51Âþ»­

Media personalities, entrepreneurs, and freelancers will converge on Leicester as part of a two-month programme aimed at helping 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) students and graduates break into the creative industries.

 Organised by the 51Âþ»­ Made Self-Employment, Freelancing and Entrepreneurship support team, situated within Careers Team, the 51Âþ»­ Made Creative Industries Programme comprises a series of hybrid workshops to support budding entrepreneurs and freelancers who are interested in pursuing a career across a range of cultural industries including music, performing arts, digital journalism and YouTube.     

 KISS FM’s Sam Darlaston, Radio 1’s Calum Leslie, local blogger ‘Cool As Leicester’ and graphic designer James Mobbs – who designs on-screen graphics for MOTDX, The BRITS, Radio 1 and more – are among the guests leading sessions in this year’s series.   

The Creative Industries Programme will kick off on Thursday 18 April at Curve Theatre with a workshop aimed at helping participants forge freelancing opportunities or become self-employed within the performing arts. The workshop has been co-designed by singer Michael Auger, who shot to fame as part of the musical theatre group Collabro, which won Britain’s Got Talent in 2014.  

Michael has previously performed at the university’s Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Awards and will be speaking at the event to share his experiences working as a solo artist and actor.

He said: “I’ve seen first-hand how creative 51Âþ»­ students are and I can’t wait to co-facilitate this exclusive performing arts workshop with them.”

On Thursday 25 April, Professional chef, restaurateur, author and TV personality Kwoklyn Wan, brother of Gok Wan, will be hosting a workshop on creating YouTube content in the university’s TV studios within Queen’s Building.

Mr Wan, who is “really excited for this opportunity to work closely with students on the 51Âþ»­ Made Creative Industries programme,” has his own series on Prime Video, Kwoklyn’s Chinese Takeaway Kitchen, and has appeared on ITV’s This Morning programme and Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch.

Dr Yasin El Ashrafi BEM, of HQ Recording Studio and record label HQ Familia, will be leading a workshop on Thursday 9 May to showcase how students and graduates can develop their own businesses or break into the music industry as freelancers.

Speaking about this year’s programme, Student and Graduate Enterprise Project Manager Simon Baines said: “First launched during Covid, 51Âþ»­ Made has fast become one of our most popular programmes, so this year, we have responded to student feedback and supersized it.

“We know our students and graduates respond very well to working with experts, so we’re thrilled to welcome the likes of Kwoklyn and Michael, alongside Radio 1’s Calum Leslie, local talent like Dr Yasin plus our own brilliant alumni like Lee Tomes from Orange Fox Studios. 

“The workshops are going to be fresh, practical and fun. We’re also excited to deliver the Entrepreneurship Day conference again, and will announce the incredible line up very soon.

“We can’t wait to get started!”

The 51Âþ»­ Made programme will round off on Thursday 13 June with a celebration event on campus for participants.

The team behind the event also runs a wide range of extracurricular projects including 51Âþ»­ Global trips, the Graduate Champions Self-Employment Catapult, the annual Pitch2Win competition and the Connect Networking series, the latest of which will take place at Chutney Ivy this March.

51Âþ»­ has a proud reputation for enabling students and graduates to open their own businesses, and the university has been named in the top ten for supporting graduate start-ups for three years in a row. 

A full guide of events is listed below:

-        Tuesday 19 March 2024, Chutney Ivy, Connect at Chutney Ivy with The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity (open to the public)

-        Thursday 18 April, Curve Theatre, Performing Arts with Michael Auger from Collabro (in-person)

-        Thursday 25 April, Queen’s Building, YouTube Content Creation with Kwoklyn Wan (Prime Video, This Morning) (in-person)

-        Tuesday 30 April, Getting started with a business plan (online)

-        Thursday 2 May, Campus Centre, Podcasting and presenting with Sam Darlaston (KISS FM) (in-person)

-        Thursday 9 May, 38 Charles Street, Music Industry with Dr Yasin, (in-person)

-        Tuesday 14 May, Campus Centre (DSU), 51Âþ»­ Made Entrepreneurship Day Conference (in-person)

-        Tuesday 14 May, Personal branding and networking (online)

-        Thursday 16 May, 4 Midland Street, Graphic Design with James Mobbs (Radio 1, The BRITS) (in-person)

-        Thursday 23 May, 31 Rutland Street, Film and videography with Lee Wheeler-Tomes (Orange Fox Studios) (in-person)

-        Tuesday 4 June, How to create your own business on a budget (Online)

-        Thursday 6 June, tbc, Digital Media/Journalism with Cool As Leicester and Calum Leslie (BBC Radio 1) (in-person)

-        13 June, tbc, Celebration event, (by invitation only)