BA (Hons) Event Management

The first Creative Industries module will introduce you to the strategies and tools to set you on the right path toward pursuing a successful career. Whether focused on a particular career goal or considering several future possibilities, you will broaden your knowledge of the opportunities available to you as a future creative industry professional.

From Glastonbury to church fairs, all events have concepts. This is the initial idea, the spark of imagination, the spectacle that you envisage. This module will allow you to explore the tools required to transform this imagined event into actualisation.

You will be encouraged to be creative and analytical in your thinking. Event concepts will give you the opportunity to think as creatively as possible as budget will not be the focus, it is all about you, and your ideas. Event Concept and Design will allow you to discover what excites you and what events you might create.

This module sets the foundation of the wider event management industry and examines the framework of events management. From weddings, festivals, sports, corporate and carnival events, you will focus on the diversity and global scope of the industry. You will also gain an in-depth understanding of the history, process, planning and evaluation of this fast-moving industry.

Basic site design and the provisions required to build an event will be covered so that you are aware of the framework of event management as an academic discipline. You will also examine areas of culture and the importance of social interactions at events around the world.

Live Music 1: Booking & Promotion brings you closer to the mechanics of setting up shows and tours. Covering the skills and tools you will need to professionally run a concert and plan a tour. This will include booking and promotion, stage management, artist liaison, budgeting, ticketing, negotiation, the work of Agent, Promoter and Tour Manager will also be defined and analysed to provide a thorough understanding of live music industry roles.

In this module, you will further develop your investigative skills, exploring relevant underlying concepts and principles and interpreting these within the context of your area of study. You will explore the nature of creativity, the wider context of the industry and practice reflective techniques.

You will also evaluate sources and consider issues such as potential biases and cultural diversity. This evaluation will contribute to developing an enhanced awareness of your creative identity and greater insight into the topics that inspire and motivate you. In addition, you will improve your understanding of how your area of interest intersects with the wider creative industry.

Using academic enquiry, you will develop a reflective journal to evaluate your strengths and areas for self-development in relation to your studies, careers and personal aspirations. This investigative work will help establish a connection between the skills you have identified concerning specific careers and areas of the industry, enhancing your understanding of what is required to be a successful professional practitioner.

Safety underpins all successful events; no matter their scale or format. Many well-documented cases of audience injuries or deaths at events could have been avoided with more thorough planning. In this module, you will explore the key health & safety tools and strategies you will need in the events and business world. You will look at famous cases of when it went wrong, why it went wrong, and how to avoid similar incidents happening at your events.

Through considering the hierarchy of safety management and the associated roles and responsibilities, you will explore a range of relevant legislation and guidance to be applied across a variety of event types. You will evaluate event risks and develop expertise and experience in proposing solutions to health & safety concerns through proper planning, strategy and management.

Live Music 2: Events and Tours focus directly on event delivery and practical tour management skills.

Events: You will organise promote and manage a show as part of a small team, booking artists and being responsible for the design and delivery of the event.

Tours: You will complete your tour advance -- including day sheets, budgets, rep reports with the assistance of dedicated tour management software to set up your shows.

“People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.” Seth Godin

What do you think creates that magic that propels you to buy a product? The reason you even know about a brand and have become entwined in its story? It’s a tool behind every business and every brand and without it, they wouldn’t exist. It’s the wonder that is Marketing.

Whether discussing a brand, musician, product or event, it is without a doubt that marketing and PR will have been involved in their journey. Whether you have seen an advert on Instagram, streamed a song on Spotify, bought a product online or attended an event, it is because it has been marketed to you. Marketing is a sales tool, but it is also something that needs to be creative, unique, exciting and visible. Everything and everyone is marketable, it’s just understanding how and ultimately, how to do this well.

In this module, you will look into brand identity, messaging and communication, study marketing theory and PR practice and develop concepts, strategies and pitches. You will examine brand case studies, looking at examples of marketing campaigns with a focus on the positives and negatives.

The module will allow you to manage the marketing for your own music/event brand, looking into how marketing and PR are used in the contemporary music and events industry, and create ‘a big idea’ and marketing plan around this. The invaluable tools you will learn will be adaptable to whichever path you take for your chosen future career.

The creative arts have the power to bring people together, unite communities, support mental wellbeing, raise awareness of social issues and above all, bring joy to many people around the world. In Creative Industries & You 2, you will discover how you can turn your passion and talent into a collaborative project with a positive impact on society. Employing research and networking skills, you will develop a greater understanding of a charity, cause or campaign. In teams of students from all courses, you‘ll select a cause and identify a way to support its key objectives, either by raising awareness, raising funds or contributing as volunteers. You will be introduced to your college's partner charities but you are also able to find your own, or work independently of an existing organisation.

Through this collaborative project, you’ll develop essential interpersonal and communication skills, experimenting with various digital tools for enterprise. You’ll reflect on your own values, applying theories of human psychology to explore how to get the best out of yourself and each other. Building on your industry research skills, you will assess your target audience and define clear SMART targets for your project that will enable you to execute an element of the strategy and evaluate its success. In teams, you will spend time working on your project both in class and in your own time, developing effective collaborative working methods.

You’ll record your project activity in your Personal and Professional Development Plan, reflecting on how you have developed and changed over the course of your first year and a half at BIMM. Working with your Personal Adviser you will identify objectives, opportunities and actions that will help you stay on the path to success for the second half of your journey towards becoming a Creative Industries Professional.

Sound Financial Management being critical to the success of any event, this module explores the techniques and tools used in the planning and delivery of events. Not-for-profit versus profit. Sponsorship versus Crowdfunding. Grant Funding versus Philanthropy.

The module will follow two strands:

1. Accounting techniques such as balance sheet, budgeting, break-even projection, cash flow and projections
2. Funding sources such as Sponsorship, Grant Funding, Crowdfunding and Philanthropy

The module is designed to be supportive of future modules where funding for an event will be critical to success.

“Content is king” – Bill Gates

In this developing digital world, businesses of all types and sizes around the world continue to prioritise social media and online promotion at the heart of their marketing strategy. Digital literacy is increasingly seen as a must-have skill by potential employers. This module will give you the key practical skills in a variety of social media and digital communication platforms.

From Facebook to Instagram, from Social Influencers to Search Engine Optimisation, you will explore how to maximise the effectiveness of these digital strategies, using data analytics to enhance and evolve creative content-driven campaigns. Contemporary issues and trends in the digital world will underpin the module, as well as discussions on ethical concerns.

This module continues the exploratory work you began in Context & Culture of the Creative Industries. You will directly apply ideas to your own discipline and development, selecting an area of investigation relevant to your own practice, and communicating your argument via your medium of choice.

The concepts you encounter will actively critique claims to authenticity and originality; themes you will encounter frequently throughout your career as a Creative Professional. You will debate artistic production, the motivations for it, and the problems of creative autonomy.

You will investigate relevant contemporary cultural issues and theories relating to society, race, gender, technology, and the environment to develop your contextual understanding of how these relate to your own creative practice, professional values, and sense of personal agency.

You will be encouraged to meet with your Personal Adviser in a 1:1 tutorial to help you reflect on the strengths and areas for development identified in your PPDP in the first year, tracking your academic progress and setting new actions that will support you to achieve your best work. The research methods and study habits you develop throughout this module will prepare you for next year’s Final Project, in which you will self-direct a significant piece of academic, creative and/or professional practice.

Students will gain a comprehensive insight into the inner workings of the outdoor events industry with a detailed and definitive overview of on-site operations, as well as the pre-event logistics planning required to ensure operational success.

The first part examines the tools and techniques underpinning operations planning, including a site production schedule, management and command structures and a detailed site plan, taking into consideration the relevant regulations supporting safe event design.

The second part explores on-site operations and considers what happens when functions are disrupted by unplanned events. You will study how to identify and tackle potential hazards, as well as leadership and decision-making, thereby learning the importance of establishing and observing correct procedures, and how to deploy the right resources.

In this module, you will undertake a significant project of your own choosing. It’s your chance to explore your passion within the industry and creative arts: experiment, take risks, strengthen your skills and create a product/cohesive portfolio of work that you are proud to showcase at the end of your degree.

This module will support you in consolidating the broad learning and development from the course so far, building a bridge into the industry, the workplace and future opportunities. You will be supported to self-direct your own learning through a series of lectures, seminars and 1:1 tutorials with expert supervisors.

Sustainability is currently at the forefront of people’s minds. This module assesses the sustainability impact of an event and explores the influence that events have to mobilise positive change.

The International Standard for Event Sustainability is used as a framework by which to evaluate significant event-related risks and opportunities, including the need for sustainability processes and practices to be embedded in the event management cycle.

Contemporary perspectives and trends in event sustainability will be a central theme. Using appropriate tools and templates, you will learn how to apply the requirements of the International Standard and create an event sustainability policy and action plan to increase the sustainability of an event.

In this module, you will undertake a significant project of your own choosing. It’s your chance to explore your passion within the industry and creative arts: experiment, take risks, strengthen your skills and create a product/cohesive portfolio of work that you are proud to showcase at the end of your degree.

This module will support you in consolidating the broad learning and development from the course so far, building a bridge into the industry, the workplace and future opportunities. You will be supported to self-direct your own learning through a series of lectures, seminars and 1:1 tutorials with expert supervisors.

This module is the final step in your journey and will support you as you look to enter your chosen field as a creative professional. Drawing on evidence from throughout your time here. you will critically self-evaluate your personal learning journey and industry engagements to date. You will explore concepts and theories of personal and professional development to support, challenge and test your assumptions, to determine your readiness for work in the creative industries. You will have the opportunity to discuss this with your peers and learn from your collective experiences in both small degree path groups and large mixed discipline sessions.

With this position in mind, you will then be challenged to create and consolidate creative assets to give you the edge over the competition in your chosen field. Specialist workshops will be offered throughout the module, informed and delivered by our wide-reaching connections and specialist lecturers in the creative industries. This culminates in the creation of a portfolio which tells the story of your personal and professional journey so far, communicating your unique professional identity and future career plans in the creative industries.