Friday, July 17, 2009

Congratulations to the First Ever BA (Hons) Entertainment Management Graduates from Leeds Metropolitan University

One of the happiest and proudest events in the academic calendar is the student graduation ceremonies. These formally mark the end of student life, when graduands become graduates in front of a massed audience of dignitaries, academic staff, family members and special guests. This week, Leeds Metropolitan University is holding its annual graduation festival, in a stunning white marquee on the grass ‘acre’ at the magnificent Headingley Campus.

On Wednesday it was the turn of students from the Leslie Silver International Faculty to graduate, and as part of that student co-hort the first ever BA (Hons) Entertainment Management students graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University. As Course Leader and a tutor of three years to these students, I have to say that it was one of the proudest moments in my academic career, if not my life.

The students have worked (and played) hard for the past three years, in a subject that may sound ‘fun’, but is actually a serious business discipline geared around the massive global entertainment industry. BA (Hons) Entertainment Management graduates have learned about classic business subjects including: marketing; finance; human resources; organisational behaviour; entrepreneurship; business and corporate strategy; and consultancy, alongside specialist modules around various sectors of the entertainment industry.

Amongst this years graduates is Kane Towning, a talented DJ who now along with business partners Danny Bond and Alex Simmons owns a company called AIM Clubbing. Kane and partners are responsible for the signature club night ‘Movement’, which has turned the bassline scene (that was once considered ‘chav’) into a respectable clubbing brand, which will certainly grow along the lines of Ministry of Sound and Gatecrasher in terms of profile (and hopefully profitability). This year AIM Clubbing have even diversified into taking over 400 clubbers to Tenerife on a package clubbing holiday.

Some of this year’s graduates were also responsible for a piece of consultancy work carried out on behalf of West Yorkshire Police and Leeds City Council on their ‘Best Bar None’ project. This project was designed to assess the corporate social responsibility of the Licensed trade in Leeds and has gone on to influence central government policy in this area. Other students were involved in a marketing project with the Leeds Met Studio Theatre and Art Gallery, that was designed to provide a clear marketing strategy for engaging the local student and staff population of Leeds Metropolitan University, both projects were truly outstanding, and excellently and professionally presented by the students to a panel of academic assessors.

Footage from this years Leslie Silver International Faculty graduation featuring BA (Hons) Entertainment Management students can be found below.



We have recently gone through a ‘minor modification’ of the BA (Hons) Entertainment Management award to further improve it, modules (or classes) for the 09/10 academic year are as follows:

Level One:

The Entertainment Industry
The Entertainment Environment
Employability and Management Skills
Applied Technology and Finance
Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
Management in Entertainment Organisations
An Introduction to Enterprise and Small Business
Professional Practice 1

Level Two:

Arts Management
Music, Politics and Society
Human Resource Management
Entertainment Marketing
Managing Nightclub Entertainment
Entrepreneurship in the Cultural and Creative Industries
Responsible Entertainment Management
Professional Practice 2

In-between levels two and three we are now offering students the opportunity to take a year out to work on a 48 week industrial placement. This is purely an option, but further affords the opportunity for students to gain real industrial experience.

Level Three:

Strategic Thinking
Contemporary Issues
Entertainment Consultancy Project
Creative Marketing Communications
Independent Study
Global Perspectives of Entertainment
Management Development
An Option (there will be approximately five option modules to choose from, which reflect either sectors of the entertainment industry, or skill needs of managers in the entertainment industry).

The course is delivered over a three year period (or four years if you choose to take the work placement option in-between levels two and three). The course is also punctuated throughout with a series of industrial visits and field trips to locations including local entertainment venues and visitor attractions, to more further afield locations including The Gambia and planned for March 2010 a five day visit to Krakow in Poland.

If you would like any further information about the course please do feel free to get in touch by clicking upon the Email link on this page.