Festival News Room
Gruesome true story for Gaelic audience
By Jess Austin
The story of a murderer might not seem like an obvious topic for a creative festival but BBC Alba producers Patsi Mackenzie and Paul Tucker know how to bring creativity to any project.
The pair discussed how the use of native Gaelic influenced the telling of the true crime documentary and why language was no barrier in retelling the story of fifties murderer Peter Manuel.
Paul Tucker, who is a lecturer at UWS, and presenter and Gaelic speaker Patsi Mackenzie produced the project together.
Patsi said: “Many people asked ‘why make it Gaelic’ well; why not?
“The story is still an important one to tell.”
Escape with some Scottish Poetry
By Lisa Boyle
For those who wanted to escape the buzz of the Creative Choices Festival, the poetry corner provided the perfect opportunity.
Students relaxed with a cup of coffee in the library at Paisley Campus as some of the best Scottish poems including works by Norman McCaig and Hugh MacDiarmid were read out by Raewyn Riach.
The poems came from the extensive Scottish Poetry Collection held by the University of the West of Scotland at the Ayr Campus, which offers students free access to the Scottish Poetry Library outreach collection.
The Academics Must Get Creative
By Andrew McNair
INDUSTRY experts and academics gathered at UWS to discuss how to expand the nation’s creative economy.
The Scottish Creative Economy Conference brought together university and business leaders to share national policy and local good practice in an effort to boost Scotland’s creative economy.
Speakers at the day-long event included Ken Hay, Chief Executive of the Scottish Screen and Creative Industries Lead for Creative Scotland, Deborah Keogh, director of the Cultural Enterprise Office and Caroline Parkinson, director, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Creative & Cultural Skills.
UWS Principal, Professor Seamus McDaid, opened the conference describing it as “particularly important to the future of the Scottish economy”.
Later in the day, Professor Martin Foley, the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Creative Industries at UWS was joined by Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland and Dr Alex McCluskey of Cardonald College, for a panel discussion on the role of education in nurturing talent and supporting economic growth.
Students hit right notes with pitches
By Shaun Kelly
MUSIC students from UWS and Cumbernauld College have pitched their ideas to four experts demonstrating what they can offer the industry.
The student’s ideas ranged from scanning software to scan a CD barcode to listen to a short music clip to a board game application for the iPhone.
The Musical Dragon’s Den panel included Gordon Richardson, founder of Coffee Shop company Beanscene, George Faulkner of Scottish Enterprises, Anthony Ives, Programme Director for Scottish Institute for Enterprise, and John Richardson, a DJ and former Record Shop Manager.
Third year UWS student Richey Muirhead won £175 for his idea of holding an annual Scottish Alternative Music Awards. He already held the event in January at Glasgow’s Classic Grand Night Club.
Playing it safe
By Gillian McTominay
THIRD year UWS Performance students treated the audience at the Students’ Union to a hard-hitting look at internet relationships in their play ‘Safety Net’.
The group told the story of a 14-year-old girl who is bullied by her peers and seeks comfort from a stranger she meets online.
The thought- provoking play was dreamt up by the students who will now tour secondary schools to warn youngsters of internet dangers.
Songwriting Experiment a Success
By Jess Austin
MUSIC student Ashley Little hit all the right notes with the audience during the songwriting workshop at the Festival.
Fourth Year Ashley Little, from the School of Creative and Cultural Industries’ Ayr Campus, showed just how talented UWS students are during her performance where she played the guitar and performed the song she had penned.
The Commercial Music student took part in the Advanced Songwriting Experiment and strummed with gusto after taking part in the week-long intensive workshop.
She said the course had helped her understand the importance of revisiting her songwriting.
She added: “The module has helped me improve so much.”
MURRAY MOMENTS
By Fern Campbell and Larissa Belch
SCRIPT-WRITER Stuart Hepburn had his audience in stitches telling of the challenges getting his Chic Murray film on to our screens – but then made it clear it’s no laughing matter.
Stuart’s struggle to get Chic’s Last Laugh - a drama about comedian Chic Murray - into production highlighted the difficulties facing young scriptwriters in Scotland.
He said: “You must have tenacity, the hide of rhino and enough self belief to keep going.”
Hitting the right pitch
By Fern Campbell and Gillian McTominay
BUDDING entrepreneurs should always be prepared to pitch their ideas, according to a leading business expert.
Whether it is at the side of the road during a breakdown or in a high powered executive meeting the message at the Business Pitching Workshop event was ‘expect the unexpected’.
As part of the UWS Creative Choices Festival, Anthony Ives from the Scottish Institute for Enterprise, ran a workshop for students on the art of pitching.
Students from various academic backgrounds participated in an impromptu pitch to impress their peers.
Carrie Gordon, from Stowe College, studying Events Management had 30 seconds to sell her idea to the room.
The HND student wowed the group with her dream of organising a music festival for under-18s.
She said: “It was good to get involved in the festival and I feel that I have learned a lot from the lecture.”
Other students pitched ideas including computer games, magazines and short plays.
Mr Ives, who has a background in internet companies, said: Being clear about your pitch makes you clear about what you’re doing and gives you more focus.
He continued: “It is not always the best idea that grabs your attention, its having the ‘it’ factor.
“If you talk to any entrepreneur you will be surprised to find that it is usually the least expected time that someone will want to hear your business pitch so you have to have it ready.
He concluded: “If you only take one thing from today it is that you must know what you want and not to be afraid to ask for it.”
The Scottish Institute for Enterprise wants to help young people discover their entrepreneurial talents to start up their own ventures.
More information is available at www.sie.ac.uk.
Archive attracts computer game fans
By Shaun Kelly and James Hamilton
STUDENTS have created an archive to store classic video games of the past for future enjoyment by enthusiasts.
The Scottish Video Games Archive aims to build up a repository of games and hardware to back up, store and preserve classic computer games, for years to come.
The reason for this is that the University is aiming for students to be able to play games on the original platforms the way the programmers intended, and not have to rely on emulation through ROMs and downloaded copies of the games.
Karen Mitchell, undergraduate on the Computer Games Design programme, was one of the workers at the Archive’s stall at the Creative Choices Festival.
When asked if the Archive would benefit dedicated gamers or more casual gamers she said that it would be aimed at both kinds.
She added that the Archive is set to be located in the library of UWS’s Hamilton campus.
According to student Scott Roberts there were more than 200 games in the Archive.
There is still some debate over the oldest game in the archive, as they have received a number of consoles and games that they have not been able to put a date on, such as the Philips G7000.
One of the items on display at the stall was an old Vectrex games console made by MB, better known today as a board game manufacturer.
Postgraduate student Peter Bloomfield said it was the oldest computer games system on display, with estimates of the manufacturing date going back to 1978.
The consoles on display ranged from more recent models such as the Sony PS1 to systems using cartridges such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Many of the consoles were up and running with people able to play many of the games that are protected in the archive, ranging from Street Fighter II to Sonic the Hedgehog to Fortress of Nazrod on the Vectrex.
This proved popular with many visitors as they were playing some of the games many remember from their childhood.
Alongside the consoles were a number of console controllers on display, almost showing the evolution in aesthetic design from the very simple four button controllers all the way to the more modern Sony Playstation controllers with the analogue sticks and the triggers.
While there are already archives for literature and film, the video game archive reflects the significance of Scotland within the entertainment industry.
STUDENTS PROVE THEY’RE GAME FOR IT
By Larissa Belch
Budding entrepreneurs found out if they had the skills to make it big in business at the University of West of Scotland’s Creative Choices Festival.
Students took the The Sim Venture game challenge to find out just how tough it is can be to run a successful business and it gave them an insight into the difficult decisions that bosses have to make.
Amy Junner, aged 19, a Second Year Business Studies student who helped run the workshop, said: “If you are thinking about setting up your own business it’s good to play this game. It’s the reality without the risk. It’s an effective learning tool.”
The computer simulation programme, which is used by students on the university’s BA Business Studies course, covers all the business bases -Sales and Marketing, Financial, Human Resources and Operations - and it will even warn players about their stress levels.
Amy, from Barrhead, Renfrewshire, believes the game makes players think about aspects of business they may not have considered and allows students to learn from their mistakes.
She added: “It’s all about decision-making and time management. You shouldn’t worry if you don’t make a profit immediately. You’ve got a lot of groundwork to do first.”
Polish exchange student Lech Pichnor, aged 24, was one of the first to take advantage of the Sim Venture experience. He said: “It was very helpful. You have to be aware of many factors in business.”
Festival artwork created by Steven Sherlock, 4th Year Digital Art Student, UWS School of Creative & Cultural Industries
