Live at the Hex
With two terms of training now in place, the first cohort of Young Producers presented their first public engagement in their own right: ‘Live at the Hex.’ This took place on 13 May 2022 as a fully commercial public engagement with professional acts, a bar and catering. It had bespoke lighting and sound and was live streamed on YouTube.
This first production was important in two respects. It was crucial rite of passage for this first cohort of Young Producers because it was an unarguable physical endorsement of the value of what they have learned with us but it also served as a seeing-is-believing signal for their peers, that there is new, relevant opportunity on campus and that it is open to them. It was all about building recruitment through trust where actions speak louder than words.
The project in essence was conceived to be:
- a public event c. 150 attendance (for a pilot event, rising to c.350 for three events in the 22-23 season) with a bar that compared confidently with other London music scene events;
- a mixed genre magazine event with 5 acts each performing once in two sets (a plan unconsciously similar in format to Later with Jools Holland);
- high-level professional standard for guest artists including any student performers with all contracted and paid at fair negotiated rates;
- YouTube livestream;
- novel stage and lighting scheme;
- original ‘Hex’ branding that could be applied to merchandise as well as publicity and marketing;
- a fully compliant event with thorough risk assessments, budgeting, health and safety procedures including liaison with school staff, local authorities and site team.
The pilot event on 13 May 2022 (doors open 7:00pm, close 7:30pm) was an unqualified success with excellent response from the target audience (local community, staff, parents, pupils), a live attendance of c.145 people and YouTube aggregated viewing time of over 4 days by the time the event closed.
The staging comprised a new hexagonal 16sqm centre structure as well as a 6m bar area, 5 separate radio-controlled sound stages, bespoke red accent lighting and a three-point livestream camera array.
The event that signalled the potential for an inclusive quality of outcome across the highly diverse school community.
"I wish I could have had the chance to get involved with this when I was lower down the school."
"The show was just brilliant. We really had a great time. I hope you enjoyed it. Absolutely loved what they did to the hall. Amazing. And as for SLT, well, what can I say?!?!? Just fantastic!!! I was actually blown away and am feeling very emotional and proud ? "
"The fusion of creative talent, real life work experience and sheer hard work created an extraordinary educational opportunity for the young people involved. Their experiences will encourage others to take part, and the programme is now well placed to go from strength to strength. "
