Sky launches TV production facility for young people in Yorkshire
SKY’S Leeds site is to open its doors to a pioneering new educational facility.
The Sky Academy Skills Studio will enable young people to experience a behind-the-scenes TV production environment.
The launch of the new facility follows the success of Sky’s first Skills Studio which opened in London in 2012. In just over a year, the London studio has offered almost 14,000 young people the chance to build life skills by using its state-of-the-art technology to make a news report on subjects they are studying through the curriculum.
The Leeds Skills Studio is set to launch in 2014 for use, free of charge, by teachers with groups of students aged eight to 18. The new facility aims to help young people from across the region develop important skills such as creativity, communications, problem solving and team work, while also raising their aspirations and career ambitions.
The young people will be given the opportunity to write, shoot and edit their own TV report in a selection of ‘live’ studio environments, using real-life HD cameras, editing desks, green screens and props. The final reports will then be topped and tailed with clips from Sky presenters.
Jeremy Darroch, Sky chief executive, said: “Building skills and nurturing talent are vital not just for business success but for society as a whole. We want to use our position as a successful company to support young people across Britain and Ireland and launching Sky Academy Skills Studio in Leeds is a really important step in helping us to achieve that.”
The arrival of Sky Academy Skills Studio to Leeds comes as part of a wider set of initiatives which form Sky Academy, launched in London. Sky Academy aims to use the power of television, creativity and sport to help young people in Britain and Ireland to build skills, experience and self-belief. Its ambition is to create opportunities for up to one million young people by 2020.
