Go Furness

BBC Tour Blasts into Barrow

Creative young people aged 13 -19 will soon be able to unleash their imagination in a series of free workshops in Barrow, run by BBC Blast.

BBC Blast is a unique scheme that encourages and supports teenagers who want to start a career in the creative industries, such as music, dance, fashion, film, art or design. It provides access to industry professionals online, gives young people the opportunity to showcase their talents, enter competitions and get exclusive access to selected work experience placements.

As part of the scheme, each year the BBC takes Blast on a national tour, giving teenagers the opportunity to get some hands-on experience and training, in a wide variety of free multi-media workshops. This year, for the first time, the BBC has chosen Barrow as one of the destinations on the tour.

The Blast Tour will be bringing professional equipment and media industry experts to the town centre from Thursday 13th to Saturday 15th August, building an impressive mobile creative village by the Town Hall, complete with digital workshop spaces and a separate performance area. Teenagers can use state-of-the-art equipment to produce their own work with advice and support from industry professionals, including BBC production staff.

There are also a series of taster events taking place – you don’t need to book for these sessions, just turn up for a taste of what BBC Blast is all about. You’ll get a chance to have a go at making your own ringtone and experiment with video morphing!

Taster sessions are taking place:

Wednesday 5 August
18:00 – 20:00 Walney Children’s Centre
Thursday 6 August
12:30 – 16:00 Lightburn Park Ulverston TBC
18:00 – 20:00 Tudor Square Dalton
Friday 7 August
12:30–16:00 Greengate Infant School Barrow
17:30— 19:00 Ormsgill Children’s Centre
Saturday 8 August
10:00 – 17:00 Cavendish Street Barrow

When BBC Blast is in town, there’ll be a wide range of multi media and creative arts workshops on offer, highlights include:

• CBBC Sportsround Presenter, Michael Absolom (better known as Abs), will show you how to be a great presenter. You’ll be commentating on a Barrow AFC training session and Abs will teach you how to do it!
• Hip Hop Music Production – learn from one of the leading industry professionals, Baby J, using some of the latest technology.
• Work for 2 days with fashion designer Fliss Dray and create your own fashion collection to be premiered at the Blast showcase.
• MCing for beginners – The A.R.T crew will show you how to write some great lyrics.
• Create street art with one of the competitors from Write4Gold: the most popular graffiti competition in the world.

A selection of films, music, poetry, dance and radio pieces created here will be shown to the public at the Blast Talent Showcase on Saturday 15th August at 5pm, where you can get to see the future stars of the area showing off their new skills!

For more details and to sign up for workshops see www.bbc.co.uk/blast/events or email blast-barrow@bbc.co.uk.

Posted by Phil Powell on 3rd August 2009