Emily Peers' Media Production Blog
Hi! I'm a student at York St John University studying Media Production: Film and Television. On this site you'll find my work, so take a look and see what you like.
Violence against journalists is something that has been a topic of conversation for a long time, but the violence that females in the profession face is even greater. Read my story on the risks faced by female journalists below.
https://storify.com/emilypeers/risk-of-death-the-problems-of-a-female-journalist
Losing a child is undeniably one of the hardest things any of us can go through, and that pain is doubled with the loss of twins. Below is a first hand account of a mother who faced that loss, as she shares what happened and how she managed to get through it.
https://soundcloud.com/user-768097255/interview-about-experiencing-the-loss-of-children
‘There’s no money in it’. This is what Julia Levai heard over and over as she was growing up: she was told that there is no money in a career in the arts. However, as someone with a passion for theatre, she didn’t let this little phrase deter her from pursuing her dream career in theatre. Now, still a student at the University of York, she is the artistic director of Takeover Festival 2017 from 23rd October to the 28th at York Theatre Royal. I sat down with Julia and festival manager Paula Clark to find out why the initiative, and encouraging young people to invest in the arts, is so important.
Takeover Festival began in 2009 as a way of introducing more young people to the world of theatre. Funding was provided so that students could get tickets to live shows and, since then, it has escalated into a way of letting young people (aged 12-26) take the reins in a professional setting and produce their own pieces of art, such as plays and musicals. One such musical debuting at Takeover is ‘Amphibious’, a critical outlook on separation in society, directed by Julia herself. The festival also hosts a range of workshops designed to encourage young people to try out different forms of art, such as the handmade parade lantern workshop. Julia stressed the importance of having today’s youth working on the festival, stating that ‘young people bring in fresh ideas which bring in new audiences’. Paula added that the festival is unique in terms of the experience and insight it offers its young organisers. She explained that theatre is ‘more competitive than it has ever been before’ as permanent contracts ‘just don’t happen these days’ and ‘entry level jobs are really few and far between’.
Julia explained to me that Takeover allows young people to ‘learn on the job’. She was even given the opportunity to pitch an idea for the theme of this year’s festival and, when given the go ahead, to plan the whole festival around that theme, which was ‘Walls: An exploration of the diverse barriers of stigma and prejudice in contemporary society and how we overcome these challenges’. This is a ‘global issue’ in Julia’s mind as everybody faces walls at some point in their life, so she felt that it was extremely important to explore this concept and ‘reach out to as many different people as possible’. She also felt like this theme was particularly relevant in such a youth oriented project due to the metaphorical walls that young people face when embarking on a career in the arts, such as social pressure to choose a more ‘stable’ job or the difficulty of finding a way into the industry.
With such a wide range of fully funded workshops, shows and other activities for young people to attend and create, Takeover Festival is really fighting the idea that a career in the arts in unattainable for the youth of today. Its importance can’t be overstated and its thanks to people like Julia and Paula that young people are able to pursue their dreams like they did. Takeover Festival will be back in 2018 with a new team and even more fresh ideas in the theatre.