I'd like to share a Facebook status update from our BBC intern (and my new pal) Samaira- 'I would now swap a shower, a 12 hour sleep and a large capri sun to be back at Latitude with swollen feet and dreaded hair with the best people ever'.....pretty much sums it up.
We got back on Monday and a constant stream of text messages, phone calls, and Facebook-ing show everyone is still buzzing from our amazing week and the new friends we've made. We worked mega hard, learnt more in a week than we have in a year, networked with some industry bigwigs (and lovely ones at that), didn't wash much (or ever), wore out our branded hoodies and pink tshirts, ate the culinary delights of the staff canteen and made like Bear Grylls with our campfires and outdoor survival techniques (tip- never, ever pitch a tent on an ants nest). Above all, everyone worked as a team and as friends- helping each other out, helping each other learn, and bonding over cider and dancing after a hard days work.
Team Latitude should be proud!
Supervising the stage team was a pleasure. I spent a long 3 days on our Lake Stage- the festival's new music stage, curated by Huw Stephens and hosting carefully programmed talent from the Friday morning mellow British- country of New York Fund to a crowd- surfing, belter of a headline set from Bombay Bicycle Club. We worked with the dry- humoured but massive legend that is Kevin Sutherland: industry- respected stage manager whos briefcase was covered with Production passes from staging gigs from Foo Fighters to Enter Shikari. He'll be stage managing the Festival Republic stage at Leeds Fest this year....respect, Kev! The lovely Sam and Claudia were working with our artist liason, Harry and Lucy, but pretty much left them to it after the first few hours.
Emma, Mark and Joe worked as the stage team trio and I couldn't have been happier with the way they got stuck in and made Kev (and me) very proud. With the usual swaggering, windbag tour managers that insist on 'one more song- this is their new one' and new- timer Electro-pop getups that nervously run for a wee 20 seconds before their set, their hardest challenge was to make the stage run on time. After a few nervous moments, most notably swifty building a drum riser to stage the unexpected arrival of the extraordinary, stomping 23- piece female choir 'Gaggle', the team sailed through to a prompt 9.15pm finish of Slow Club's jolly set on Sunday, followed by much high- fiveing. Emma, Mark, Joe- you know you're ace!
Harry and Lucy were our high- energy and forever witty artist liason pair who stormed our row of dressing rooms with a constant supply of fruit baskets and mini mars bars to keep the stream of hungover bands and their flawlessly dressed girlfriends (heels at a festival? why?) quiet and happy. Successfully blagging through calling 'Colorama', 'Calamari' (yes, like squid) and 'Django Django', 'Diabilio Diabilio' for hours, the pair worked like genuine professionals and I'm sure will be getting paid with the Big Dogs before too long.
Highlights of the week:
- Shaking hands first time with the huggable Huw Stephens who, despite me knowing full well who he was, said 'Hello Isla, I'm Huw' in a tone reminiscent of the Trumpton opening titles. He really is very nice. Then passing his thanks to the whole team as I unashemadly grabbed a photo at the end and saying he hopes to work with us in the future. Yes please!
- Nicking the skipping rope and admiring the handmade guitar of our new pal Newton Faulker who hung out all weekend and was bashful, mega friendly and who I caught singing 'Teardrop' under his breath during a lull in conversation. Guilty pleasure.
- Kev having a full- on and explitive yell at the tour manager of 'The Cheek' who pretended not to have done his Maths GCSE, therefore rendering him unable to understand that when the big hand got to the little hand on the clock hung on stage that his band had to kindly....get off.
Finally, I want to thank the whole stage team for knuckling down to a hugely challenging job and holding your own with experienced professionals. Brilliant!
I also want to thank the film crew for being so friendly and fun to work with whilst filming the stage. Working like true professionals they created some pretty special footage...look out for it soon.
I'm off for a nap...
Isla
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Part of the team
During the festival a few students have been working more directly with Festival Republic and also with BBC Radio. Andi and James have spent the week in the Performers Campsite, helping to look after the artists and doing all sorts of jobs to keep everything running smoothly.
BBC Radio 2 have been lucky enough to have five of our volunteers all helping them out at some point - Samaira, Lailah, Dan, Chris and Chris. The BBC were delighted with all our interns. We spoke to Janine Maya-Smith from Radio 2 earlier: "I can't fault them. They became part of our team and I couldn't have told them apart from the staff I manage. They were reliable, great fun and got on with people, and were a core part of what we've done over the weekend".
A security message
We've been asking some of the people we've worked with to give us a message for our blog. Matt has been in charge of security at the Lake Stage all weekend. He's enjoyed working with our volunteers:
Hey you lovely bunch of mad people! Been good to meet you all, hope to see you up at Leeds Fest next month!
Less work, more play
Our playwork team are ace. They've been getting up early every morning to entertain the kids in the family campsite before the main arena opens. Activities are led by the children - they choose what they want to play with and how they want to play. There are musical instruments, a ball pit, pogo sticks and a massive crash mat to jump on to, as well as loads of other things to be creative with. Families love it as it keeps everyone happy and entertained during the festival. As well as the morning activities there are sessions throughout the day and early evening. The playwork team from Leeds Met, led by Mike Wragg, came to Latitude last year and were so popular that they were asked to extend their hours this year.
Huw and the crew
Our film crew caught up with Huw Stephens to ask him about Latitude and the Lake Stage.
Matt, Kev, Lucy and Emma
Our stage team with their Festival Republic supervisor and head of security.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Tips from Huw Stephens
We had a chat to some of the people that the volunteers have been working with, and asked them for a message for our blog. Here's what they said:
Whatever you choose to do after Leeds Met, the experience you gain from hands on events like working at Latitude is invaluable. Hope everything works out, keep keen, calm and busy and you'll go far!
Huw Stephens
Lake Stage Curator and BBC Radio DJ
Hey you Leeds Met types. Dudes, yeah, like I went to Leeds Met. I'm part of your funky massive. Why don't we get together and chill?
Love you,
James x
Pulled Apart By Horses
Leeds-based band, played on the Lake Stage
A week to remember
Well it is Saturday night and the misty drizzle-rain is here again. I am pleased to be tucked up in this little cabin away from it nice and dry, so that I can tell you about my take on the festival so far.
I am a HAT and am thoroughly enjoying my interaction with different members of the public. Rob, Seymour and myself have had different acts depending on our mood. We have been a human fruit machine, we have pretended Seymour is the world champion at 'Rock Paper Scissors' and we have been dancing around shaking tiny maracas.
I have also been taking photos on a sideline which will soon be uploaded to http://flickr.com/nathandainty and http://nathandainty.co.uk
The thing I have most enjoyed about Latitude is discovering new bands, comedians and performances that I would have usually been too ignorant to go and see by choice. I have also made a lot of new friends with a wide range of people and I think it is a week i will remember for a very long time.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/nathandainty
Nathan Dainty
HAT (Helpful Arena Teams)
Friday, 17 July 2009
Loads of responsibility and support
It's the end of the first full day of filming and the festival is in full swing. Lots of planning has paid off and the film crew are on form; when interviewing Post War Years - hot from their set on the Lake Stage - the band commented on how professional our Leeds Met students were. Brilliant. This is something that has been mentioned many times before in relation to the Festival Republic partnership; something that makes this project interesting for me as a Work Based Learning advocate.
Students on the Lake Stage are being managed by the wonderful Kev, who has a stage to run, but is happy to give loads of responsibility and support to our stage crew volunteers. He threw them in at the deep end this morning and they're coping well. This theme continues with our film students who are producing an official EPK for Festival Republic. There's such a sense of trust and respect for our students, a real belief that they will deliver within their various roles. We're all working very hard and the learning curve is sometimes steep, but the rewards are clear to see.
Laura Taylor
Film Crew Manager
Posing with Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Winkleman and David, the sheep farmer, pose with our film crew after spray painting sheep in a stunt for Radio 2.
Claudia Winkleman paints a sheep
A Radio 2 stunt in the guest area which we filmed and photographed.
Mixing the sound for film
Tom takes a feed from the sound desk backstage and mixes it for the film crew.
Trusted to do it right
This is our fourth day on site at Latitude Festival and everyone is very busy. We've got students working all over the site: playwork, performance, film and stage crew. What's been interesting this year is all of the additional jobs we are being asked to do. For example yesterday two of our students worked with team 'Maconie' as runners. They were helping to organise the guests for his Radio Two show. Today our helpful arena teams are assisting Radio Four, who record numerous radio shows at Latitude, with their audiences for their live shows.
When I had my planning meeting with Melvin Benn (Managing Director of Festival Republic) in November he described our partnership as the success story of the summer. I said, "why?". Melvin said, "because you're easy to work with and you do what you say you're going to do". I was surprised by the simplicity of this statement, but on reflection that is the most important thing in such a complex busy environment.
We came to Latitude with 40 volunteers last year and this year it's over 70; however it's important to remember that this isn't just a 'bums on seats' scaling up. This is the third summer of the Festival Republic partnership and the mutual respect and trust is growing. This is why we are being asked to work on high profile jobs with Festival Republic's high profile media partners - they trust us to do it right.
Rebekka Kill
Festival Republic Partnership Manager
Volunteers take centre stage
The Lake Stage opens at 2pm today with The Late Greats from Eastbourne. Leeds Met volunteers are running the whole stage under the watchful eye of Kevin Sutherland, who is happy just to let them get on with it. The team are really excited about their first full day and have been getting on marvellously so far. It's so important that the stage runs to time, so they will be keeping a tight rein on the schedule, whilst making sure that the bands are ok and all equipment is in the right place. The Lake Stage is one of four main music stages at the festival, and gets its name from its location, just by the lake and the specially created beach, complete with deckchairs.
Pink, Purple, Blue and Green
Our internet access has just been upgraded from a dongle to full wireless broadband in the press tent. This is very exciting for me as it means I can get photos and stories uploaded on-site much more easily. Thursday was a busy day, with the last of the preparations before the arena opened and the festival started properly in the early evening. The HATs are already a hit, with festival-goers asking all sorts of questions and playing along with the performances. They look amazing in their pink and black, with top hats and a whole variety of bizarre accessories.
One of the most fun things for me so far has been watching the painted sheep arrive. I was there with the film crew to watch them explore their new home for the week and it was really funny seeing them in all their strange, bright colours. They seem perfectly happy with the change from their usual white and black. This afternoon I'll be watching as two Radio 2 presenters have a go at hand painting some sheep in the guest area. It's this sort of thing that makes Latitude so quirky and different, and one of the reasons why I love the festival.
Caroline Bonser
Festival Republic volunteer projects co-ordinator and photographer
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Pretty Pink Pictures
Below are a few photos from our first full day at the festival. Have a look at our flickr page to see more.
Flamboyant HATs
This was during a performance workshop, where the HATs were developing ideas for their characters.
Can you remember my name?
The HATs play the 'name game' - can they remember all of their fellow volunteers?
From the volunteers' perspective
Arriving at Old Broadcasting House and seeing a sea of fuschia pink t-shirts gave us an enormous sense of belonging and team spirit. After meeting the team, we were so excited about what lay ahead...
It was a surprisingly quick six hour coach journey, and we arrived at Henham Park and unloaded our luggage. With 72 happy helpers we were soon all camped. We almost managed to leave our tent on the coach, which could have been a disaster - after all a tent is an important piece of camping equipment! Luckily we recovered the tent and two lovely boys assembled it for us. Good times already and it's only day one. After the hustle and bustle of setting up our home for six days, we settled down for a team BBQ, feasted on burgers and talked into the night. We met some friendly Welsh festival-goers, but by 2am we decided to finish on a high and bed down for the night.
Waking up amidst your own sweat is a bittersweet experience - bitter in its suffocating effect, but sweet in knowing you have arrived at your first festival of the year. This is the life! After cat crawling from our tent, we switfly decided the weather called for minimal clothing - bonus! We headed to the staff canteen for a full English (with chips!), and were then taken on a site walk by the wonderful cheerful Gavin. We were really impressed with the enormous effort put into the art and the mass of woods and open space, which completely transforms them into a rave wonderland. We were all excited and filled with anticipation for the weekend to come.
Later on we retired to the campsite to take it easy, sunbathe and contemplate the next four days as runners for the BBC. What an awesome opportunity, and what an amazing festival.
Samaira Scibberas and Lailah O'Donnell
Latitude Festival interns for BBC Radio
The story so far...
I'm sitting in the campsite listening to the sound of tents flapping in the wind and water bottles being squeezed. This time yesterday we arrived at Latitude Festival with over 70 students and staff, with the intention of learning, entertaining and, most importantly, laughing!
It's been a busy lead up to Latitude Festival for me, with a Leeds Met open day last Friday and Faculty of Arts & Society graduations on Monday. I talked to prospective students about our festival volunteering opportunities and used these as an example of how Leeds Met offers more than just a degree. I then congratulated and interviewed graduates who have already taken up these opportunities.
Yesterday I was on one of the two coach loads of volunteers from Leeds to Latitude. Everyone was eager and excited, and I brought them fresh British strawberries as a welcome to the festival season. After getting settled in, which involved me helping to set up lots of tents, we had a BBQ round the campfire. This morning I took the stage crew, film crew and BBC runners on a tour of the site, and after lunch I observed the Flamboyant HATs workshop. Their ideas included performing everything from an imaginary swimming pool to a human fruit machine, spontaneous mass crowd drumming and tea leaf reading.
Tomorrow evening, after three days with the Leeds Met crew, I start my work as Woods Zone Manager for Festival Republic. I look forward to seeing the popular pink t-shirted Leeds Met volunteers all around the festival.
Gavin Freeborn
Cultural Partnerships Officer
Monday, 13 July 2009
Countdown...
I've been working for the last few months to help coordinate the partnership with Festival Republic after I was given the fab opportunity by Rebekka and Caroline who seemed to think my endless experiences of running around in a muddy field with 3 day old make- up and a radio manically glued to my ear might be worth something...I certainly hope so! I've worked for lots of festivals before, from helping out with my parent's mega hippy 'One World' festival since being a wee tot to helping run the U.K.'s student festival 'Beach Break Live' since it started in 2005 (a challenging year this year if you read any of the press...moving a festival for 10, 000 excitable students all the way from Cornwall to Kent in a week. Google it! Festival history!)
I joined the team working to take over 200 students to Latitude and Leeds festivals about 4 months ago and have been doing all sorts ever since. I particularly loved meeting all the students (yes you!) at our recruitment interviews where it really was an eye- opener to hear all the amazing things that students at LeedsMet get up to at University and in their various projects. Definitely not just sitting around and getting pissed...no-one should underestimate the potential of students to make a huge success of a whole range of interesting projects that make a real contribution to their own development and to communities and organisations aswell (if we're going to get into that one!). Unfortuantely, in my experience lots of people still have a rather negative view. Projects such as this one with Festival Republic are an example of students working really hard for a large organisation and making a genuine positive difference to the event. We'll have a few drinks too but who says you can't work hard and have fun?! Shifts with hangovers, yes please. I've worked on various projects to involve young volunteers in relevant and genuine opportunities with established organisations and this is DEFO one of the best I've seen. I've learnt so much about how to make a success of partnerships and volunteer involvement that I'll be taking on to future jobs and have already passed on to other people I work with.
Anyway, enough of the gushing...the last few weeks I've been prepping for Latitude and organised a big knees up for our volunteers and people associated with the partnership last week. You can read about that below but it was nice to see everyone together and to throw around a few quiz prizes to the brainiacs amongst us!
We leave for Latitude tomorrow and I'll be helping manage the volunteers with the lovely Patsy, particularly concentrating on the The Lake Stage that's overseen by Radio 1's Huw Stephens. Mega excited about that one...
Well I'm off out to buy balloons, batteries and a pink feather duster. Good times. Look out for updates from the site after tomorrow!
Isla Brown
PG Dip International Events Management
I joined the team working to take over 200 students to Latitude and Leeds festivals about 4 months ago and have been doing all sorts ever since. I particularly loved meeting all the students (yes you!) at our recruitment interviews where it really was an eye- opener to hear all the amazing things that students at LeedsMet get up to at University and in their various projects. Definitely not just sitting around and getting pissed...no-one should underestimate the potential of students to make a huge success of a whole range of interesting projects that make a real contribution to their own development and to communities and organisations aswell (if we're going to get into that one!). Unfortuantely, in my experience lots of people still have a rather negative view. Projects such as this one with Festival Republic are an example of students working really hard for a large organisation and making a genuine positive difference to the event. We'll have a few drinks too but who says you can't work hard and have fun?! Shifts with hangovers, yes please. I've worked on various projects to involve young volunteers in relevant and genuine opportunities with established organisations and this is DEFO one of the best I've seen. I've learnt so much about how to make a success of partnerships and volunteer involvement that I'll be taking on to future jobs and have already passed on to other people I work with.
Anyway, enough of the gushing...the last few weeks I've been prepping for Latitude and organised a big knees up for our volunteers and people associated with the partnership last week. You can read about that below but it was nice to see everyone together and to throw around a few quiz prizes to the brainiacs amongst us!
We leave for Latitude tomorrow and I'll be helping manage the volunteers with the lovely Patsy, particularly concentrating on the The Lake Stage that's overseen by Radio 1's Huw Stephens. Mega excited about that one...
Well I'm off out to buy balloons, batteries and a pink feather duster. Good times. Look out for updates from the site after tomorrow!
Isla Brown
PG Dip International Events Management
Tomorrow: Latitude
There's only one day left until we head off for our first festival of the summer. 70 volunteers from Leeds Met will be all over the Latitude Festival site - stage managing, filming, entertaining the kids, running for the BBC, and helping people out in a flamboyant way. This blog will be the hub for stories and pictures about our adventures and will be updated directly on-site as all the fun happens. Do check back and join in with us over the next week, and if you're actually at Latitude then look out for lots of pink and black, and come and say hello.
DJ extraordinaire
One of our DJs at the party - Jamie is part of Haus DJs, who regularly put on nights and DJ at various venues around Leeds
Quiz winners
We were so impressed by everyone's musical and local knowledge at our pre-fest party. This team took 2nd place and won a festival survival kit - a goodie bag filled with all sorts of helpful things to use in a field.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
It's party time...
We're having a party tonight for all our Latitude and Leeds volunteers. It's a chance to meet up, have a drink and get to know each other. We'll also be testing everyone's music and festival knowledge with our quiz. It's at the SU bar on Headingley Campus, 7.30-11pm. Friends/housemates/partners are all very welcome.
Friday, 3 July 2009
More about Latitude Festival
The first festival our volunteers will be working at this summer is Latitude. As well as three music stages, Latitude Festival features comedy, cabaret, theatre, literature, poetry, art, film and dance tents. It is set in beautiful surroundings around a lake and woods in Henham Park Suffolk
One of the best things about Latitude is the variety and creativity of it all. You never know what you might see next. There are painted sheep, all sorts of happenings in the woods, live radio broadcasts from the BBC, a Pimms Island, book club, human music box...and even some bands...
Now in it's fourth year, Latitude has really established itself among the cream of UK festivals. With a massive children's arena and family campsite too it's great for kids and has such a lovely atmosphere.
Hopefully you can tell by now that we can't wait to be there!
One of the best things about Latitude is the variety and creativity of it all. You never know what you might see next. There are painted sheep, all sorts of happenings in the woods, live radio broadcasts from the BBC, a Pimms Island, book club, human music box...and even some bands...
Now in it's fourth year, Latitude has really established itself among the cream of UK festivals. With a massive children's arena and family campsite too it's great for kids and has such a lovely atmosphere.
Hopefully you can tell by now that we can't wait to be there!
Thursday, 2 July 2009
So how do you get involved?
Our volunteers are a mixture of students, staff and alumni from Leeds Met. We also collaborate with external performers and playworkers, and take volunteers from our partner colleges.
The recruitment process all started in March, when we advertised our available positions. Since then, we've been reading application forms, meeting potential volunteers, and working hard to fit the right people into the right roles. A festival volunteering experience with Leeds Met is a great chance for our students, staff and alumni to use the skills gained in their studies and/or work, and build on these in a real world festival setting. Plus they get to meet new people, watch some bands and generally have a lovely time.
Leeds Met has been working in partnership with Festival Republic since 2007. The University has partnerships and links with a number of cultural organisations in Leeds and beyond, providing lots of opportunities to broaden students' horizons and enhance their university experience.
The recruitment process all started in March, when we advertised our available positions. Since then, we've been reading application forms, meeting potential volunteers, and working hard to fit the right people into the right roles. A festival volunteering experience with Leeds Met is a great chance for our students, staff and alumni to use the skills gained in their studies and/or work, and build on these in a real world festival setting. Plus they get to meet new people, watch some bands and generally have a lovely time.
Leeds Met has been working in partnership with Festival Republic since 2007. The University has partnerships and links with a number of cultural organisations in Leeds and beyond, providing lots of opportunities to broaden students' horizons and enhance their university experience.
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