In early July 2023, 16 young people joined us to take part in an exciting week-long work experience programme.
We received an unprecedented number of applications from students across the city, ranging from those with an existing interest in the arts to those that wanted to learn more.
Our work experience programme is always bespoke – we take the interests of those who have been successful in applying for the programme seriously, curating a programme that supports insight and development for those young people.
This year’s programme began with introductions, ice breaker activities and a talk from our Director of People and Culture. The group had a behind the scenes look at areas of the Hippodrome that audiences rarely get to see, with a backstage tour and Q&A session with a technician. A few students had a special interest in this technical side of our work, specifically lighting and sound, so they got an opportunity to shadow a technician in our Patrick Studio later in the week.
We also had a visit from Jessica Banting, who is an experimental and spatial designer, currently working with BAFTA-nominated theatre company, Punchdrunk, as their in-house Senior Designer. Jessica facilitated a workshop, encouraging the group to create a set from limited materials such as a table, pens and paper. There was an emphasis on being resourceful and creative when a limited budget is at play, and it was great for the students to learn what steps Jessica took to get into the arts industry.
Throughout the programme, the young people learnt about programming, apprenticeships and even gained hands-on experience through bag searching and scanning tickets with our Front of House team. Our Marketing and Communications teams led activities based on the latest shows in the Hippodrome brochure and the students had the chance to pitch ideas back to them and receive feedback.
The week culminated with a presentation from the young people on the programme, with Hippodrome staff able to ask questions, interact with the students and find out what they had learnt. Some students recreated a set design based on the Greek God Hades, some designed posters with illustrations on ideas for Press Nights and others facilitated an ice breaker activity for those who attended the sharing event.
Students increased their confidence over the course of the week and developed areas of interest for further exploration.
Our work experience programme prioritises schools in the Hippodrome Education Network (HEN). We run two programmes a year, one in July and our SEN work experience which takes place in April.
Find out more about our SEN work experience offer in this video: