I’ve designed and run workshops and training courses for HearSay Audio Arts Festival, Somerset House, Alphabet Radio, Serpentine Galleries, Metroland Cultures, UEA Southbank, Kings Maths School, VICE, RTM FM, The Brixton Project and more.
Topics have included: co-producing with young people, interviewing, scripting, structure, editing, using recorders, and pitching.
Here are some workshops I’ve run recently:
London Podcast Festival 2022
I led a session with Arlie Adlington looking at the power dynamics in contributor/producer relationships making documentary audio and how to make these relationships less extractive. We said lots of stuff, but here are some of our closing thoughts:
Metroland Young Associates
I am currently facilitator for the Metroland Young Associates: a paid opportunity for Brent young people, ages 18-24, to develop skills working in the arts as part of the Brent Biennial 2022.
I am facilitating workshops and development sessions with 20 young people from Brent, with different interests and access needs, with the aim of ultimately curating the final weekend of the Biennial. They are all total legends.
Multitrack
Right now I’m the Fellows Coordinator for Multitrack. I’m the kind of pastoral point of contact for the fellows – we check in every week and they’re free to talk about anything they want to in our sessions. I also support them to create and maintain their Personal Development Plans.
On previous years, I’ve been a member of the Multitrack Training Steering Group working to develop, co-ordinate and ensure the quality of 10 weeks of training for the Multitrack Fellows.
Rise + Shine
In Feb 2022 I ran a Rise & Shine masterclass on interviewing. Rise & Shine is an amazing platform for people interested in audio stuff, founded by the legend Sarah Myles. There are so many free resources to be found, 10/10 would recommend to a friend.
Alphabet Radio’s Intro to Audio Course
I designed and delivered a 10 week training course for LGBTQ+ people who are interested in getting into audio production and presenting. The course ran from March – May 2021.
The course was free to attend, included one to one mentoring, weekly production training, and weekly ‘Listening Sessions’ in which our trainees had the chance to meet LGBTQ+ audio producers and presenters and listen to a piece of their work. I delivered this course with Katie Callin and Laura Blake.
I ran workshops on interviewing, presenting, remote recording and sound design. I also facilitated the Listening Sessions, which were effectively a series of ‘In Conversations’ with queer audio producers including Ariana Martinez, Alexander Charles Adams, Jacob Edward and Ant Adeane. I really, really enjoyed interviewing people about their audio processes.
Somerset House
In October 2020, I ran an Interviewing for Podcasts, Radio and Film workshop for Somerset House staff. In November 2020, I ran a workshop on Access to the Audio Industry, Idea Creation and Pitching for 18-25 year olds as part of Somerset House’s Upgrade Yourself series.
Primary and Secondary Schools
I love coming into schools and setting up students with the tools to create their own podcasts in a single workshop. I’ve done this in primary and secondary schools across London including in Kings Cross Academy, Kings Maths School and UAE Southbank. I also ran sessions with 8-12 year olds in Salford through Salford Community Leisure. If you are a school or educational organisation interested in podcasting workshops, hit me up!
Mentoring
I’m an Arts Emergency mentor – it’s a great scheme, 10/10 would recommend to a friend. I also mentor someone I met through VENT, and was part of a mentor scheme at Woodside High School in Tottenham. I’m always around for chats with people looking to get into the audio industry – get in touch if that’s you 🙂
JESSE LAWSON 