.
How do you approach a shoot? What’s your go-to equipment?
I do not go anywhere without my kaleidoscope filter or my star filters. Especially with gig photography they can just make a photo so much more interesting and I find that they always end up being the subjects’ favourite photos as well.
Other than that I just have a basic Nikon camera with a kit lens and a 35mm lens. It’s not the best set up in the world but if you have a passion for what you’re capturing it doesn’t matter in the end. Plus with things like college and university it’s usually possible to borrow better equipment rather than emptying your bank account on it!
When editing your shots and footage, what are you using and what are you looking for in the end result?
I use the Adobe Suite to edit all of my projects. For photography, I mainly use Lightroom Classic as this just makes it so much easier to filter through and categorise my photos. Then it has everything you need to adjust aspects of the photos. Personally, I’m a big fan of higher contrast images so you’ll find a lot of deep darks in my photos as for me a flatter look just isn’t really what I’m after. I then sometimes use Photoshop on some of the images to add some cooler effects like a gradient map (basically shades the colours of the original image into something more interesting).
For my videos, I tend to just use Premiere Pro and my first step is always to just try and create a flow with the narrative that mirrors what I planned out in my pre-production and keeps the audience’s attention. My favourite part of video editing is more towards the end where you can add things like grain, text effects and a colour grade. These are the aspects that, for me, just make a project feel so much more professional. I love doing a dramatic colour grade, in my vampire music video I just really desaturated everything but the reds so it had a way more gothic look to it.
How was your time at ACC Birmingham? How do you feel it contributed to your career?
I was able to make a lot of connections with other creatives through college which allowed me to gain so much experience working with different types of people in different environments. It can be very daunting to work with people you don’t know but through various studio shoots, gigs and music videos I started learning how to comfortably and professionally interact with clients.
I learnt a lot through my tutor as well, he really helped everyone grasp how the studio worked and the most effective way to utilise a camera to yield the best results for what you want. Having someone who worked in the industry as a teacher is so incredibly helpful because they know how to give you really constructive feedback and advice to improve your work as well as being able to give you advice on things like networking.
Tell us about shooting the (ACC Award winning) video for ‘Perhaps Vampire Is A Bit Strong But..’. How did that opportunity come about, and how did it feel to win your ACC Award?
That music video is what I decided to do for my final major project to emphasise all the skills I had learnt in my 2 years at college. The idea was built on work from previous projects, mainly my dissertation, where I talked about how vampire media has developed since Nosferatu up to the present day.
Winning an award for this music video was honestly such a nice sign that the work I put in paid off. I really cared about this music video and had such a fun time making it, so having it highlighted as the best video was just incredibly rewarding.
You’ve recently gone on to university. How’s that going?
University is going amazing – it was definitely the right choice for me. I chose a media production course so it’s a bit more broad. I’ll be covering things like graphic design and radio, as well as film and photography. For me this just fits what I want better as I didn’t want to specialise in a particular area yet and just wanted to experiment with a broader set of skills.
I’ve already been able to connect with several other creatives, and have been discussing working on several peoples films – some of them not even doing a film course. I’ve also been looking into societies that will allow me to work on various things, including gig photography so I’m really looking forward to that!
What’s next for you in your career? What are you working towards, and what are your hopes for the future?
Currently I just want to experiment with as much media as possible. I really want to work on a short film and do some more physical media like collaging with my photographs. I’m hoping to pick up some more work experience in the industry, as I think that will be really beneficial for my career.
As for the future, I am currently using university to figure out where I want to go with my work. I want to work on a range of things throughout my career as I’d just find that more interesting! If you’ve got a passion for media that you want to build into a career, consider one of our Media courses. Applications are open now.
The Rhythm Studio has partnered with Access Creative College to bring their successful Rock & Roll Bootcamp to our Whitechapel campus this October half term break. Running from Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November, young London creatives aged 8 to 16 will spend an intensive week making and producing music together, and honing their craft, culminating in a showcase at one of London’s top music venues, Pizza Express Live in Soho.
“I am delighted to welcome The Rhythm Studio to Access Creative College, increasing local access for young people to experience these incredibly engaging and successful music workshops. Music is at the heart of both organisations and we’re all very passionate about raising participation and supporting young people in the joy of playing and performing music.” – Jason Beaumont, CEO at Access Creative College.
The Rhythm Studio have run over 135 Rock & Roll Bootcamps in their 15 year history, welcoming some of the biggest names in music including Beabadoobee guitarist Jacob Bugden, BAFTA winning actor Sebastien Croft, Mathew Cartlidge of The Molotovs, Hip-Hop artist El Londo and more.
The company is bringing an incredible, eclectic mix of tutors along to help the aspiring musicians find their sound, including Kaja Magsam, Sid Batham, Ollie Halvorsen and Oscar Rees. The tutoring team has years of direct industry experience, and can’t wait to share their knowledge with attendees.
“We are very excited to bring our Rock & Roll Bootcamp to East London this Easter Break. After many years of fine-tuning the workshops at our beloved studios in West London we are thrilled to invite students to Access Creative College’s state of the art facilities in Whitechapel and experience the joy of making music while meeting like-minded young people in an inspiring environment.” – Kaja Magsam, Bootcamp Programme Leader.
Their full series of Easter Bootcamps, including the ACC London event mentioned above, are open to bookings now, but readers are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible, as spaces are filling up fast.
Media. It’s a wide-reaching term for a varied industry. Media is also one of our biggest pathways – home to some serious talent across animation and VFX, graphic design, videography, photography, content creation and more.
Our Birmingham media students, tutors and alumni have worked together to create an incredible media zine that you can view. To spotlight this incredible work, we’re bringing you a series of interviews with the people behind it.
First up, we spoke to Sam, a recent Graphic and Digital Design graduate to find out more about how it was created and what it’s like to build a career in graphic design. Read on for more.
Hi Sam, tell us about yourself
I’m Sam, I’m 19 years old and I recently graduated from Access’ Graphic and Digital Design course at their Birmingham campus. My design style is mostly composition-based, as I love seeing the art I can create from something as simple as a photo and some text. I also consider myself a branding designer as well, as I love creating branding identities to post onto my graphic design page on Instagram (@thesrnarchives).
In my free time, my other hobbies include Formula One, photography, video games and shopping. I’d say my hobbies influence my design work quite a lot, especially Formula One as I enjoy creating graphics linking to it, including a challenge I’ve set myself to design and upload a poster inspired by the location of that week’s Grand Prix weekend.
Your graphic design work recently appeared in Access Birmingham’s media zine. Tell us about how that came together.
My tutor sent me a message regarding the zine, and asked me to write up a small introduction to myself and send my brand logo while she collected the work that she wanted to include in the zine. I’m so proud to be on the zine and show off my work to anyone who might read it.
What made you want to build a career in graphic design?
I’ve been studying graphic design since Year 10, so it’s definitely something I’ve enjoyed for a while. I think my interest stems from my love of being creative and my desire to show that creativity to other people. I also really love the idea of going out into the world, looking at something like a poster or a logo and being able to say “I made that”.
How do you approach a new design project? What’s your go to equipment?
I feel the most important thing to do when starting a new project is to search for inspiration and create visuals while generating ideas. My favourite method of generating ideas is through moodboards. I’ll often create multiple moodboards to present to clients, allowing us to agree on a general style and aesthetic before moving forward. An ideal moodboard for me will consist of colours, typography and packaging/posters that match the aesthetic I’m looking to achieve.
What are you looking for in a finished project, and what’s your favourite piece you’ve created so far?
For my finished projects, I want to achieve something clean, coherent and that conveys the message that I am looking to put across. I also want something visually appealing to my audience, which is equally as important, as nobody wants to look at something that doesn’t look good to them.
In terms of pieces that I’ve created, I think my favourite design that I have created depends on the type of design. Branding-wise, my favourite has to be my ‘Change’ branding for my Year 2 FMP, as I feel like I created a brand that was quite in-depth, consistent and effective. I’m also very proud of the mockups I created.
Poster-wise, I think my favourite design is either my ‘Doomsday Blue’ poster – inspired by the song by Bambie Thug – or my ‘China’, ‘Canada’ or ‘Baku’ entries for my F1 weekly poster series.
How was your time at ACC Birmingham? How do you feel it contributed to your career?
My time at ACC Birmingham was an absolute blast. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the tutors on my projects, getting to collaborate with artists on other courses – such as the time I got to create a logo for one of the music students – and just being in a nice and positive working environment. ACC has definitely helped me kickstart my graphic design career. I learned so much about building my brand and portfolio, how to market myself and pricing, as well as working on my professional skills.
You’ve gone on to study at university. How’s that been going?
Yes, I recently started studying Graphic Design at Manchester Metropolitan University and have just been given my first brief/project. At the moment I’m focused on settling in and finding my feet in a new environment, but I’m very excited to be able to show my skills and hopefully grow as an artist even more.
What’s next for you in your career? What are you working towards, and what are your hopes for the future?
I plan on continuing my studies in graphic design, gaining connections as I do so and hopefully entering the world of work as a freelancer, allowing me to be in full control of the projects that I do and my design style. Eventually, I hope to be able to work with McLaren F1 as a graphic designer, creating social media content for something I am so passionate about.
Meanwhile, you can find me on Behance and Instagram to watch my journey and to see my work! I definitely post more on Instagram than Behance so if I were you, I’d 100% follow me there!
If you’ve got a passion for media that you want to build into a career, consider one of our Media courses.
Our team recently caught up with Kris Proctor, Lincoln’s Music Progress Award Winner for 2024, to talk to him about his time at Access Creative College and his next steps after finishing his course.
Hi Kris, can you tell us more about yourself?
I am studying Level 3 Music Performance at ACC Lincoln and I am now going on to study a Level 3 Media course at the same centre to support my work within the music industry.
My background isn’t the most ‘broad’, however, it has always been within music. From being young I attended festivals such as Bearded Theory and Alchemy Festival (now Equinox) and then went on to seeing many bands live and in more recent years working in the music industry
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
Good, It’s a testament to what I was told when I joined (I joined Access very late). During my interview with Paul Levitt I was told in order to keep my place I was going to have to play catchup for the 3 weeks that I hadn’t been there and learn what we were playing very quickly. I did just that and when I came back after that Christmas break I was 10 times as good at bass than when I joined and was regarded as one of the best access bassist students.
Can you tell us more about your time at Access?
I’ve learnt how to work in a band effectively and how to sort problems within that setting. I’ve learnt a lot about the industry itself and how to program like Logic Pro X and Mainstage as well as basics in Adobe Lightroom which I am going to continue to learn over the next 2 years.
The thing I have enjoyed the most about access is helping at the gigs by doing set up and load out as well as learning about all of the gear we have in the studios and in the recording suite. Just working with the tutors who all have professional knowledge and experience in the industries they teach in.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
Outside of Access, I’ve been working with a band called Heartstrung as their guitar tech, roadie and rehearsal photographer. I have also worked as a stagehand and tech for gigs, one of the most recent being Lincoln Jazz Festival and X-24 which was a 24 hour gig at a place called X-church who I have become heavily involved with. I continue to practise and play for hours a day so that I continue to improve my skills on the bass
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
Being able to catch up with everything when I joined and to have made so much progress in my skills on the bass.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
Everything I’ve learned at Access will help me in my future work! I plan to work in the music industry for as long as I can e.g. being a guitar tech, stage tech, in a band etc doing something I enjoy and something that I’m good at. Working in the music industry is something I enjoy and I would much rather do something I enjoy than something I would find boring.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you want to know something just ask a tutor if they haven’t covered it and they will either have an answer or help you find one. They all have had experience in the industry and they all have helpful knowledge. Something I always say is ‘’if you don’t ask you won’t know’’.
Beyond The Music takes place between the 9th and the 11th October, with events taking place at Aviva Studios as well as satellite events at a number of venues across the city, including New Century on Hanover Street. Access Creative College, Access Industry and dBs Institute are bringing a number of staff, students and alumni to the conference to perform, share industry knowledge and support grassroots musicians to build successful careers.
Events involving ACC, AI and dBs include:
Thursday 10th October
‘What Comes Next? How to Take the Next Steps in Your Creative Career’, a panel talk in The Social at Aviva Studios, featuring Access Creative College’s Head of Industry Partnerships, Ian Johnson.
Beyond The Music showcase featuring Access Creative Artist Development alumni Arthur Black at the Castle Hotel.
New Century Unplugged takeover by ACC and dBs, featuring Ex-’The Voice’ contestant, Jordan Phillips, Arthur Black, Fear of Marko, killshotbunny, Lydia Cass and Noah Jax.
Dolby Workshop at dBs Manchester (located within the basement of New Century).
Friday 11th October
AFEM Presents: From Bedroom DJ to Mainstage DJ: The Future of Music Education, featuring Dom Kane from dBs Institute.
Dolby Workshop at dBs Manchester (within New Century).
Staff and students from ACC, AI and dBs will also be on hand at Aviva Studios throughout the conference to discuss creative careers and education with attendees.
“Beyond The Music is the result of a number of key Manchester creative institutions coming together to continue Manchester’s legacy of producing incredible music. We’re proud to work so closely with the Beyond The Music event team, doing what we can to contribute to the future of both the local and national grassroots music industry, at a time when the sector needs significant, proactive support.” – Ian Johnson, Head of Industry Partnerships.
To find out more about Beyond The Music, including the full schedule for the event, or to buy tickets, visit their website.
Harry Stansfield, the winner of the Best Game Design award for 2024 at ACC Manchester, recently spoke to our team about his time on his Level 3 Games Development course and his future plans for when he leaves college.
Hi Harry, please can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I studied Level 3 Games Development and achieved an overall Distinction*. I was the student rep and ambassador of my course, and I’m going to study Games Development at Staffordshire University this coming September.
How did you get into Games Development?
My aspiration for the games industry grew when I was in Year 11, a lot of developers will talk about wanting to go into games ever since they were 5 years old, but to be honest, although I played video games I never really had aspirations to make one. This was until I found out about ACC and researched the course and had a sudden excitement to join!
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love game development, not just as a future career path but as a hobby. Ever since joining college, it’s been an all-consuming desire to figure out how the games industry ticks, indie and triple A. I like watching Devlogs, reading Devblogs, and listening to podcasts/GDC talks on game development. I love the analytical side of marketing and publishing a game and most of all, I love the whole gaming process of creating complex modular code and turning it into a fully thought-out gameplay system. I love making my visions come to life!
Congratulations on the award! How do you feel about winning?
When applying for the best game design/development award I was in my head about not being good enough. But, it was truly surreal to walk on stage and win the award! It was such a good feeling watching my friends and girlfriend cheer me on stage while the professors were shaking my hands and telling me I deserved it.
How has your time at ACC been?
My time at ACC has been life-changing, the course was so amazing and it gave me a place where I could talk to like-minded people. With game development, it’s often hard to find real-life people who share the same passion you do, but ACC allowed me to meet new people in my class who share common goals. Also, it allowed me to network with some people who I would have never had the chance to meet, such as D3T! My professors, Guy, Niall, Simon, Elliot, Isaac and Rob, although they won’t admit it, are truly amazing artists/programmers/developers respectively and it gives you a sense of the level that you can achieve when studying at ACC.
What is your biggest achievement?
My proudest achievement right now would be taking over as Co-CEO of Boomerang as it is such a huge responsibility as they trust me to direct the game to a professional release, and they also trust me to acquire funding for the game as well. Before this, I worked as a programmer for Slingshot Studios for about 10 months moving from part-time junior programmer up to full-time (hybrid work) senior programmer. Then, up until recently, I was the lead programmer of boomerang games for about 6 months until being offered the Co-CEO position and took over the company with my classmate of the art course and also ACC award winner, Matt Hall.
But I have to say just because that is my proudest achievement doesn’t mean there aren’t others, such as making my first game in my programming classes from start to finish which proved to me that I can pursue game development. Creating a game in a week for a game jam, creating a game in 3 days to show to D3T and finally winning the award for my final major project. And a lot of these proud moments are in my life because of ACC, and because of that I will always be thankful.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future are to start studying at Staffordshire University and network in a new location with a much larger pool of people. ACC has given me such a big opportunity where I can confidently say that I will be massively ahead of my future classmates just because I took this course. Other than studies, I really plan to go all in on Boomerang Games, I want to be able to get funding so that we can make the game into the vision the team sees it as. Being able to market, fund and create a game are all the skills that grew from joining ACC, they gave me the initial stepping stone and confidence to jump headfirst into running and working at an indie studio.
What advice do you have for anyone thinking about joining ACC?
My core advice to those wanting to study at ACC but are on the fence due to the risk of the games industry or what current societal attitudes are to the games industry is this: any opportunity given is an opportunity taken, ACC is a massive stepping stone for entering the games industry but that’s only if you put in the work and effort. Being able to do that in a college which is so supportive and focused on the games industry is an opportunity you’re not going to get anywhere else, so take it!
And finally, the most important thing to remember when about to study or currently studying is that you steer the ship of your life, so if you put the effort and work in you could be the next Dani or Notch or Toby Fox. You could be where I am and be a CEO of an indie studio or you could be 1000x further ahead. It’s how you react to your situation and the opportunities presented to you, so do yourself a favour and take the first step.
Recently, we caught up with Yasmin Otsmane, who won ACC’s Best Media Student award for 2024 in Manchester. We spoke to her about her recent award win and how she’s feeling about it, as well as her time on her course and her future plans.
Hi Yasmine, tell us about yourself!
Hi, my name is Yasmin. I’m studying Graphic Design and have just completed my first year, going into my second. While I was studying for my GCSEs, I never even considered doing graphic design. I was planning on doing A-Levels, but I was told I couldn’t with the results I was getting. Still, I tried my hardest. I finished my GCSEs and went on holiday. I had applied to a few colleges but only received temporary acceptance, so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.
While I was on holiday, my dad told somebody, who specialises in advising young people on their future careers, about me. My dad mentioned that I like art, which is true! I couldn’t go a day without drawing; I had to draw every day, or it would drive me mad. I’ve kept this streak for about four years now, not missing a single day. The advisor suggested I do graphic design, and I thought to myself, that’s a great idea! I was ecstatic that my dad supported it as well. Coming from an Arabic background, like my friends, he would usually assume it’s not very reliable, but he had worked with a graphic designer before.
Graphic design works perfectly for me because I love being creative, and the idea that I could make a profit and a living out of it made me ecstatic. But I didn’t take it seriously at first and thought of it as a second option. August 24th came by, and guess what? None of the colleges accepted me. I wasn’t sad about it because I believed it was meant to be. I remembered an ad on Instagram about studying graphics in Manchester, so I followed up and applied and I got accepted!
I like watching anime, playing games, watching sitcoms, and running.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
Honestly, I still can’t believe it. When they announced the Graphic Student of the Year, I thought, “Yeah, I’m not winning anything.” Then they announced Student of the Year, and to my surprise, it was me. I’m really happy! My teachers, Lauren and Josh, later came over to say how proud they were and how it was the easiest choice they made. That made me so happy. I was in shock, so I hadn’t processed it, and they probably thought I wasn’t happy, but I am, infinitely so.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
It certainly has been a positive experience. At the beginning, obviously, everyone is nervous about meeting new people, but right now, I am so happy to go to Access. I’ve met new people and new friends, and the teachers are so supportive. I always get compliments on my work, which motivates me to work harder, but I also get constructive criticism to improve. Whenever I’m struggling, my teacher sits with me and helps with everything I need. The teachers seem passionate about teaching, which makes the learning experience even better.
Coming into college is always exciting. It’s always fun to come in, and I look forward to every day. Right now, I look forward to the next year of college. The teachers are very supportive and positive, a very different experience compared to high school. I have learnt a ton of things, like how to use all the Adobe programs. I have also improved a lot in my art because I push myself every time to do things I’m not familiar with. Thanks to the people at the college seeing my potential and pushing me, I have created some of my best artworks ever. The motivation I have received has been incredible. But genuinely, everyone is so nice over there, nothing like I have ever seen before.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
Unfortunately I haven’t, but if an opportunity opens up for me I will definitely take it!
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
The artwork I have created is thanks to the college. I worked on an assignment titled “Culture,” and I chose Native American culture. I made some really cool artwork for it:
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
I will be doing an Apprenticeship or an internship somewhere, I don’t plan on going to University.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
Just do it, trust me! It’s a small number of people but fewer people are better as you’ll feel more comfortable!
We recently had a chat with Connor Dawson, Lincoln’s Level 2 Music Award winner for 2024. Connor spoke to us about his time on his course, his recent award win, and his future aspirations.
Hi Connor! Tell us about yourself.
My name is Connor Dawson, I’m 19 years old and I specialise in playing bass guitar.
I’ve been playing bass for over 3 years and have played many gigs inside and outside of college. I’ve played in cover bands inside college such as Oablurmonkes, R!OTS and most recently Silver Veins. Outside of college, I play in a heavy metal band known as ArknSaw and we specialise in creating original heavy music. My preferred genre of music to play is without a doubt heavy metal due to it being my favourite genre to listen to in my spare time and the pure technicality of certain bass lines sometimes poses a challenge which I am always up for. When writing my music, I tend to take major influence from bands such as Arch Enemy, Parkway Drive and Orbit Culture as I see all three of these bands as inspiration to help me better myself as a musician.
During my free time, I enjoy gaming, hanging out with my friends, attending local bands and established band gigs and pursuing a side career in Martial Arts.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
When winning my award, I felt a sense of pure happiness and pride knowing that all of my hard work during the year had paid off. I could tell the potential my tutors, friends and bandmates all saw in me had played a major part in winning this award. When I told my family after the Awards Showcase that I was one of the winners, they couldn’t have been prouder. Winning this award made me realise that dedication and commitment are key factors in improving myself as a musician.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
During my time at ACC, I have learned many different skills and made many friends along the way. I really enjoyed being given the opportunity to perform live whilst being on the Level 2 course. When I was first asked if I wanted to perform, I was quite surprised that my tutors came to me first and not one of the Level 3 students. However, when looking back at that moment, I could not be more grateful to be given this opportunity to show my friends, family and the rest of the college my true potential when performing at my first college gig.
One major skill I have learned during my time at ACC is staying persistent whether for general coursework or band rehearsals, being persistent is the key to success in my opinion.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest achievement whilst being at ACC would be forming my cover band Silver Veins in such a short time frame for the End of Year Showcase and being one of the first-ever Level 2 students in Lincoln to perform at the showcase. Furthermore, after the success of our setlist at the showcase we have offered to play gigs outside of college. I could not be more proud of what I have achieved during my time at ACC, but none of it would have been possible without the help of my amazing tutors and my awesome bandmates.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
My dream job is to tour the world as a metal musician and to become an inspiration to people young and old and show them that hard work, determination and perseverance always pay off. Until that happens though I am looking to become a session musician to which I am looking to help people who are struggling with their techniques/playing and give them that push to help them set foot within the music industry. With the skills I have learned from ACC, I have no doubt that in the future I can make these dreams one day become a reality.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you have a major passion for Media, Games Development, Photography or in my case Music then my advice to anyone considering studying at ACC would be to go for it. Pursue those passions and dreams. Take my case for example, you can achieve anything if you’re willing to put in the time, effort, determination and perseverance. I could not have asked for a better time at ACC myself and I look forward to returning in September.
Did you know that it’s our 32nd birthday? We started life back in 1992 as Access to Music, offering a small number of music courses. From such small beginnings, we’ve since evolved into games, media, computing and esports. We became Access Creative College to better reflect our focus on and passion for a wide range of creative disciplines.
It’s been an incredible three decades here, during which we’ve seen innumerable talented young creatives come through our doors, leaving us with the skills, knowledge and experience to launch incredible careers. Some have even gone on to be household names! We’re proud of every single one of our students, past and present, and we can’t wait to see what future generations of creatives achieve within our campuses and in their careers after they’ve finished their studies.
To help celebrate our birthday, we spoke to the Head of Campus for Access Creative College in Manchester, Mark Acton and Access Careers Leader, Martin Smith to find out what their time with us has been like. Read on for more!
Mark Acton
“I think it was in 1998 that I first came across Access to Music, when a friend of mine said that he was doing music teacher training ‘through the back door’ and he said how brilliant the Instrumental Music Facilitator programme was that he was engaging with.
Just under two years later, in late 1999, my wife was expecting a baby and I thought that I should probably try and get a real job, rather than relying on unpredictable gigs and selling nurses uniforms (yep). I took up teacher training with North Trafford College who suggested that I do my teaching practice with their music provision, which was a collaboration with Access to Music. On my first visit to the Beehive Mill, a vibrant, multi-industry building that housed a nightclub, radio station and lots of other creative businesses, I was awestruck by the atmosphere and the spark. Within 5 minutes, I was filming someone doing an assessed performance and I already knew that this was where I wanted to work.
I remember staff development days in August of 2000, with all the important names from Access to Music at the time, including a certain Martin Smith, the hangovers on the second morning after the karaoke in the bar the night before.
I was there on 9/11 watching the Twin Towers go down on a black and white portable TV with Steve Barlow twisting the aerial to get a good signal. Ben Searle had come down to IV the work on our HND Music Performance programme. At the same time, Sean South was in Lincoln having his job interview.
We’ve seen some tremendous developments over the year, including the move to having our own students instead of working with partner colleges, the British Academy of New Music in London with George Martin as our patron, Adrian taking over from John Ridgeon in (2007?) and the change to Access Creative College in more recent years.
With the broader remit of Access Creative College, and the Access Group we have been able to expand our horizons and feed off the symbiotic relationships of all of the creative industries, providing a much richer context for our learners.
Sports, music, games, film, art and graphics are the things that make our lives better and more interesting. They are what kept us going during lockdown. They make the world a better place for the creatives, the participants and the consumers.
We have changed people’s lives (sometimes even for the better) and helped other people do the same.
The world needs Access Creative College. Happy birthday and here’s to many more.”
And now let’s hear from Careers Leader, Martin Smith!
Martin Smith
““Long Time Gone” is a classic slice of psyche Americana from the 1969 Crosby, Stills & Nash album – I have a copy on vinyl. A long time has gone since my band, the Dancing Wu Li Masters, met John Ridgeon, Access to Music’s founder, in a pub in Stamford, Lincolnshire. Over a drink, in his charismatic way, he persuaded us all to enrol on a new teacher training course for musicians. We’re talking here of 1994, in the heady days of Britpop and acid house – Irvine Welsh’s book of that name had just been published. The result was we ended up teaching as a band residency in a secondary school and the kids loved it – chords to Half the World Away anyone? The next year I was running the course I had just completed, driving around rural Lincolnshire in a clapped-out Escort estate.
I next bumped into John Rigeon while out shopping and in his inimitable way, he said ‘How do you fancy running some music courses at Cambridge Regional College?’. That was the start of what would become the current ACC centres, with one in Leicester and another in Lincoln. At this time the management team used to meet in John and Linda’s kitchen in an old stone cottage in deepest Rutland over tea and sandwiches.
From there things just grew, until we had lots of centres, some run directly and others in partnership with colleges. I remember being at the launch of The Beehive in Manchester (hi Mark!), where Manni from the Stone Roses and Peter Hook from Joy Division/New Order, presided over events. I also recall when we moved into the current site on Oxford Street, which had been a venue and home to Jilly’s rock bar, where I had spent a few mispent nights in my youth!
Highlights from the early days included meeting Patron, Sir George Martin, at the awards show at the British Academy of New Music in London and seeing Ed Sheeran perform with his sampler pedal at the Artist Development Rich Mix gig and making a mess of his first loop – it didn’t phase him one bit, a precursor to him standing alone headlining the main stage at Glastonbury. I also met Basement Jaxx, Nitin Sawhney and Michael Kamen and we had radio presenters Lauren Laverne and Edith Bowman in to host Awards shows at the O2 in Birmingham, with students bused in from all over – hats off to Jono Heale for organising those. Prominent students from this period included Dizzie Rascal, Rita Ora and Jess Glynne.
At Cambridge I joined the Strawberry Fair committee to run a student stage at the city’s annual free festival and this inspired me and a few others to set up the Riverside Festival in Stamford, which grew into a 15,000 capacity one-day festival, featuring such bands as The Levellers and Enter Shikari. An ATM banner can be seen on the crowd barrier of the main stage in this video, which features myself playing in Funkmaster Wu Li, as well as dodgy crowd dancing. Eventually, the Cambridge partnership ended and I moved across to work on curriculum and then marketing.
In marketing we did some fun things, like create the prospectus in the form of a prog rock gatefold album with inserts. We also took an airstream mobile recording studio to the Birmingham NEC as part of a Get Experienced festival area. There was also the time we were at ExCel in London for an exhibition and the Premier Inn Docklands waiter insisted I was Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin and had a selfie taken – quite what Robert Plant would be doing in an East End Premier Inn having breakfast is another matter! This is a video of me actually doing a Plant impersonation in a band called Black Zeppelin.
The transition to Adrian Armstrong’s ownership took place, ceremonially at least, aboard a party boat on the River Thames, where I narrowly missed being struck on the head by a bottle of wine hurled from one of the bridges – it was almost as dramatic as the infamous Sex Pistols boat incident of 1977. From there, working with Jo Graham, we supported the transition to Access Creative College, pushing new courses in Games and Media and working on brand change, logos and our CREATE values.
In more recent times, I moved into supporting careers and personal development for our students and I have now trained to be a qualified Careers Leader. However, I still like to be involved in music and I stage-managed the ACC stage at the Green Man festival last year. I continue to play with the Dancing Wu Li Masters and also have a band which reimagines the music of John Martyn and Nick Drake. Finally, I have been asked to play a set of Neil Young songs for a future party, so I might just include Long Time Gone, on which Neil memorably played with Tom Jones in 1969, as a fitting tribute to 32 years of Access.”
And there you have it. Two amazing histories from two incredibly talented, long-time members of the Access community. If you want to be a part of our future, applications for September 2025 are open now.
Our team recently caught up with Nina Coman, ACC’s recent Best Animation/VFX Award winner for our Norwich campus. We spoke to her about her time at ACC, her course, and what she wants to do once she gets her qualification.
Tell us about yourself!
I studied Animation at ACC from 22-24, I have a massive interest in games and animation in general, it’s a huge passion of mine so the course was great for me. I am a very visual thinker, so art has always called to me, especially anything to do with lighting or colour.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
It was certainly a welcome surprise! It feels nice to get recognition for a project I spent a month or so working on.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
Access had a very welcoming and inclusive atmosphere. The tutors were all super supportive and helpful and showed a genuine interest in what I was doing and any progress I made. I personally enjoyed how free the curriculum felt, allowing me to focus on what I wanted to do rather than forcing me to learn specific things.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies?
I briefly worked as a thumbnail artist for a YouTuber, it was a learning experience for sure. Besides that, the only “industry” experience I have is from posting animations on my own YouTube channel.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
I managed to find a way to work around my ADHD procrastination and begin finishing projects. This is a huge deal for me as it allows me to actually create all the things I dream of. A more material achievement of mine would be beginning to see some success on social media.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan on writing a manga with a bunch of characters I’ve created. That’s a long-term goal though, before that I will be going to University to study Games Art to potentially work for a company like Riot Games or Larian Studios someday in the future.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
Communicate with your tutors. They genuinely care about you and your progress and the best way to get the most out of their respective expertise is to talk with them about your goals!
I am currently revising my professional site so I don’t have a link to that but my youtube is @ninble and my Instagram is @ninble_
Grace Matthews is one of our most talented Esports students, based at ACC’s Norwich campus. We spoke to her about her recent Esports Student award win, her time on her course, and her plans for the future.
Hi Grace, please can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hi, I’m Grace and I’ve been studying Esports Management for a year. I’ve loved gaming since I was 6 years old, I got my first console then and was obsessed with The Sims and Minecraft. From then on, especially during lockdown, I started streaming online and made a few friends through that, some of which are now my closest friends who I go on trips all the time.
Congratulations on winning the award! How did it feel?
Receiving my award felt awesome, especially as I’m not a huge competitive gamer, my skill level isn’t even close! It was nice to be appreciated for the role I play, which is more behind the scenes. For context, I ran a lot of the live streams and video content surrounding my coursemates and their games, especially the BEA Student Champs.
How do you find studying at ACC?
I’ve loved my time at ACC so far, bonding with coursemates has been good since we’re such a tight-knit group, but also branching out! I got to work with some media students and open myself up to some photography and film-making along with hosting two events: “Games Day” and “Access to Smash Bros” (a smash tournament that proved pretty popular!).
I’ve been streaming for a while and learning new techniques and new things about the platforms I already interacted with allowed me to do some experimentation of my own with some content. The events I ran, and the content I produced alongside Kyle Scillitoe interviewing some esports professionals in the Norwich area were really fun extracurricular projects to take on!
What is your biggest achievement so far?
My proudest achievement while studying at ACC has to have been our smash tournament! The day involved setup and collaboration with the Film, Videography and Photography students, Esports students, and students across the college. We fully exceeded our expectations for the turnout and were complimented on our professionalism by the tutors! Overall it was a really rewarding event.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan to study more media-based things, and go into a career in TV or Live Events. I’ve massively loved the events side of things and learned so many skills, so there’s definitely more where that came from.
What advice would you give to students thinking about joining ACC?
The advice I’d give is to properly research it by going to open days etc. For me, studying at ACC was my first choice, even before starting because of the calm environment and the supportive friendly tutors. There’s a huge amount of opportunities for collaboration, I’ve even been involved in some music events planning and taking photos, you really can take advantage of your full creative spectrum here!
You can check out some of Grace’s work on her portfolio. This includes her video editing and photography work, and links to all of her platforms that she produces content on.
We had a recent chat with Kellen Champion, who won the Music Student Award for 2024 in Plymouth. We spoke to Kellen about his time on the course, his love for music and his plans for the future.
Tell us about yourself!
My name is Kellen and I am a Music Producer and DJ. I’m a pretty open-minded electronic music listener. My favourite genres/styles are; trance, hard-house, hardstyle, hardcore, hard techno but I do love other chilled styles of music. Growing up I was surrounded by dance music. My dad used to listen to 90s trance with me when I was really young and I went to many music festivals with my mum and saw many of my favourite artists. As a producer and DJ, I want to support the return of harder music genres being listened to more.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
Receiving the award means alot to me. It reflects my genuine enjoyment of the year at ACC and the sense of community that I’ve found here.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
This first year at ACC has been very fun! The sense of community here is amazing, everybody is very supportive of each other and it is great to see other people’s perspectives on music. The tutors here have years of experience in most (if not all) music industry fields so no matter what your interests are there is likely to be someone to help and inspire you.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
I have arranged 4 of my own DJ events at local venues which has been a great achievement for me considering at the start of the year I didn’t know how to DJ. Initially, I preferred producing music, but as I’ve grown more comfortable with DJing and performing to people, I’ve come to really enjoy it. I’m excited about possibly pursuing a career in both DJing and music production.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
To have a track that I am going to finish! I’ve been producing since 2020 and to this date, I still haven’t finished (produced, mixed and mastered) a single track. It has been a massive goal of mine to finish and officially release a track and I couldn’t have got to this stage without the help and skills learnt from everyone at ACC alongside the available equipment.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
This is a course that will be helpful for people at most stages of their music production journey. Going into the course I was at a weird stage with my music and felt as if I knew I had a lot of areas to work on but didn’t know where to start. ACC helped me move on with a lot of guidance from the highly experienced and knowledgeable tutors here.
This course and the coursework have taken my musical understanding and overall connection with music to another level. As someone who hasn’t ever liked written work. I have to say all of the written work on this course helped me massively in understanding myself when it comes to music and I think I have come out of this year with a lot of knowledge from these written tasks.
What are your plans for the future?
I hope to be able to produce and DJ full-time. The main goal for me is to make a sustainable income doing what I love! To be a recognised music producer and DJ is a goal that I will strive to achieve. Being at college here for just one year has taken my music production to new levels and I can’t thank ACC enough. I am excited to continue the journey and start my second year here in September 2024.
Uprise Games – Norwich’s newest independent games studio, and the brainchild of Access Creative College alumni Dylan Wilson, Cody Miller and Michael Beckwith. These three intrepid young game developers have already had some big successes, including welcoming new team member Dominykas Jucys.
We had a chat with them to find out why they started Uprise Games, what inspires their work, how Access helped them launch this incredible venture and more. Read our exclusive interview below.
Tell us about yourselves.
Dylan (DY): Hi, I’m Dylan—a streamer and content creator active across multiple platforms. In my free time, I enjoy exploring graphic design and coming up with new game concepts. I’m also the founder and director of Uprise Games, where I lead our efforts in bringing creative projects to life. Alongside Uprise Games, I’m working on other ventures that are currently in development.
Dom (DO): Hello! I’m Dominykas: A Programmer, Video Editor, Story Writer, Network Engineer, and everything in between. I broke into the Games Industry a bit over half a decade ago. I have been learning and evolving ever since, constantly rising to new heights with no signs of slowing down any time soon, and a penultimate goal of creating fun and immersive games that the community enjoys playing!
Michael (M): Hi, my name is Michael. I’m a 3D artist and game designer with 3 years of education and experience in games under my belt. I usually stick to making characters and designing more mature-themed games with an older audience in mind as these are the types of games I mainly played growing up. Speaking of, I went into the games industry with great inspiration from the uncharted series and a passion for storytelling, immersion and thrilling gameplay experiences ever since I was six years old. In my free time, I play video games, of course, alongside strumming the guitar, reading about philosophy and history, learning new languages and much more.
Cody (C): Hey, my name is Cody. I am a 3D Digital Artist and general game developer. I have had 3 years of education at Access Creative College and plan on getting another 4 years of experience on a games development course at university. Alongside studying I have been working with Uprise Games to assist in the development of a variety of games. I plan on continuing my work with Uprise whilst still at university.
What made you want to start Uprise Games? How did you start it, and how is it going?
DY: Breaking into the industry is tough. You typically need to spend three years in college followed by another three to five years at a university to earn a degree. Even after those eight years, there’s no guarantee you’ll land a job in the field.
Many graduates leave university only to struggle to find a position at a game studio. And even if they do, job security is shaky with the constant risk of layoffs. That’s why, in my opinion, starting your own studio is not only easier but also more rewarding. Ever since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of making games that bring joy and create lasting memories for players.
We started our journey in September 2021, just after completing the Level 2 Games Development course at Access Creative College, where I met Michael. At the time, I didn’t know much about Cody, but when I shared the idea of starting a game studio with Michael, he introduced Cody into the mix. That’s when Uprise Games was born. In October, we participated in our first game jam, and that’s where everything took off. Since then, we’ve only grown.
As of 2024, things are progressing well! We took part in our first major event, the Norwich Games Festival, where we gave a talk on how Uprise Games is evolving. We also pitched our studio to various investors and other industry professionals. Although we didn’t secure funding, the advice and feedback we received were invaluable. Unfortunately, we haven’t officially released any games yet, but we’re optimistic that this will change soon.
C: I always enjoyed playing games. I never had my own console but despite that, I always managed to get my hands on my brothers’ consoles. For instance, I used to play on his GameCube and Gameboy all the time. As time went on, my brother started building computers. Once he had his first computer, I would watch him play games for hours at which point I fell in love with games and their construction of them alongside my passion for building computers
M: I always wanted to start my own games company to allow me the freedom to create my own visions rather than someone else who’s being bossed around by investors. It’s incredibly important to me that Uprise Games is built with our own hands rather than any investors that could sway our direction. This freedom, with building a reputation similar to Valve or Naughty Dog one day is my dream. With the direction Uprise Games is heading in, I see that being a reality. We’re working on our first major release, a 3D zombie game which we’re hoping to show off in a year or two.
DO: My time at Uprise has been an incredible journey so far, and, if there’s anything we can tell from the path we have forged so far, the future seems bright! Everybody we had spoken with had commented on how great our progress has been, having taken part in game festivals and hosted talks on the games industry, all of which were done in less than 2 years after the founding of Uprise. With a passionate team, and a firm understanding of games, the community can expect wonderful things.
How do you approach and begin developing a new Project?
DY: New projects have gone through me as I am the Project Manager and Director for each of our projects. I am the one who ensures that the project Is being worked on and everyone Is meeting their deadlines. We use Jira which Is the Industry Standard for games this Is how we track the progress of our games.
When It comes to a new project, It’s always important to discuss the Idea with the team. So when It comes to doing this we will Invite everyone Into a Teams Meeting and begin the discussion of a game concept we have come up with a begin to expand on It. Once we have a generalised Idea we will then move this Into our own Game Design Document where we will have a daily meeting to discuss any changes that need to be made.
M: An important part of working on a games project is staying motivated and willing to put the work in. Because of this, we have learnt the hard way that we all need to have the same interest and fiery passion for a game idea. We all add our own opinions and ideas into the mix over meetings, design sessions, research etc until we’ve designed something we think will be fun to play and we’ll enjoy making.
What are some of the challenges you face when developing games?
DY: We haven’t faced any challenges except for the lack of motivation from the entire team when it came to developing De’vot. It was originally a game which was going to be remastered and improved to give the full true potential of a platformer. However It went downhill earlier this year because our team had lost motivation to complete the project, We had to push through to ensure we had a game which was playable for the “Norwich Games Festival 2024”. De’vot has now been scrapped and will no longer be completed and released unless we can find some developers who would like to continue the game for us!
Now we have all left Access Creative College some of us are going straight into work, like me meaning It’s hard to find time to work on the project myself and the others are going to university meaning development will be slower.
DO: The primary challenge would be the amount of time we can each dedicate to game development and Uprise in general, due to everyone having work, university, social lives, family, and all sorts of other commitments to balance as well, and with everything constantly moving about and changing, allocating time to Uprise has been difficult. When people start settling into things, and getting into the rhythm of life again, this problem should all but disappear.
M: Dylan mentioned some of the challenges we’ve faced and are facing. However, one thing that isn’t touched on by a lot of people is the emotional side of things, giving up time with your family, making sacrifices and prioritising work over other things, handling the stress of a project and keeping others motivated alongside yourself. It takes a lot of determination and willpower to push through these barriers and make those hard decisions, and it’s a challenge we’ll face for the rest of our careers. This isn’t just in the games industry; this is with most jobs in general, but it weighs a lot more when trying to start a business. However, there is no benefit to giving up, you get nothing from it so why do it?
What are some Game Studios that inspire you and why?
DY: Honestly, some of the studios which inspire us to do better are the ones that are in direct competition with us. Recently, after meeting some of the new studios which have popped up around Norwich, I have felt more and more inspired to do better and create something truly amazing.
On the other hand, some of the Studios that Inspired me to get into games were Rockstar Games and Wildcard. Both studios have created some incredibly fun games, and I don’t know where I would be If these games didn’t exist at such a young age. Lots of my friends have all been met through video games and that’s where it holds a special place in my heart.
M: As mentioned before, I am inspired by many of the studios that dominated my entertainment systems since I was a young age. Naughty Dog, Valve, Insomniac Games, Rockstar Games, Skybound etc. I want Uprise to be like some of these studios, not in the way you may think but in such a way that they create awesome games that feel like the developers enjoyed making it, games that leave a lasting impact on you, games that push boundaries and say my creativity knows no vices, only growth and freedom.
D: I am motivated by myself and the idea for the final product rather than some other game studio. All game studios are different and comparing us to others will lead to motivation problems as we will always find something that will lead to a hit to our motivation, be it because they’re more successful than us, or they’re doing something better than us. Instead, I might research other similar studios, see what they did right and what they did wrong, and see what we can learn from that.
How did you find your time at Access Creative College?
DY: Without a doubt, Access Creative College has improved a wide range of my skills when it comes to Management and Game Design. I believe that it’s one of the greatest colleges in Norwich and hopefully will continue to be like that through the years.
Everything we have learned through Access Creative College has been used in some way or another in the growth of this studio.
M: Access has aided in the start of Uprise Games. There were many great role models such as our teachers and we got to improve our skills with what they taught us alongside attending events such as Nordev con, Oll XP events etc. However, aside from the obvious answer it has improved us in another way. We got to develop our social skills and learn how to network, communicate more effectively, gain confidence and overall, it changed us in more ways than one.
What are some of the games that are currently being developed, and what does the future look like?
DY: Well, as of writing this message on the 22/08/2024. We are currently working on our first 3D Game. Which has not yet been announced. You can follow this project on our Instagram and find updates there.
However, in terms of the future, we feel like we have got this in the bag. It will be a slow growth as everyone Is moving Into Universities meaning some projects may need longer deadlines to ensure full completion. The future for us Is bright and in the next year or two we could have our own office space In Norwich and begin taking on new members!
What advice would you give to someone who would like to start their own game development studio?
DY: Start as soon as you possibly can, whether that’s on your own or with friends. Anything Is possible with the use of social media. If you are serious about getting into this Industry, starting your own studio may be the way to go. We began by developing games for a Game Jam Community Discord In which we got 50th place out of 200 teams. This helped boost and understand how everyone worked in the team allowing you to make changes.
This Industry Is highly unpredictable and in the next few years, I feel like there will be some serious changes to the way people Join. The growth of artificial Intelligence Is on the rise and in the next 10 years, a large amount of the game’s development cycle will be replaced by AI.
So personally, start as soon as you can and go for It. The worst that can happen Is you fail, but that’s the fun part of It. It’s all about learning from mistakes and improving them for the future.
M: Don’t wait for the right moment because it will never come. Just start making games, any game, make it and share it. This will help you build a portfolio of games, improve your skills and get recognised. During this stage, you will probably think of a game idea that you believe will do well and is within your capability to make which can be affected by team size, experience etc. Doing this will show you the reality of making games but it’s important not to give up and keep pushing it. Eventually, after much hard work you will create a successful game and continue building your business.
In terms of actually starting a business just be aware of the laws you’ll have to follow and the responsibilities you’ll have as a company director. You will have to file reports on your income, write a business plan and pay a couple of fees to submit reports to HMRC. It’s also important to know about any possible bills you’ll have to pay depending on what software you are using. For example, Unreal Engine is free however once you have sold one million copies of your game, Epic Games will bill you roughly fifty thousand dollars. Alongside this, they will take a five percent cut of each sale.
And if you’d like to follow in the footsteps of Uprise Games, a great place to start is our games courses, available nationwide. Check out our Gaming Pathway page for more.
Local musician Marns is celebrating an incredible summer, having played at some of the UK’s biggest festivals. Soul Jazz singer Marns (AKA Amanah), aged 19 and from Bristol, has performed at this year’s Love Saves The Day, Glastonbury, Access Creative College’s stage at Bristol Harbour Festival and Boomtown, as part of Bristol Beacon and Big Team’s Next Level programme, in collaboration with Team Love, Pirate Studios, SWU.fm, Boomtown Festival, Love Saves The Day and Hey!What?.
Marns knew from a young age that she wanted to be a musician, saying: “I learned that I was good at music, and also enjoyed it which was very important for me. I was encouraged to do things like gymnastics and dancing and I got quite far into them, but I eventually fell out of love with them, because I just wanted to sing.
Marns explored her passion further on the Music Performance and Vocal Artist courses at Access Creative College Bristol, working with industry expert tutors to hone her artistry, build her brand and refine her performance. “ACC has helped me really look into the finer details of my voice and develop both my singing and confidence. They also helped me to make the connections I needed to really get my foot into the industry. I have met some crazy people that have done amazing things and helped me get career opportunities.” This year, Marns has reached new career heights thanks to Next Level, performing for thousands of festival goers at some of the UK’s biggest and most prestigious festivals. “I have played some amazing festivals this year and I have to thank the Bristol music community for really recognising my passion and commitment, and helping me bring my dreams to life.”
After this year’s incredible festival run, Marns is looking firmly at the future, saying: “I hope the future looks bright for me. I am looking to do some more headline shows and festivals, progressing towards becoming a bigger name!”.
Clearly, there’s a lot more still to come from this incredible, unique and exciting artist. Readers can find Marns on Spotify and Apple Music, as well as on Instagram @MarnsOfficial.
We recently had a Q&A with Benjamin Shahin-Scales, Access Creative College Lincoln‘s Best Animation/VFX Award winner 2024, to find out more about his time at ACC and his plans for the future.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
I feel like I have achieved a new level of success in anything I’ve ever done in my time working on films! I’ve never won many awards, mainly because I didn’t push myself to the best of my ability until I got into Access.
I think with the mindset I set for myself and having the goal of just making fun stuff, I managed to make myself and my family proud.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
I enjoyed making friends with people on my Animation and VFX course, and learning from them about things they’re passionate about and what led them to start the course.
Friends on the same course as me have given me the ability to share ideas and concepts with people which feeds my creative soul and even learn new ideas which I would not even think of. If anything, they make the course all the more enjoyable.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
I have been working on animations which is a big part of the film industry with films like Toy Story and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. I use a free software called Blender and I animate using pixel-styled characters (for now). I aim to try to have something new for each short or film.
I have a YouTube channel which has my animation work on there and I had only started getting really invested in animation since last year. In that time I have learnt to love what I do, despite the intense work which goes into it.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
Getting the award for best animation is the achievement I’m most proud of. I haven’t earned anything else like it other than earning people’s enjoyment from my content, especially since I’ve never aimed to go that far ever in the past when I just kept editing videos. I will continue to better my work as I continue to my second year, and will keep learning from others.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
I’m going to take the lessons I’ve learnt through my experience at Access, which come from my mistakes, which goes to show why mistakes can be good when they’re done once because you’ll grow from it when you put your mind to it. I’ve learnt to be more proactive and more productive with the time I had when it came to assignments and to take what I do more seriously.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you’re going to study a creative subject which you want to turn into your career, you will need to learn to love it. Coming from a creative myself, if I had not taken Film Videography and Photography I would not know where I’d be right now.
It’s key to know what you want to do with your life, and choosing something that’s completely in league with what you want in life will set you on the right track for success and will maybe win you some awards when you put the hard work into it. Work for what you want and learn to enjoy a course and not to take it for granted.
Our team recently caught up with William McDonald, who, alongside his band ‘Rat Salad’, won the Best Band Award for 2024 at Access Creative College’s Birmingham campus.
Why did you form the band and what style of music do you play?
The band was originally formed by myself on vocals and guitar and Jack on bass. Then after a few lineup changes, Fin and Beni joined on drums and guitar, having met after joining Access Creative College in Autumn 2023. We all had similar musical interests and got on well together as mates. We play what we call psychedelic-funk-metal (we don’t really know what we play but that’s what we’re calling it for now).
How do you approach songwriting, performing and rehearsing?
As far as writing songs goes, Will usually comes up with the initial idea, and then brings it to the rest of the band at rehearsals. That’s when we all play our part, and do what we all do best. And after everyone has played their part in the writing process and we’re all happy with it, that’s another song for the setlist.
With performing, we’re usually knocking around either Wolverhampton or Birmingham and our sets are usually packed with all our original music.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
Absolutely Jovial!
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
We’ve enjoyed this last year a lot because of forming the band at the start of the year. I’d say the most valuable thing we have learnt is to effectively market ourselves.
What else has the band been up to outside of your studies and winning your ACC Award?
We’re always outperforming around Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and we are currently working on our first single, “Preggo”.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
Our proudest achievement so far was to win the Best Band Award this year.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
We will utilise everything we have been taught about marketing to promote the band.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you are thinking about studying at Access, go for it! The staff are phenomenal and the support offered is unmatched.
Lastly, where can we hear your music and see you performing?
You can see us live usually around Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and watch our videos on our Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – all at ratsalad_uk. And you’ll be able to hear our music on all platforms in the coming months as soon as it’s finished.
We recently caught up with Kerry, ACC London’s Level 2 Games Award Winner for 2024. Kerry told us more about the award win, their time at ACC and career plans for the future.
Hi Kerry, tell us about yourself!
I’m just a young carefree black teenager who values games that hold potential towards the amusement of everyone who deserves it as well as myself. More specifically, I value and play a diversity of games that I see fit because I modify games myself to gain better experience than before by configuring or changing aspects of the game that seek less attention. This led me to study Level 3 Game Art to bring my imagination into a reality from the book I wrote and the games I developed that are direct to the source material.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
I feel egocentric since I knew my time was coming from the beginning, but I also feel proud. My mentality has been greatly enhanced by being nominated three or four times for games award. I feel like a king to hear the applause and yells as I go down to receive my well-earned achievements. Furthermore, they showed off my game on the big screen because, upon hearing the incredible soundtrack I had included for the last level, I turned to witness the magnificence of what is known as “art”.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
What I enjoyed is what the course has to offer, which is the software I was able to develop my games on which is called “Flowlab”. The purpose of this specific software is to make effective and efficient creativity towards your imagination as well as having the tools to guide you through doing so successfully such as the library of sprites you designed by pixel art, and game levels to configure the assets within it. What I learned from this is that behind the scenes, design-wise at that matter, every single sprite within the game that’s developed has an edit.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
What I’ve done within my respective industry was develop two games, that being Bequeath Of The Games and King Of The Deep, under the chain of the story called “Chronicle Power”. The story that correlates to the game, the characters that made their debut within the demonstration, where the game is set in the story, the shift of environmental levels, the mechanics of the gameplay, the concepts for the level designs, the art design for the characters, the displacement of the user-interface, the well-fitting music for the backgrounds and more.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest production I developed and made a huge improvement on so far is the second game I made “King Of The Deep“. Darkiga Blu’, a Laveriant, visited the Underwater Temple to prepare for warfare against the Agotians. The Siverlin Empire, a new army, destroyed the Laveriants’ homeland and their numbers plummeted. To gain strength, Darkiga used the core to defeat the Empire. However, the race and Empire disagreed, and Darkiga used his power to obliterate the Empire. The blood on his victims opened the third eye, and Darkiga embarked on a journey to learn the powers the crystal can bestow upon monsters.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
My plans for the future are to start game testing for gaming companies such as Bandai Namco or SEGA, but more specifically debugging or bug-bashing. What I’ll certainly bring with me towards my career is to have good memorisation. This is what it takes to be a game tester as it leads to sticking and committing to something, such as a bug or glitch that will heavily affect the players’ experience by disturbance. Not only that but both flexibility and adaptability need to be shown as well to become more suitable in regards to the bugs and glitches.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
“Crawl for the sake of faith, walk for the sake of self-esteem.”
King of the Deep trailer, developed by Kerry Kemoncety Gbe Zoude
Recently we caught up with Klaudia Janas to talk about her time at Access Creative College in London, her recent achievement of winning the Media Student Award for 2024, and her future plans.
Hi Klaudia, please can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I started taking an interest in photography when I was around 11. I was clueless about what I wanted to do and had no sense of direction, but I had an open mind to creating. My first ever photograph was a badly taken and edited photo of a small animal toy for an Instagram photography competition! Ever since then, I’ve been creating by all means possible.
I’ve recently taken an interest in fashion and portrait photography as I think it’s enjoyable and really builds your communication and creativity skills. As well as photography, I love film and cinematography. Some of my favourite films include Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson and Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski. I love the creative freedom you get when practising filmmaking and cinematography. Seeing my thoughts and ideas come to life is an amazing feeling, as I get to explore and experiment with filming techniques, colour, sound and also work with amazing people.
Alongside creative media, I love music! I think music influences my work the most. Music can be intensely visual, just like photography and film; combining the two together creates and builds most of my ideas!
Congratulations on your ACC Award win, how do you feel?
Thank you! Winning an ACC award has meant a lot to me! After countless mistakes and self-doubt, I’m happy to see that my work is paying off. Being nominated for 2 awards was already enough for me! I really pushed myself this year to be the best I could be, both personally and creatively. It’s extremely rewarding to know that people value my work and enjoy it!
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
My time at Access so far has been amazing. I entered the course with no previous media or photography studies, so I really had to rely on my creativity and willingness to learn and progress as a young creative entering the creative industry.
For my first few months at Access, everything was brand new to me, from the equipment to the studies. Transitioning from a stricter environment in Secondary School to a more relaxed environment at Access took me some time to get used to, but it has helped me to create a playground for my creativity. I mostly enjoy the people I’m surrounded by; I’ve met a lot of new people and have created numerous friendships. Having supportive people around you really boosts your confidence in yourself and your work. You sort of learn everything with them along the way and go through the same ups and downs which reassures you. Alongside learning a variety of creative skills, I’ve learnt to always keep trying and be proud of what you do!
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies?
Unfortunately, I haven’t had any big opportunities yet! I have done some photography outside of college for family and for leisure. However, I’m hoping to find work experience on a film set or an unscripted show set soon!
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest achievement from my time studying at Access was producing and directing my first-ever short film for my Final Major Project. Although it was seen as an assignment, I saw it as an opportunity to use my creativity to its full potential and really try out the skills I’ve gained within 10 months. It was a very challenging and slow process at first as I was overwhelmed with too many ideas, but after a while, my thoughts and ideas were pulling together. It’s been quite a dream of mine to produce and/or direct a film, so having a starting ground has boosted my confidence!
If you would like to see my short film, you can find it on my YouTube: “Zagubiona w Kulturze”, or it will be linked in my 2024 portfolio!
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
I will most likely carry on to University after my time at Access to study Film and a short side course in Marketing and Business alongside. After that, I will see what the future holds! Nevertheless, I am keen on Directing or Producing, whether that’s working as the Director of Photography or being a Film Director/Producer, both scripted and unscripted. I’m also looking forward to travelling the world in my future career! I feel as if the world has so much to offer within the creative industry. All the soft skills and hard skills I will have gained after 2 years at Access will be vital for me to use when officially entering the creative industry. Access has built the foundation to my future career! Doing this alone would have definitely been challenging; the creative industry is tough to go into alone.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
Build strong relationships with the people around you! It will help you in the long run with motivation and support as you are all going through the same creative process together! You will naturally go through a lot of ups and downs, but it will definitely be worth it in the end. Network, stay consistent and don’t stop creating!
If you have enjoyed this interview and want to find out more about Klaudia, you can find her via her LinkedIn page.
We recently caught up with Joseph Robinson, member of the band ‘doogle’, to speak to him about his recent award win, his time at Access Creative College in Manchester, and his plans for the future.
Hey Joseph, tell us a bit about yourself!
I am studying Level 3 Music Performance at ACC Manchester. I’m from Huddersfield, I play guitar and drums and am currently working on expanding my solo project, “doogle” by playing with a band alongside me. Outside of this, I also run gigs at a venue in Halifax called The Grayston Unity, I really enjoy the promotion side of music as well as being on stage myself.
Congratulations on the award! How do you feel?
Thank you! It felt good to receive recognition for the hard work that me and the band had put in over the course of the year. I felt it could’ve gone to a lot of people in the college as there were loads of people working really hard on some really cool projects so I think we got a little bit lucky as well.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
I’ve really enjoyed Access so far! It’s been great to network with so many other talented instrumentalists and also students on the media courses. We’ve had some hands-on industry experience as well which has been great. It was a huge change coming into a big city from a small village, but since I adapted I really enjoyed the environment.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
Outside of studies I have played lots of gigs with the band, including our sold-out album release show in Huddersfield. Recorded and released singles, an EP and most recently an album. I have also promoted and organised gigs at The Grayston Unity, most recently bringing in Salford band “The Height”, I have been picking up bits of live sound there.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest achievement in music so far has been selling out my album release show at Northern Quarter in Huddersfield. I put the gig on with help from the Venue Manager, we sold over 100 tickets in advance and had a great evening. It was really fun to be on stage in front of so many people who had come entirely for me and knew my songs already. Still chasing that feeling again!
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
If all goes to plan I want to go on to study Music Management at LIPA. Not long until I will be worrying about the application process, but I’m sure the people at college will help with that. I will keep doing gigs as well, and I’m sure the contacts I have made so far will continue to help and support me on the way to more!
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you’re considering studying at Access and you’re passionate about music then I’d say go for it! It provides the tools for you to get a real head start in the industry, you have to say yes to every opportunity presented, and that includes the chance to attend here. You still have to put the effort in but it’s 100% worth it.
If you want to find out more about Joseph Robinson and doogle, check out doogle’s website!
We reecently caught up with ACC Norwich’s Best Design Award Winner for 2024, Alfie Ethridge to learn more about his life, experience on his course and what he enjoys the most about studying at Access Creative College.
Hi Alfie. Tell us a bit about yourself!
I’m currently studying Graphic and Digital Design at Level 3 and I have just come to the end of year 1. I’m originally from a town not far from Norwich going to the local state schools before starting life at Access Creative College.
I haven’t always known what I was interested in, I didn’t have a clear view of the career path I wanted to pursue. However, I have always had a passion for art & design. Back when I was in high school I studied textiles throughout my GCSE’s. I found it somewhat enjoyable but I always found myself including something digital as the main piece within my work, rather than keeping it traditional. This all eventually led me to realise that I would like to become a graphic designer.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
I was really surprised by just the nomination for the award of best design, but actually winning the award was a whole different level. Of course, I was proud of myself, from where I came from and where I am now. Winning this award just makes me want to strive further in my life and career as a whole.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
My first year at Access was really amazing, it was like a rollercoaster initially, with meeting completely new people, making brand new friends and starting a new experience as a whole, it’s something you get used to pretty quickly.
Being at Access is not the same as sitting in a classroom in high school, it’s more than just studying and writing notes. I’ve learnt how to approach realistic business briefs and respond to them effectively with the assignments set. I’ve really enjoyed being able to widen my skills within the design sector, which has allowed me to create some really successful designs and produce great projects.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to work within the industry as of yet. But I have been working on my own personal projects, my most recent project is digital portraits of music artists in more of an illustrative style. I am still working on this currently.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest achievement so far from studying at Access is probably the award I won for best design just because it’s not something you can earn by putting in minimum effort, you have to work for it. It’s like a competition just like how the industry is, everyone can complete the course with minimum effort but not everyone will go the extra mile to win these awards, therefore, I’m proud of myself for that.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
I don’t quite have a crystal clear view of what my future brings career-wise. However, I would like to go into marketing specifically in the music industry, designing the promotion for artists’ releases and their tour promotion. I’m not 100% sure how I will get there yet but I’m figuring that out more and more each day.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
My advice for anyone considering studying here at Access, or anywhere else at all, is to get out of your comfort zone as soon as possible, speak to people, push for more work to do, make new friends and connections from multiple different courses, strive to win the awards at the end of the year (that’s what potential employers look for). And most of all, just enjoy yourself, if you don’t enjoy what you do you cannot possibly be your best at it.
Alfie has his own portfolio website which you should definitely check out!
The games industry is massive, worth $384.9 billion annually (predicted as of 2023). Any industry of this scale needs a constant stream of new talent to maintain production rates and standards, and to bring in fresh ideas and innovation.
Here at ACC, providing that new talent is of the utmost importance to us and we’ve created a series of bespoke curriculums to put you ahead of the competition But don’t take our word for it. Let’s hear from Guy Bramwell-Smith, Pathway Manager for Games at ACC Manchester, and CEO of SlingShot Studio, an amazing game studio that is a crucial part of our efforts to boost your career opportunities.
Hi Guy, tell us about yourself!
I’m Guy, Pathway Manager for Games at Access Creative College Manchester, as well as the CEO of SlingShot Studio. Originally I studied Mathematics at Salford University and was leaning towards being an accountant or working in insurance. My first full time job was in the insurance industry, but it wasn’t for me.
I only got into game development later on in my career. I have always been creative and loved video games, but I thought that games as a career wouldn’t be an option for me as there were no games courses when I was a student. I knew how to make games, because I learned how to code during my studies, when I was supposed to be studying for my exams. I was dabbling in Unity but it was just a personal passion.
Then an opportunity came my way that changed it all. I managed to get a short term contract working for Access Creative College as a freelancer in 2016, as part of their partnership with PGL. For six weeks over the summer, I delivered a bespoke, week-long course for young people at one of PGL’s resorts who preferred to be at a computer making games, rather than taking part in the rock climbing and other outdoor activities that PGL are known for.
I absolutely loved teaching people how to make games, and seeing their excitement when they got something working. I realised that even if I couldn’t be a professional developer myself, I would still enjoy helping young people become one.
I applied for full time work with ACC that same year, and although I was not ready for a full-time teaching position, they saw that I wanted to do it eventually, and brought me in for an administrative role. After a lot of hard work, I completed my teaching qualifications with ACC, taught GCSE mathematics, and worked my way up to being Pathway Manager for the Games at ACC Manchester. I also managed to pick up a BAFTA nomination for the Young Game Design (YGD) Mentor of the Year at the 2018 YGD BAFTAs for my efforts.
I love working at Access. It’s the creative outlet that I always wanted, even while working in insurance. The fact I didn’t have these opportunities when I was a student, drove me to make the course we deliver as creative and developmental as I could. Seeing how much talent our students have inspires me to improve my skills. Some of them are now even working in their dream jobs.
To go even further for the grassroots of the industry, I launched SlingShot in 2022.
What is SlingShot?
SlingShot Studio is an independent game development company I started in November 2022, with some help from some of my most talented alumni. We’ve steadily grown into a 41 person strong, independent game studio, focusing on mobile and PC development.
Our workforce is mainly current ACC Games students who are motivated, talented, and driven to get into the game industry, and we aim to give them an entry route into their careers. We’ve already released our first game GO!Samurai on Android (out on iOS soon), with a PC game (Released in August or September 2023) and a second mobile game in the works. We’re planning to release three or four mobile games and one big PC release a year.
Why did you start it?
At Access Creative College, we provide all the skills necessary for learners to gain entry into the game industry and I think we are the best institute at doing that. However, the hardest hurdle for students to overcome in gaining entry to industry is that, regardless of the skills we develop in college, the most valuable thing to employers is work experience.
Due to the nature of the gaming sector, it has been very difficult sourcing said work experience. The vast amount of companies require non-disclosure agreements to be signed before anyone sees any work being created, which can only be signed once you are over 18. With ACC predominantly educating 16 – 18 year olds, this has been quite a significant barrier, which is why I created SlingShot Studio.
I decided I wanted it to be a company I could put my creativity into, but also provide initial industry experience for young talented creatives who need that first lucky break. SlingShot’s employees are now primarily ACC Games students.
How do you connect ACC students with SlingShot?
I have an agreed partnership with Access Creative College to solely take on current students for SlingShot’s work experience programme. As I currently teach here, it is the ideal partnership for SlingShot, as I can teach them all the skills they require to work for the company.
We always give everyone a chance to prove themselves. Regardless of what skills someone has, or their background, if they can show that they are committed, they have a place at SlingShot. There is a stigma attached to the games industry, that it only caters to one particular demographic. I think we are making some good strides in this department because we have such a diverse group of talent that work for us, and it really shows that the game industry is for everyone.
What do our students get out of working for SlingShot?
Every ACC learner at SlingShot Studio has an official job title and role. This depends on their current skill set and the value that they can add to any of our products. Our recruitment model means some learners, mainly second years with more advanced skill sets, work on the higher end mobile and PC projects.
Newer ACC students with skills that are not yet developed enough for professional production start with testing roles, moving on to more tertiary tasks such as creating simple prefabs and assets. When their skills improve and they’ve had more training, we then assign them to shadow one of the more advanced employees helping out with the higher end programming or art related tasks. This process means we are consistently developing talent and skilled staff.
We incentivise them with work experience, but also provide commission based income, based on their attendance and contribution to each product. This has worked incredibly well, as they can see the benefit of punctuality, alongside developing their practical skill sets. The more committed they are, the more they can make.
What are your goals/aspirations for SlingShot?
To become a leading developer in the Northwest on all game platforms, as well as being a catalyst for change in the economic landscape. The UK has moved away from a production based economy to being a service based economy, primarily due to labour costs. However, we do have a great education system and a huge number of highly-skilled, creative young people.
With how quickly the game industry is growing, we are missing an opportunity to invest time and resources into creating a renaissance in production; using highly skilled creatives to develop the next generation of innovation in games. We have some amazing companies in Manchester, including TT Games, D3T,Cloud Imperium. It is the dream for SlingShot Studio to join them and help boost the wider UK game industry.
How is ACC supporting you?
Access has been fantastic throughout the process of me building this company. At every point, everyone involved has been nothing but supportive. It is clear that ACC can see the benefit this opportunity has to learners and they have helped me every step of the way, from very kindly allowing SlingShot to use one of their buildings whilst in the incubation period to helping us market the brand, and offering support and advice. All of this is clearly aimed at boosting the experience of their learners and has led to a formal partnership between SlingShot Studio and Access Creative College.
As stated above, all ACC students will leave us with professional, purchasable products in their portfolio, which is something that no-one can take away from them. The employment opportunities that come from experience like this, pre-university, will be massive.
In terms of how their contribution helps SlingShot, due to the high standard of teaching at Access Creative College, I have a wealth of talented young creatives who have the skills and willingness to learn that are perfect for SlingShot. These students help us to continuously develop products, and keep the company moving forwards. It really is a win-win for everyone involved.
Are you passionate about games and gearing up for a career in industry? Get a helping hand from ACC and SlingShot, with one of our cutting-edge games courses. Check out what’s on offer here.
