Nicola Talent Factory Introduction:
In 2010 we created the Talent Factory in London, a concept born to train and develop young people in music and dance, improving their personalities, providing them with the right skills and confidence to start careers in arts related employment as performers, joining existing arts organisations or to run their own business or Social Enterprise.
We recognised that young people face a variety of difficult challenges including….
- Community
- Child poverty
- Youth crime and gang culture
- Social exclusion
- Deprivation
Talent Factory seeks to help young people to deal with these issues by providing a range of activities from live performances to talent exchanges nationally and internationally to regular mentoring sessions.
In July 2011 the Talent Factory completed a showcase at The Highlight Club Leeds, presented by celebrity Sadie Flower a resident. We aim to have a northern NICOLA Talent Factory up and running by summer 2012 and work on collaborative projects combining the north and south.
The Programme:
There are two main elements to the Talent Factory project, Showcases and Art Hub.
Talent Factory Showcases:
A series of showcases that allow our young members to perform live in front of audiences and talents scout. Following the popular talent competition format made popular by X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent etc, we hold auditions judged by a celebrity panel for performers of all kinds to qualify to appear in our showcases. Post audition we work with the young people weekly in our Art Hub to prepare them for their live performances.
Changes for 2011/12:
Following on from the successes of the first yearly showcase in February 2011 where an audience of 450 people watched the acts perform (from the show two of our performers were signed by a record company) we are increasing the frequency of the showcases to quarterly, culminating in a bigger yearly showcase featuring the best talent performing in front of a large audience. We will pull in many more performers from a much wider geographical spread as we will hold auditions in more locations within London. We will back this up with publicity in the relevant areas to gain as many participants as possible.
Art Hub:
A weekly workshop (up to 40 young performers and artists) that helps facilitate collaborations and skills development in a welcoming, multicultural environment. Teaching and mentoring is provided by professionals who help the young people develop quickly and provide a sounding board for advice. We work on their image, live performance techniques and build them profile packages for use in marketing themselves. The frequency of the workshops will change from bi-weekly to weekly and there will be a larger throughput of young people with the expansion of the showcases. Currently Art Hub is an Advanced group whose members are those that have qualified from the Talent Factory Showcase auditions.
Changes for 2011/12:
This year will see the expansion of Art Hub to include the Advanced group as well as an Improvers group to fulfil our ambitions of being more inclusive with our engagement. We will increase the quantity of professional teaching sessions and increase mentoring in an effort to increase skills and confidence more rapidly. We are also seeking to include business focused sessions which aim to prepare the young people to setup their own business or social enterprise and make them more aware of how to market themselves as an artist, work with record companies and talent managers.
The Problems Talent Factory Addresses:
1. There is an absence of free dedicated arts programmes for young people who cannot afford professional programmes leading to qualifications
2. Young people face significant social issues including social cohesion issues, youth crime, gang culture and social exclusion exaggerated by a lack of alternatives
3. Youth unemployment is rising and more young people are finding themselves unable to enter the job market especially in their chosen fields
These three problems are linked and it falls to organisations like NICOLA to provide solutions and opportunities as government programmes are not tailored enough to meet specific needs in the community.
Nicola Talent Factory Aims and Objectives:
> Work in partnership with local stakeholders and youth services
> To prepare our members for careers in arts related employment as performers, joining existing arts organisations or to run their own business or Social Enterprise.
> To engage with young people aged 13-25 years in London and the South Region (E.g. Brighton, Kent) who are vulnerable, hard to reach, NEET or have an interest in creative and performing arts and media
> To improve the quality of life for young people aged 13-25 years via positive activities
> To link young people into youth services and create awareness on what is available for young people (E.g. Funding from Princes Trust, etc)
> To help young people make a difference in their communities and become ambassadors / role models for their peer groups
> To make the Talent Factory a sustainable project over the next 5-10 years continually growing awareness
> To provide facilities and opportunities for artists to record original material with NICOLA with advice in how to market it
> To grow the geographical reach to make the project a national programmes facilitating collaborations across the UK
> Create bigger events attracting more talent with bigger audiences and more industry professionals / talent scouts
> Grow the celebrity endorsement of the project to inspire our young people and grow the number of people we interact with