Assistant Producers is a practical scheme led by the QM Centre for Arts, Culture & Creative Collaboration
Each year, 15 participants from across all three faculties at Queen Mary come together to build skills as creative producers, working directly with artists, researchers and cultural organisations. This is a knowledge exchange project which supports the local cultural sector in east London by providing skilled project support, from planning and producing to evaluating and reporting.
Assistant Producers is a part time programme, which takes place over a series of evenings across the year. In the autumn term, we arrange a number of trips to cultural activities which are a change to get to know each other and find out more about different types of creative produing and cultural events.
In the spring term, Assistant Producers take part in weekly workshops to build knowledge and skills as creative producers, including research and collaboration building, planning and programming for creative events, producing an event on campus and how to evaluate and report on cultural activities.
Across the year, there are also be paid opportunities to work on creative and cultural events on campus with Queen Mary researchers, and in the community in partnership with local arts and culture organisations.
Here is what current Assistant Producers have to say about their experience of the programme:
"I’ve been involved with the Assistant Producer scheme from the beginning in April 2022. I joined the scheme because I studied Biomedical Science and want to do something to develop my creativity. Also, I was involved in the arts whilst I was at school but due to personal circumstances, I had to let it go so I wanted to reconnect with the arts.
I’ve developed my leadership skills as an assistant producer, especially in the initial small teams on the AI Encounters project. I've also gained technical knowledge like cinematography, audio engineering, visual effects and maintaining digital media platforms through other projects and events. I’ve developed the art of providing constructive feedback and contribute ideas that enhance the overall quality of the content without pushing out the artist’s ideas. I've also learnt how to market and promote their projects effectively by creating strategies to reach the target audience, generating buzz, and maximizing visibility and audience engagement".
David Ajibade, Assistant Producer (BsC Biomedical Science)
"I joined the scheme April 2022 during my third year, mostly out of curiosity after seeing the job description. You don’t often get to talk about the things you love, and it was my first experience applying for creative focused role.
I really enjoyed working directly with artists and having the space and responsibility to contribute to decisions and give feedback. I felt so involved in the development of the event and it made it that much more gratifying seeing it come to life. You develop group work skills with every project because the roles you take on can shift often, in the best way - you learn to manage aligning yourselves into a shared goal, being diplomatic with all the different opinions.
The most impactful thing I learnt from it was that the career search I was in the middle of was in the complete wrong direction. I changed my entire plan after taking this role because I didn’t realise how much I loved working in the arts and working with people and creatives. You don’t know what you love or hate until you do it, and this has been my favourite role in all my work experiences".
Maliha Zahman, Assistant Producer (BSc Psychology)
"I got involved with the Assistant Producer programme at the beginning of its establishment in 2022. I took part in the scheme because I was aware of how difficult it was to get experience producing. The scheme provided knowledge of what producing entails and showed me how varied it can be.
I have learned about the various roles within creative production and the wide extent of skills that are needed to plan, deliver, and evaluate events. The main skill I have learned is how to work with multiple people on a project and how best to share, listen, and engage with others’ ideas. This role and the variety of experiences I have gained contributed to the success of my application for the Queen Mary Heritage project. Delivering events in Queen Mary's spaces helped me conceive my idea and prove I am capable of delivering an exhibition within a designated time frame".
Eva Dunne, Assistant Producer (BA English)