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Dreamchasing Young Producers

Dreamchasing Young Producers is a scheme that mentors and trains young people in the skills of management, creative design and production.

We provide sessions each week after school to students from all year groups and provide supervision and training in:

Financial control
Creative planning
Project management
HR, health and safety, compliance (e.g. risk assessment)
Camera operation
Lighting
Stage design
Digital production
Marketing
Communications (social media & PR)

In addition, these Young Producers assist us as work experience trainees at our public engagements. This means, for example, that they attend Southbank Centre Residency Concerts, film operations and touring and work alongside full-time staff in:

Logistics, technical rigging and de-rigging
Backstage management
Camera operation, filming, vision mixing and editing

"The curriculum at Acland Burghley is carefully designed to prepare all young people to navigate the complexities of modern life. The OAE’s Young Producers is a high quality programme open to all students, opening up new pathways, skills opportunities for our trail blazing first cohort, and, as the programme grows into the future, those who follow behind."

Nicholas John, Head Teacher, Acland Burghley School

Opening Career Horizons

In 2023, Acland Burghley School will be rolling out provision for the new sixth form T level qualification. As a replacement for conventional A Levels, T Level specifications encompass a stretching professional curriculum that is intended to qualify students for a future career. T Levels incorporate work experience with corporate partners and the OAE is perfectly placed to become the corporate partner for ABS in a T Level programme that will train students in business administration and creative media production.

This sits perfectly with our ambition by 2027 to have established a lifecycle that begins at primary level as follows:

Up to year 6: primary engagement (the OAE has a strong practice with most Camden primary schools)
Year 7: creative scholarship intake programme (to identify talented and underserved candidates)
Years 7 – 13: extra-curricular mentoring and work experience programme
Years 12-13: T Level qualification
Post School: Work Placement with the OAE and career support with partner industries (e.g. other organisations media, film and TV production and the creative arts)

“I am really enjoying Young Producers because I feel I’m actually learning something useful instead of something I feel like I will never use, which has always been my problem with school. So far Young Producers has given me the experience to set up a recording, manage an event, operate a camera and work in a more professional environment than what school allows for. It also sets me up nicely for future opportunities, for example, when I was in year 10 I needed to do work experience and the OAE gave me an opportunity to work with people I am already familiar with, in a field I enjoy while still teaching me new skills for my CV.”

Rafi (OAE Young Producer)

The T Level qualification has been devised so that the content meets the needs of the industry and consequently prepares students for work, further training or study. This qualification comprises a mixture of classroom learning and ‘on-the-job’ experience during an industry placement of at least 315 hours. For ABS, the OAE will provide industry placement support.

The target qualification will be: T Level in Media, Broadcast and Production

The specification has the following core, which we address in weekly sessions, as well as at specific additional project events:

The creative economy
The individuals in the creative industries
Cultural context and vocabulary
Audience and consumer needs
Legal and regulatory requirements
Professional standards and conduct in the workplace
Equality, diversity and inclusion requirements
Research skills
Project methodology and administration
Continued professional development

The T Level qualification also provides for the following three areas of specialism:

Events and venues technician

Creative venue technician
Live event technician

Content creation and production

Broadcast production assistant
Junior content producer

Creative media technician

Broadcast and media systems technical operator
Photographic assistant

The work-experience projects in which we engage our Young Producers are constructed to address the learning components of these specialisms.

Therefore, through its residency, the OAE is ideally situated to support the T Level qualification by:

Running weekly after-school Young Producers sessions that teach the core, work which can be extended to the classroom when the T Level qualification is formally rolled out
Allocating Young Producers to OAE projects where they gain specialism-related work experience

Understood in this framework, all the work that the OAE is conducting with the Young Producers is:

Creating a scaffolding for the delivery of the T Level programme
Providing a workplace education for cohorts of students from year 7 onwards that will provide a highly experienced candidate for qualification and employment
Delivering the specified curriculum for the qualification

The activities listed in the allocation of funds are therefore presented according to their relationship either to core or specialism.

Live at the Hex

In May 2022, the Young Producers team presented a pilot for their first commercial public event, Live at the Hex.

This was so successful that Live at the Hex is now a fully-fledged series on the London music scene with three events per year featuring top artists from across the musical spectrum.

Commercial Video Projects

The OAE is an independent production company with its online platform OAE Player, a high sector profile on YouTube, and acclaimed releases on independent distribution networks (such as Marquee TV).

The young people mentored in the Young Producers programme get the chance to apply their new skills on full-scale commercial projects in a work-experience scheme that runs through the year.

Crosseye Records

In 2022-2023, the Dreamchasing Young Producers launched their own recording label.

Crosseye Records is a commercial recording, distribution, and promotion programme for outstanding new talent in the local student community; Acland Burghley School is part of a large sixth-form consortium that connects secondary schools across Camden.

OAE Player Members and external consultants work with students on their recording projects to help develop all aspects of the production process, from composition to post-production.

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Dreamchasing Young Producers

Dreamchasing Young Producers is a scheme that mentors and trains young people in the skills of management, creative design and production.

Opening Career Horizons

This sits perfectly with our ambition by 2027 to have established a lifecycle that begins at primary level as follows:

T Level Qualification

What is it?

Core Learning

Specialist Knowledge

Live at the Hex

Commercial Video Projects

Crosseye Records

Hear it first

Sign up to our newsletter

Dreamchasing Young Producers is a scheme that mentors and trains young people in the skills of management, creative design and production.

Opening Career Horizons

This sits perfectly with our ambition by 2027 to have established a lifecycle that begins at primary level as follows:

What is it?

Core Learning

Specialist Knowledge

Live at the Hex

Commercial Video Projects

Crosseye Records

Read next

Live at the Hex

Our Players

Hear it first

Sign up to our newsletter