Students take part in media camp to help charity plan for landmark occasion

As part of a two-day media camp at The Manchester College’s brand-new City Campus Manchester, students pitched their ideas for a celebratory event to make the 21st anniversary of one of the College’s long-standing partners, The Ideas Foundation.

The Ideas Foundation, a national charity that connects education with employers in the Creative sector, will reach a huge milestone in 2023.  To mark the occasion, the charity is hosting an event for its stakeholders in recognition of their collective achievements and to look ahead to what might be possible over the next 21 years.

To ensure the event is an occasion to remember and through its ties with the College, The Ideas Foundation has enlisted the help of Motion Design and Animation, Graphic Design and Digital Communication, Content Creation and Digital Film Production, Business Venture with Entrepreneurship and Creative Media Production and Technology students.

The media camp, which took place over two consecutive days, was attended by 103 first year Level 3 students.  On the first morning, the students were separated into 10 teams.

Creative Media Tutor, Katy Rushton, explained: “We wanted to ensure each team had a mixture of experience and skills that reflected the demands of the assignment the students would be tasked with.”

The live brief required the groups to create a concept for the event that The Ideas Foundation is planning for its 21st anniversary.  The teams were given a day to produce a logo, branding, running order, entertainment recommendations and floorplan within a set budget.

After working on their plans for 24 hours, each team presented their proposals on the afternoon of the second day to a judging panel that consisted of representatives from The Ideas Foundation and onepointfive, a brand experience agency that were on hand throughout the camp to support students with the demands of the challenge.

Katy added: “onepointfive offered our students an invaluable insight into what managing a high-profile event from start to finish involves.  This covered all the pre-event, on the day and post-event activities.  The professional guidance really gave our students the reassurance they needed to present their recommendations with confidence.”

After a rigorous judging process, team one came out on top with their ‘IF2044 A Party for the Future’ concept.  The proposal focused on The Ideas Foundation’s aspirational hopes for the event and students recommended that mementos could be used to create a time capsule, which could be opened in 2044 – 21 years from now.

Rami Alhomsi, one of the students on the winning team, said: “It was a striving experience getting to work as part of a team and this helped us achieve confidence.”

The Chief Executive of The Ideas Foundation, Heather MacRae, was one of the judges and commented: “Once again the College’s students and staff have risen to the challenge of working on a life brief - this time we’re the client.

It was great to see students from different courses working together to come up with concepts to celebrate a massive anniversary for our organisation.  From pink carpets and student showcases to giant interactive birthday cards, rainbow drinks and celebrities, there were a wide-range of creative solutions presented at the end of the two days and it was a pleasure to be a part of the media camp.

Assistant Principal for Creative Industries at the College, Stuart Steen, added: “The camp was another great opportunity for our students provided by The Ideas Foundation.

“Our students came up with some fantastic pitches, which covered a range of well thought through, creative ideas.  It was great to see our students undertake the challenge and develop the skills that are required to be successful in their chosen careers.”

The media camp is part of the College’s award winning employability boot camp run in conjunction with The Ideas Foundation, which provides the opportunity for students to be selected for one-to-one mentoring with a professional from their chosen sector.

Find out more about the range of courses available at The Manchester College and apply today.