Radio Academy to hold Training Day at Exeter College
The Radio Academy has announced details of a Training Day to be held in Exeter on 30 March, with speakers including Magic’s Harriet Scott, Virgin Radio’s Mike Cass and Absolute Radio’s Dan Noble.
The five-hour event starts at 1pm, and will include a programme of talks covering programming, music, news, features, imaging, technology and a demo clinic for aspiring presenters. The day will end with networking drinks in a local bar.
The Training Day will take place at Exeter College Hele Road Campus, and is open to anybody that wishes to attend. Tickets are charged at the token price of £10 for Radio Academy Members, or £20 for non-members. Tickets include light refreshments on the day and the first drink in the bar, and the non-member price includes a discount code for £10 off Radio Academy Membership.
Confirmed speakers so far include co-host of Magic Breakfast Harriet Scott, Content Director of Virgin Radio Mike Cass, and Absolute Radio Presenter Dan Noble. The bosses of both BBC Radio Devon (James Watts) and BBC Radio Cornwall (Emma Clements) will be speaking, and they’ll be joined by BBC Introducing South West presenter Sarah Gosling. KISS FM Producer and Exeter University Alumnus Grace Hopper will be making a return to the city, and bringing with her KISS presenter Alex Mansuroglu.
Announcing the Exeter Training Day, Managing Director of The Radio Academy Sam Bailey said: “I’m so excited we’ll soon be back doing hands-on, in-person training for the radio and audio sector. This event is for everyone – professionals, volunteers, hobbyists, students, podcasters – anyone that loves making audio, and wants to learn from some of the best in the business”.
Rob Bosworth, Vice Principal and Deputy CEO of Exeter College said: “We can’t wait to welcome The Radio Academy to Exeter College on 30 March. Our students are going to really benefit from the training day, enabling them to make contacts within the radio industry. We’re also extremely excited to open our doors to the entire audio and radio sector in the South West and show them what Exeter College has to offer.”
Co-chair of the Radio Academy South West Branch Paul Nero said: “There’s so much radio and audio talent here in the South West – from student and community radio, to the BBC, to the only commercial radio station broadcasting from Devon, Radio Exe and the national commercial brands too. I’m really proud that the first of the new Radio Academy Training Days will take place here in Exeter with the help of Exeter College, and I encourage everybody to come along and learn from what will be an incredible line-up of experts”
The Exeter College graduate behind one of art’s biggest lockdown trends
An Exeter College art graduate has been the inspiration behind one of lockdown’s more unique art trends.
Since the Government’s lockdown of the country in March, a number of artists have been looking for an outlet for their creative flair and have taken to recreating classic pieces of art from the comfort of their own home using photography.
“Without the Exeter School of Art I would never have achieved what I have, and I am just so grateful. Just imagine, an idea on a college course ending up trending on social media during lockdown, and it all started right here in Exeter!”
Anna Grayson, Exeter College Access to Higher Education Art Graduate
But Anna Grayson, from Teignmouth, has been producing work like this for years, having originally experimented with this photographic art style while studying an Access to Higher Education Art course with Exeter College in 2012.
Now eight years on, Anna has amassed a collection of her often-humorous art recreations, which is due to be displayed at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM).
Anna, 67, said, “I shot the first of my photos in this style while I was studying at Exeter College. We were looking at portrait photography and I wanted to do something different that also explored art history.
“A lot of my work is about reimagining iconic works of art for the world we live in today, so quite a bit of it explores gender, women’s issues and society in general.”
Anna’s collection includes recreations of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (or Moaning Geezer in Anna’s collection), and a feminist recreation of Édouard Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe, along with around 30 others that are set to be displayed when RAMM reopens.
Anna’s art career only launched following her Access course with Exeter College, and she has already seen her work hung in the South West Academy and, remarkably, in the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In 2018 two of her pieces were selected by Grayson Perry to hang in his famous yellow room at the 250th anniversary exhibition at the RA. The making of a new piece was also featured on the Channel Four series, Grayson Perry’s Art Club.
As social media caught wind of the photographic style during lockdown, Anna has been looking on with interest as others attempt to reimagine famous paintings during lockdown, “I’ve been rather tickled to find myself a trendsetter for an internet craze!”
Anna said, “It has been great seeing everyone have a go at doing it while stuck at home. It’s a good way to explore art history and teach yourself about composition and lighting. But I always try to take it one step further by developing the meanings and interpretations of iconic works, but it’s so nice to see everyone getting involved in it!
“If I were going to give advice to anyone considering giving it a go, I’d say to think outside the box and don’t restrict yourself just to photography. You also need to beware of copying other people’s images directly put on social media – many are covered by copyright and intellectual property law. Also, make sure you credit another artist’s work if you’re copying or inspired by them – that’s just good manners!
“Without the Exeter School of Art I would never have achieved what I have, and I am just so grateful. Just imagine, an idea on a college course ending up trending on social media during lockdown, and it all started right here in Exeter!”
Anna’s exploration of using digital photography to recreate famous art started when, aged 60, she took on an Access course with Exeter College and started to explore different sides of art.
“I’ve been experimenting with recreations of famous works of art because I’m greedy and I want nice art on my walls,” said Anna.
“I knew I didn’t have the money to buy these works of art, and I certainly didn’t have the skills nor lack of moral fibre to steal anything, so I decided to go about recreating them myself. The more I made, the more I wanted to do.
“On a more serious level, I’m intensely interested in what becomes iconic in art. Why do some images, like Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers or Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini become so well known and recognised? Why do people engage with particular pictures?
“I also had this feeling that more people might get into with art if it was updated and reimagined for a modern audience, so that’s a big influence behind the background of this collection.”
Anna’s Journey
Anna’s art career hasn’t taken the conventional route, as the Teignmouth-based artist may be better known to some as the former presenter of the BBC’s Learn To Earn programme, where she regularly reported on the training opportunities for those aged 18 to 80. She also worked with the BBC for nearly 35 years as a producer, presenter, studio manager and journalist.
Inspired by her previous reporting on the importance of lifelong learning, Anna took on an Access to University Art and Design course with Exeter College as a 60th birthday present, 7 years ago. This proved to be the touch paper for the start of Anna’s journey into taking art more seriously; not just as a hobby, but as a career.
“I didn’t mean to make a career out of it, it just kind of happened!” said Anna.
“I thought when I did the Access course that it was going to be a bit of fun and a way to learn some new skills. While still on the course I copied the Arnolfini portrait from the National Gallery. The original portrait has a couple that doesn’t look obviously in love and clearly aren’t communicating at all. I thought as my husband and I had been married for nearly 40 years, we could fit the bill to recreate it in my photography! We dressed up, I photographed it, and I had a lot to say about it in terms of the symbolism and messages in the piece and it managed to get into the South West Academy.”
The exhibition coming to RAMM in the New Normal represents a coming together of Anna’s collection of pieces in the series. Shot in carefully matched locations, and with the same lighting conditions and compositions as the originals, Anna’s commitment to recreating the art in modern digital photography isn’t something she expected to come at the culmination of her Access course with Exeter College.
Indeed, Anna’s original degree had been in Geology at the University of St Andrews, so she originally felt most drawn to the ceramics side of her Access course with Exeter College. However, she quickly learned that photography was going to be her forte as she progressed in the year-long programme of study.
Anna continued: “I was already aware of how great an Access course could be because I’d found out so much about them while I was working on Learn To Earn with the BBC. First and foremost, I was amazed by the transferable skills from science to art. Because you do experiments in art, you have to write them out and observe things, and that’s incredibly similar to the scientific world.”
“Bearing in mind I studied Geology at one of the top universities in the world, the best lecture I’ve ever been to in my whole life was one on perspective drawing with Tony Martin at Exeter College. It really was a terrific experience for me and I’d do the whole course again and again if they’d let me!”
Anna’s work will be displayed at the RAMM when it reopens follow the current lockdown.
The BBC will move to new studios at Exeter College, offering budding journalists opportunities to work with BBC programme makers.
Students at the college’s Centre for Creative Industries (CCI) will also get the chance to pitch their work to BBC Radio Devon, BBC Spotlight and BBC News online.
“I feel we can set a new standard for media orientated training that benefits the BBC, students, staff and the wider community,”
John Laramy, Exeter College Principal and Chief Executive
The new studios, currently being built on the ground floor of the CCI building just off Queen Street, will be used as a base for BBC reporters and a space for journalists to conduct interviews for regional and national news programmes, such as Newsnight or Radio 4 PM.
The move brings a regional base for the BBC into the centre of Exeter, moving from their current Pynes Hill site, providing the broadcaster a new opportunity to further cover the stories that matter most to local people.
BBC Radio Devon Editor Mark Grinnell said: “The South West has always had a vibrant media industry, thanks in no small part to institutions like Exeter College’s Centre for Creative Industries. We hope this collaboration will build on that while allowing us to continue covering Devon’s busy news agenda.”
Each term the students will pitch stories to the broadcaster’s journalists, with the chance to have their work broadcast on the BBC.
A BBC panel will also meet twice a year to give feedback to the College’s aspiring journalists on news stories and BBC staff will be conducting guest lectures to give students the very latest hints and tips on getting into the industry from those who work in it. This will particularly help students in the College’s Journalism Academy, which is made up of learners on a range of courses who have an interest in a career in the media.
Exeter College Principal and Chief Executive John Laramy said, “We’re thrilled to be welcoming the BBC to our campus and help bring them into the heart of the city of Exeter.
“Part of the vision for our curriculum is to provide a line of sight to industry and hosting the BBC Studio in our Centre for Creative Industries is a great way to put one of the biggest brands in media at the heart of the student experience.
“Our students will benefit hugely from being able to take in the inside knowledge of journalists and apply that to their learning in College and beyond. This new association with the BBC has the potential to be truly groundbreaking and together I feel we can set a new standard for media orientated training that benefits the BBC, students, staff and the wider community.”
Stephanie Marshall, Head of the BBC in the West and South West, said: “The move to Exeter College represents a new way of working for our regional news teams, bringing us closer to students who could one day be broadcasting across our airwaves.
“We hope that having a BBC presence on-site will help inspire the next generation of journalists.
“With Apprenticeships and schemes like BBC Young Reporter we are doing more than ever to support people aspiring to work in the media industry.”
The refurbishment work will be completed in the coming weeks and the BBC journalists will begin working there soon afterwards.
