Making a Living 2016

Monday 21 November to Friday 2 December 2016

Making a Living is a two-week festival at The Cass that will see over 2000 students attending lectures, workshops, panel discussions and other activities aimed at preparing them for employment in the creative industries.

The event (originally created in 2015 as a two-day event centred around design) has been expanded this year to encompass all courses at all levels in The Cass. Experts from within the School, the University Careers and Employability team and from Accelerator will deliver sessions on topics on everything from CV preparation, through crowd funding to securing a job on graduation.

Guest speakers at Find It Make It Keep It – Real Work Today, led by the Visual Communications area, will include Handsome Frank Illustration Agency, Intern and It’s Nice That. Carrie Bishop of FutureGov will deliver a motivational lecture and Justin Melican of Block1 Design will explain the secrets of how to pitch. Artist Mel Brimfield will offer guidance on renting exhibition spaces for new artists, while photographer Ania Dabrowska will discuss collaboration in contemporary art practice.

London Met’s Accelerator will be providing sessions on key issues including working for yourself, sales, costing and pricing and online presence. These will include a talk by Emma Thatcher called How to Make a Living in the Creative Industries. The Careers and Employability team will provide advice on networking, job seeking and volunteering. There will be regular drop-in sessions and portfolio surgeries, including one with Architecture and Interiors recruitment specialists ADREM and with celebrated alumni including Michael Marriot and Zoe Robertson of Flockmania.

Public events during the series will include Narrative Contexts panel discussion and a book launch on 1 December and the closing event in the second edition of Open Field, the innovative residency programme in the Fine Art area and a talk and screening by the Living Theatre of New York.

The week continues the focus on employability at the School and University that led to a record 96% score in the most recent Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, and will be followed in February by the more established Celebration Week where students present to panels of expert critics.

For the full programme of talks, events and workshops, please download the PDF from below.