Four of the School of Arts and Cultures Technicians were celebrated today after a wildly successful 21st birthday party for Newcastle University’s BA Folk and Traditional Music degree. The degree, which offered the first traditional music course in the UK, was set up 21 years ago by some of the shining lights of the traditional music scene, including Alistair Anderson, Catriona Macdonald, Sandra Kerr and Vic Gammon. Current staff teaching on the degree includes Nancy Kerr, Simon McKerrell, Imogen Gunner and Kathryn Tickell, all of whom performed in the concert with Catriona, who led the event organisation.
The technical team for the event was:
- Anna Heslop (Loans Assistant): Projectionist and Stage Assistant
- Tom Waterworth (School Technician): Videography and Stage Assistant
- Rob Blazey (Music Technician): Sound Recordist and Stage Lead
- Fred Hollingsworth (Lead Music Technician and Associate Lecturer): Lead Technician, Sound and Lighting Engineer. Videographer for VT content.
The team pulled out all of the stops for this event, one of the first fully public fixtures post-COVID and one of the biggest shows the department has ever put on. The rig included the department’s new RCF HDL-26A Line Array, paired with two RCF 9006 Subs, which the team are delighted to be able to use on a weekly basis for the student concert series. Lead Technician, Fred Hollingsworth said:
It’s great to have the HDL-26 as our main PA – we can rely on it to deliver even sound coverage across the King’s Hall – a notoriously lively room – it really takes our events to the next level and highlights the quality and professionalism of our team’s work.
There were some incredible performances by staff and students past and present (watch this space – the whole show was filmed and multi-tracked!) and the whole team were proud to be a part of the production and of the recognition (and wine) received at June’s Celebrating Success event.
