Unit 1 part B - the wider arts sector

When I started the Gold Arts Award I was unsure if I wanted to pursue art or drama as a career.  I hoped that doing this award would help me to decide and also give me an in depth look at both the career paths.  I visited two colleges - Manchester College and Stockport College.  I was shown what students do in the art and design courses and also examples of work from the students.  I was also shown around the drama departments and saw samples of the students work.  I saw one video of a performance that some students had put on in one college and then saw a live performance from students at the other.  I found that I was impressed by the drama department at one college but not as impressed by its art department.  I also found that at  the other college I was impressed by their art department but not their drama department.  This made my choice of college a lot easier.  I found that the artwork I saw did not seem to give the students  much room to expand or experiment.  I also found that the art styles used were all so similar it was hard to tell one student's work from another.   I decided to pursue drama as I did not like the idea of my art being restricted and controlled.  I decided to continue spending my free time drawing what I want, enjoying it and improving my styles in my own way.  I applied to Manchester College to study drama on the Acting BTEC level 2 course. I had an interview and an unexpected audition but  luckily I already had a monologue prepared from my drama GCSE course.  I found that the interview was very strict and it made me realise that there would be no room for slacking on the course.  I started the one year course in September at the age of 15 because they accepted me onto the course a year early. I plan to go on and do the Drama BTEC level 3 next September and then my aim is to attend RADA or another drama school.

As well as studying the BTEC level 2 I am attending other classes which are relevant to a drama career. Once a week I attend Urban Stage drama classes for children aged 12-16. We are in the process of rehearsing for a production of Animal Farm by George Orwell which we will be performing next Easter.

I have also started attending latin and ballroom classes for adults once a week with Heather Durose Dance. I am enjoying learning jive, tango and waltz but I find the samba and cha cha cha very hard. I definitely prefer ballroom dances. The dance classes are hopefully going to give me a better chance of getting parts in productions in later years as it is definitely a useful skill to add to my CV.

I also attended a second willow weaving course where I made a vulture. I found this a lot easier the second time and think I improved my skills greatly because I was able to use the skills that I had learnt in the previous workshop.  I had already researched plague masks and found them useful in designing my willow weave vulture.

I am constantly improving my art and design skills with online tutorials.  Here are a few tutorials I have found very useful.

• Water tutorial by ryky
• Sky and clouds tutorial by KokoZhang
• Skin tutorial by navate - Part one and Part 2
• Hair tutorial by Rin-Shiba
• Eye tutorial by acidlullaby 

The information on the course that I am currently doing can be found here  http://www.themanchestercollege.ac.uk/school/courses/performing-arts-drama-2

The information on the course I am starting in September 2014  can be found here

http://www.themanchestercollege.ac.uk/school/courses/performing-arts-acting-3

The information for the degree course I am working towards can be found here

http://www.theatre.mmu.ac.uk/courses/ba-acting/