Hailey-Eris Reader

I am 15 and in year 10 at Ramsey Grammar School. My art interests include: Writing, sketching, sewing/textiles, drama and I sing (sometimes)

My gran got me into sewing at a young age and designing has always been an enjoyment of mine, so being able to take this for my GCSEs was an incredible opportunity for me and has opened a whole door up to me plus, the challenge excites me

In my spare time I write a lot of stories, mostly fantasy which are based around my environment or mind-set, I enjoy this way of expressing myself because it entails mountains of creative freedom, with no boundaries, except for my mediocre vocabulary. I also read a lot so this definitely helps with how I word and even how I write. The authors that have had the biggest impact on how I write are- J.R.R Tolkien, Lauren Oliver, Alison Croggon & Leigh Bardugo. But the person that inspires me the most is my dad. My biggest problem however is I never finish them (lol)

My artistic talent definitely needs work but it doesn’t stop me from doodling characters or sketching random shapes. I cannot do realism to save my life but cartoons I’m okay at and I often try and design characters for my stories and fashion designs.

Next comes drama. I absolutely love acting/drama and was disappointed when I couldn’t take it for GCSEs (as well as textiles) but it hasn’t stopped me from being dramatic whenever (and wherever) I can be

Lastly comes the singing, I wouldn’t say I’m amazing but I try

Cole Holden

  I am 14, in year 10 and also go to Ramsey Grammar school.  My interests are drawing, sometimes coming up with storyline ideas never fully finishing them though. I enjoy reading, like heart-stopper.

A while ago me and Hailey were both apart of parker and Snell. The drama company. We were there for a while but ended up both stopping as we got closer to gcse’s. I decided to do drama, art, computer sci and media up at the college. After I leave rgs I am hoping go and do art up in the college or media of some sort.

I love drawing and art in general and I’ve gone through many sketchbooks over the years, getting slowly better. Art is something I really enjoy even if I’m not the best.

Work Experience Blog

  • A brief summary of our week -

Monday

On Monday [we] were introduced to the team, everyone here is really nice. Then we went over to the Villa Marina, after grabbing coffee, to talk about selecting artwork for ‘Ellyn’ (the art book) this took up a large majority of our morning

Our lunch was at 12:35pm and after that we made some work wellbeing posters for the office kitchen. Our fingers hurt afterward from the untacking and re-tacking of the pins

Tuesday

In the morning we helped Ted Faragher prep the stage ready for a performance, we helped untie and re-tie the curtains/drapes and Cole helped Chloe, who was in-charge of the pully system with the ropes.

At 2:30 we sat in on an interview overseen by Matt Child, [we] were interviewing a nice lady from Chicago. She was very confident and had prepared all her answers

Wednesday

On Wednesday morning we helped Alex Davidson with preparing the lighting for a rehersal/perfomance, we got to see the inner workings of the Gaiety lighting system and Cole had fun learning about all the computer/coding stuff…. He also blinded me (Hailey)

In the afternoon we were supposed to help the Villa Cinema with ticketing for a movie but there wasn’t anyone except us and on other lady so we just watched the film instead. It was ‘The Sound of Metal’

Thursday

On Thursday morning we learnt about Sound with Anthony ‘Polly’ Palfreman. It was really interesting to learn about sound & Frequencies aswell as their effect on the human body. And also the different speakers for both the Gaiety and the Villa.

In the afternoon we helped Olivia with the moving of the different pieces of art to be photographed. We had to enlist the help of a lady named Jenny, who runs SoundCheck, to help us with some heavy lifting. Amaya, however, did the most important job… She opened doors J

Friday

On our last day we (Cole) finished our Tik Tok blog and I (Hailey) updated the arts council ‘Whats on’ page. After lunch we watched Amy Jane Bennet perform in the villa Arcade. She was AMAZING

We also helped Oliva with the carrying of art. No heavy lifting today.

Personally I think that the week went really well. I got a bunch of new experiences and got to see parts of working with the arts council I didn’t even know existed. This week has been an absolute joy and I’ll miss working here. And miss the staff ofc. :P When we got to play with the lighting and the sound it was all so magical. Seeing what happens behind the scenes really fascinated me. It felt like we really were a part of the team, especially when picking the art for the ELLYN art book. I felt really included in the decision and that was only day one. I really couldn’t wished for a better work experience. I’ll definitely remember Grainney giving us all the little tasks when we had nothing to do. When we got to see a movie on Wednesday I found it really fun how we were basically the only ones in there. It was an amazing week and I’ll never forget it. What I loved most though was at the end of the week, when we all took a photo together that really meant a lot and will set a clear memory in my head of how much I had fun. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to come back and see everyone again. It was a true pleasure meeting everyone and it is such a wonderful and positive workplace, any future workers have a great job ahead of them.

Cole

Like Cole I also had a brilliant week, with not a moment of dullness. Nothing was the same each day. I learnt things I would never even give a second thought to. It would be hard to pick a favourite moment, I loved meeting the team. Everyone here is so nice and it is really unfortunate that we can’t stay another week. Thank you very much to everyone at the Arts Council.

This week has been the highlight of July for me (even having to spend it with Cole XD). The feeling of being a part of this team felt incredible and the freedom that they gave us was astounding. I will miss this place a lot and I also hope that I will be able to come back –Hailey

Hailey