A Class Apart

Through CRE8ION:FRONTIERS, we are also investing in raising the next generation. We train young people, giving them an opportunity to learn, develop new skills, and gain the vital experience necessary to operate in a professional media agency.

Cre8ion are looking to launch the creative and digital media apprenticeships scheme in September, working with Skillset and the National Apprenticeship Service. We are currently looking for people with a keen interest in the digital arena. If that is you, and you are a school leaver looking for a way into the creative industry, then this could be for you. Drop us a line, with a CV, and we’ll be happy to schedule time with one of the team.

Testimony by Holly Webb
Computer Game Design Graduate ‘08
Newport University

I graduated from Newport University in the summer of 2008. I’d achieved a 2.1 in my degree and was ready to face the real world.

University had gone so well for me, that I had high hopes for getting a job. But soon I found myself in the thick of the credit crunch, with endless rejection, soon to be doing mundane retail work in a card shop just to afford Christmas. Graduating into the credit crunch felt like I’d ran face first into a brick wall!

A few months on, I found myself at rock bottom; life couldn’t seem to get more miserable! That was until I learned of Cre8ion. I found out about Cre8ion through my boyfriend’s Dad, and a week later Cre8ion welcomed me onto their team with open arms.

Volunteering at Cre8ion has given me so much more then just a few extra words on my CV. They’ve helped me to grow as a person, allowing me to brush up on old skills and learn new ones. Working there stopped my creativity from going stale and gave me a reason to wake up every morning.

Cre8ion gave me the much needed industry experience that I, and so many other university students need. I’m so grateful for the time I’ve spent with them; Cre8ion really helped me to fly. With Cre8ion’s help, I was able to finally quit my de-motivating job and develop an income through freelancing, giving myself more time to search for that games industry job I’d always wanted. My dream was finally realised when I was offered an internship doing graphic design for a game publisher, a truly fantastic opportunity!! I know I have my time at Cre8ion to thank for that.

So if you’re considering giving your time to Cre8ion, you should, I know you won’t regret it. You’re truly making the right choice.

Testimony by David Moody
Animation Graduate ‘07
Newport University

Having graduated in 2007 from my BA Animation degree with a 2.2, I set about trying to get a foothold on my industry of choice. I had been promised a job earlier in the year by a local TV company who specialised in making children’s television programmes. But when I contacted them, they said they would be unable to give me the promised opportunity. Naturally, I was disappointed.

I set about applying to dozens of British animation companies. Every one of them told me to send in a showreel, so I ended up making dozens of DVDs and sending them off to all the companies I could find addresses for, just to get a job as a runner.

I didn’t receive a single reply. The credit crunch hit, and people were afraid to take risks and hire new people. I’d graduated into a hopeless situation, and had been let down by the people who had given me hope for a job in the first place.

This continued for three years, and I had many temporary jobs from assistant teacher to phone salesman. I finally found myself in a rather undesirable supermarket job, working night shifts and weekends. The work was manual and heavy, the managers unpleasant and the job soul destroying.

Then it happened. I was introduced to Cre8ion via friends who were currently working there. Cre8ion has given me new skills in software I had never used before, a chance to help with some filming, and the opportunity to finally get behind a computer and become what I’d always wanted to be: an animator.

I owe a lot to Cre8ion. In the brief time I’ve been here, I’ve learned a lot about myself and gotten over my depression. They gave me back the passion I had lost at the end of university. Being at Cre8ion gave me a sense of being, something no other place I’d worked at before had given me.

I’d recommend Cre8ion for anyone who has any interest in the creative industry. It’s tough out there at the moment, and you need all the drive you can get.