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Nine young people boarded the bus at 6.30am on Monday 14th of January to take part in a 3 day workshop in Melbourne at JMC Academy, one of Melbourne’s leading colleges in the creative arts area. Grampians Community Health Centre, Youth worker, Loki McIntyre invited the podcasters to apply for the free entry to the workshops which included Digital Animation, Digital Television, Audio Engineering and Sound production, Popular Music and Performance and Entertainment Business Management. Three of our podcasters were successful in gaining a place on the course and joined 6 other young people from St. Arnaud, Horsham and Stawell.

With Francesca Suffield of LenZone! Ararat and Alois Kniebeiss of Grampians Community Health Centre along for support, Loki crossed his fingers and hoped that the blue bus would get us to our destination without losing a gearbox.

The students were ushered directly into their classrooms upon arrival and had a full day finishing at 4.00p.m. Digital animation was most popular with 44% uptake, this was followed by Events Management with 33% uptake and 22% signing up for Audio Engineering and Sound production.

As we were staying at the YHA in the heart of Melbourne it was an opportunity for some cultural experiences. The blue bus cut a swath through the traffic as we visited alleyways with the best street art in Melbourne. There was lots of discussions about the merit of these works as art or vandalism. The vibrant colours added to the dramatic impact and the group had lots of questions for Loki who knew of many of the artists. Great examples of street art can be found down Hosier Lane and ACDC lane in the CBD.

The group was also told that as much as possible there would be no fast food permitted, so it was Italian just over from Vic market on Monday and Indian in Brunswick on Tuesday. We did not know how the group would handle the flavours of India, but they gave it a good go. Ryan was the bravest attempting a Chicken Vindaloo. Francesca warned him of the likely side effect, but he would not back down. Although sweating profusely and mentioning a numb tongue, Ryan was valiant in his effort.

Dinner was followed by a night stroll around the Exhibitions Building and Imax cinema. Loki told the group about the Protest stone which was an oblong piece of sandstone excavated from Heatherlie Quarry at Halls Gap. The quarry was developed after gaining the contract to provide the material for the construction of the Exhibition building and Parliament house.

At the completion of day 3, students received certificates for their participation in the workshops which will add to their resume. The students in digital animation were also able burn CDs of their work which adds to their folio. It was amazing to see how quickly the students picked up on using the software and created fantastic pieces of work. The Events Management students got given lots of information on all the aspects of successfully running a gig and managing artists. The Audio engineering students were a bit disappointed that they did not get to be let loose on the mixing desks until day 3. Mystic grasshoppers, a band from Box Hill won the local battle of the Bands and were given the opportunity to get recorded at the Academy. The audio engineering students were hoping to work through the process from start to finish, but soon realized that everything does not come together in one take.

Overall, it was a great experience for all concerned and although very tired on the trip back, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Multi media to take up the offer if they can.