OPEN DAY FOR ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY STUDENTS

Leading entertainment industry college, JMC Academy, is holding an Open Day at its Sydney campus on Saturday 19th September.

Managing director Martin Cass said there was high demand for training places at creative industries colleges because job prospects in the sector have stood up well, despite the global financial crisis.

Mr Cass said New South Wales, in particular Sydney, was highly regarded as a destination for games, film, television and post-production services.

“The state’s attraction as a destination for tourism and business means we’re seeing more film and television production in NSW. Film production in Sydney has grown steadily with feature films and drama having most production stages completed in Sydney.

“Something like $240 million was spent last year alone on drama and feature film production.”

Mr Cass said many JMC graduates were now working globally on feature films, in recording studios, on music tours and in television production.

“We have a track record of producing industry-ready graduates in Digital Media and 3D Animation, Sound Engineering, Digital TV Production and Popular Music and Performance.”

He said many people in the sector were freelance, casual or contract staff, and therefore needed business coaching to ensure a steady stream of work opportunities for themselves.

“Much of the work in the creative industries is short term, so we put a lot of effort into making sure our graduates have the business acumen they need as well as the creative skills; we want them to be market competitive and commercially astute.”

Mr Cass said the creative industries included many new and emerging niche sectors.

“With the advent of digital technologies, there is huge demand for content creation and knowledge managers; this has created many specialist business opportunities.”

The latest Industry Skills Report by the Creative Industries Skills Council showed Australia’s cultural and recreation industries recorded job growth of between 1.8% and 2.2% in the early part of 2009.

And PricewaterhouseCoopers, in its Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008-2012, said sports broadcasting in particular is expected to avoid recession and continue to enjoy growth of between 6.5 – 7.1%.

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