Matt studied Level 2 and Level 3 in Theatre & Events Technology with us (equivalent to 3 A-Levels). Matt won ‘Student of the Year’ at our 2017 prize evening and is now running his own, successful business, MJW Audio.
The hands-on experience was brilliant! I had 3 work placements at the Brewery Arts Centre, where I got to know them really well. This resulted in paid freelance work and has helped me to make contacts for my own business.
Why did you choose this course? When I was at Dallam there was no-one who knew how to do the tech for events. The school had all the equipment but the teachers didn’t really know how to use it. I taught myself how to do the lighting and sound for their shows, musicals and staff events. I was no good at the performing side of drama but I found the technical side interesting and came to love it, so the course was perfect for me.
Why did you choose Kendal College? I went for a look around and thought it was awesome. I applied and will always be so glad that I did. I wouldn’t have any of the paid work I have now if I hadn’t have come to College and made so many amazing contacts.
What did you enjoy most about College life? The hands-on experience and the lie-in on Monday morning! I had 3 work placements at the Brewery Arts Centre, where I got to know them really well. This resulted in paid freelance work. I also enjoyed the 2 London trips – being able to see backstage in the theatres and seeing the shows was amazing. On one of the trips, I remember meeting a previous student who now works for Autograph - a company providing equipment and engineers for most of the big West End shows.
What was the teaching style like on your course? We learnt through demonstrations and practical work. Basically, we were let loose and our tutor helped us to work things out! A lot of our learning was practical (probably about 90% of the course) doing set building, sound and light engineering. We blogged about what we were doing each day and had regular production meetings.
Can you describe a typical day at College? Every day was different. One day we’d be doing set, the next day we could be working on sound, the next day doing blog work. It’s really varied. We also went out to support local events like Kendal Mountain Festival and the Comic Arts Festival. This has given me links to other festival work and lots of contacts in the industry.
I remember working on the end of year show, Urinetown, which was a comedy about having to pay for public toilets. We had to mark out where all the sets were going to be in the studios, designed the set to look like a sewer, built a spinning platform, sliding doors, and lots of other complicated things! My course usually ran for 3 ½ days a week, which gave me days off to support my business and work on freelance events. You learn so much from your own outside work, as you get experience of working with customers. My tutor was really supportive of this.
So, you’ve started your own business, how’s that going? Really good, it’s called MJW Audio. College gave me the knowledge to run my own business and it’s going from strength to strength. The contacts I made at College enabled me to get paid freelance work, which helped me to buy equipment for my own business and expand my knowledge. I sometimes work freelance at the Brewery Arts Centre and Bootleggers – working with a wide variety of production companies and bands. I've worked with The Seals and many others at Bootleggers. You get to meet so many different bands and performers! After this course you could tour with bands or theatre companies, work on festivals or in arenas – there are so many opportunities!
I do a lot of festival and show work. One of my jobs included sound for 900 choir singers coming to the Leisure Centre. They did a performance with 200 people on stage and ran a variety of workshops. I did all of the sound tech for them. I have also done all of the tech for Kendal Torchlight carnival – setting up the equipment for the street party, sorting all the microphones and sound for the dance area, and setting up the equipment for some of the carnival floats.
How would you describe your College experience? Excellent, I made lots of friends and made loads of work contacts.
If you could give one piece of advice to people considering College, what would it be? Go and have a look around! Studying at College definitely widened my options. The more you put in, the more you get out of it!
Check out Matt's Website
