Students gear up for Inspire Festival

First-year students on the BA(Hons) Creative Events Management and BA(Hons) Sustainable Festivals Management courses have designed and produced Inspire Festival, a programme of live, virtual student events.

Taking place from Thursday 22^nd – Saturday 24^th April, the festival has been conceived as part of a brief to showcase student work from a live events production module. Students were invited to respond to a unique challenge: design and delivery of a virtual student event experience, following the impacts of Covid-19 restrictions. The festival is intended to inspire and engage student audiences through a uniquely designed events programme, set to include live music, wellbeing and sustainability sessions, an ethically orientated fashion show, a virtual underground club night and a Bodmin Blood Bath murder mystery.

Senior Lecturer Helen Worthington believes that managing live events is crucial to her students’ development.

“Production of online events in a festival format has given students the opportunity to freely and meaningfully practise their skills and creativity in live event production, by responding to the realities of the present Covid-19 context.

“There is also the added element of developing an ‘industry-ready’ skillset, through experimentation with virtual and hybrid formats, as demand and innovation in the sector increases, and organisations diversify their experiential offerings for a global, digital marketplace.

"The virtual festival also offers students the opportunity to design meaningful online experiences with a first-hand appreciation for what student audiences want, and indeed what research has shown they are missing in their day-to-day screen time. 

"Inspire Festival aims to plug that experiential gap, and prove that online events – effectively planned and designed – do succeed in giving audiences a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment.”

Working within the parameters of an online event has been exciting and given me the time to indulge in the world of gaming, VR and 3D tour software."

Student Liam Beck has enjoyed the challenge of preparing the virtual events. "For me, Inspire festival has been a very unique creative challenge that I’ve really enjoyed being a part of. Seeing all of our events come together has been a very rewarding experience and I'm excited to see it go live!"

Fellow student Lucie Hackney agrees, pointing to the range of new skills her event has allowed her to develop. "Our virtual 3D tour, music and art event is set to inspire by bringing awareness to the national charity End Youth Homelessness. Working within the parameters of an online event has been exciting and given me the time to indulge in the world of gaming, VR and 3D tour software."

Read more about BA(Hons) Creative Events Management