Education & Training

The APRS has been participating in the music industry's efforts to map the needs and costs of future education and training in its role as executive member of the National Music Council.

The NMC is working as the music industry s representative body in discussions being held with the other creative industries answering a call from the Government to rationalise E & T provision so that training needs for the entire Creative and Cultural sector are served through a single body. Including all the Creative and Cultural industries together is expected to present a number of challenges not least of which is responding successfully to the needs of such a broad footprint of participants. The NMC has recommended that the music industry is best served by being full partners in the establishment of a new Sector Skills Council rather than aligning ourselves to the existing SSC for the broadcast trades, SKILLSET.

It is recognised that the sub-sectors of the APRS are not all a perfect match for the proposed Creative & Cultural SSC and it is anticipated that the footprints of the various SSCs will inevitably overlap so that businesses traditionally more in-line with broadcasting will still have the opportunity to take advantages of SKILLSET's services.

The current state of play is that the sectors to be represented by the new SSC are collecting information to support the presentation of an Expression of Interest to the SSDA (Sector Skills Development Agency), the body responsible for approving and overseeing a sector s application, by the end of this year. If 5 key tests (where have you heard that before?) are satisfied, then the new SSC will receive up to �1m of matched funding from the Government. It is clear that setting up SSCs will need significantly more than �1m (or even �2m, with the sector s own contribution) so one of the priorities will be to attempt to secure additional funding from bodies in the UK such as Regional Development Agencies and other European funds.

In addition to preparing the Expression of Interest , a steering group (on which the APRS has a seat) will be considering the structure and proposed activities of the new SSC and it is hoped that our model for accreditation of further education audio courses will be adapted for application to other areas of training provision. However, it will be a little while before the new Sector Skills Council will have anything practical to offer.

Audio Post UK 2003

The 2003 edition of the APRS s Audio Post Production Studios group friendly guide is to be officially launched at the Cannes Film Festival this month. The guide will be available at the reception of the Film Council's pavillion where visitors to the Festival can pick up a free copy.

Amongst a host of articles, an events guide, a technical glossary and membership listings, this years guide celebrates the 40th anniversary of the James Bond films, one of the most successful exports the UK industry has ever produced. 

The foreword to the guide has been provided by Steven Norris, the British Film Commissioner at the Film Council.

The Guide is also being launched at the Production Show being held at Olympia (20-22 May). APRS members will each receive a free copy and further copies are available to members wishing to distribute them to colleagues and clients. 

Contact Francesca Smith at the APRS office.