Solent students go live at the UK's biggest festival stages

Callum Chambers, Senior Designer at Vision Nine, the production agency behind Boardmasters, has worked with Solent since 2014, when the partnership began with Snoop Dogg headlining the main stage. Reflecting on 12 years of collaboration, he said:

"I can only see us going forward and getting bigger and better. The key thing for festivals is making sure you have suppliers you can trust. Being able to work with people who arrive already knowing the ins and outs of how a festival site works is a real benefit. I'm really excited to see how we can take what's already successful and make it even bigger and better in the future."

Through Solent Productions, the University's award-winning in-house media centre, students spent five days at the festival working backstage and on the main stage, operating cameras, directing live broadcast feeds and producing content around acts including Fatboy Slim, Lily Allen, The Kooks and Dizzee Rascal.

Callum added that the students bring something the festival's own marketing teams don't always have time for: "I think it's so important to have students working within the show rather than just being attendees.

“The (Solent) documentary team have been useful over the years, capturing the narratives and characters that our main marketing focused teams aren't always able to find the time to do. That's a real benefit, and we can be making our show more beneficial to young people while also getting the right feedback from the inner workings of the show."

The praise is the latest evidence of Solent's Career Ready Revolution, a redesign of course teaching to embed real world experience, industry connections and a portfolio into every degree. Boardmasters, where Solent Productions has sent student crews for 12 consecutive years, shows what that looks like in practice.

Jeff Chapman, Technician Instructor, TV and Media at Solent, said the placement is a clear example of what career-ready education should look like: "When it comes to effective, real-world vocational training, working at the top music festivals in the country is surely one of the best places to learn... Festivals are also a chance for students to make industry contacts, and this year two students have already gone on to social media roles with the Dizzee Rascal production team."

For students, the value is as much about confidence as credentials, and the roles on site stretch from pre-festival planning right through to the main stage.

Tiana Mitevska, a music business student entering her third year, worked as junior production coordinator, handling scheduling and crew logistics ahead of the festival: "I love being able to experience the festival behind the scenes and meet a whole new group of people I never would have met otherwise. This role has given me endless amounts of confidence to go into the field. Being able to say I worked on the main stage in second year is such an honour, and to have that on my CV already is incredible."

Logan Walmsley, a film and TV graduate who filmed Dizzee Rascal on stage, said: "Being on stage in front of 55,000 people is a different level to being in the crowd. It's daunting, but you focus on the camera and get the shots." His course mate, Matt Tunnell, filming alongside him, added: "I never thought in my life I'd be working at a festival, let alone for Dizzee Rascal. Bringing us out here and giving us these real-life experiences prepares us for what's going to help us in the real world."

Felix Burnett, who directed live coverage at his third consecutive Boardmasters with Solent Productions, said the step up from camera operator to director had shown him where his career could go: "As a director, you've got all the different camera feeds in front of you and you have to decide which one goes live in real time. It's challenging, but it's given me a much better idea of what I might want to do in the future."

Find out more about Solent's Career Ready Revolution and how courses are being built around real-world experience here.