Let me tell you a story…
Me (kneeling) getting a sneaky picture with The Wichitas at UPLIFT 2024.
It was December of last year I believe, when I, by complete chance, stumbled on a post shared to the Wickersley Now Facebook group. The post was an advertisement for some paid traineeship positions organised by ‘Children’s Capital of Culture’. The post offered positions suited to those interested in all kinds of creative activities and interests, and, being fresh out of university, desperately hunting for jobs with little success, and experiencing very little in the way of traction for my Voice Acting and Art pursuits, I signed up to see what it was all about. A few weeks go by, and I hear very little from my application, thinking it was just another instance of rejection, I reluctantly accepted a part time position working retail at a discount store, a job I quickly found out did not suit me in the slightest. Shortly afterwards however, I received an email inviting me to a workshop day at the end of February. After confirming that I would attend, I received a phone call from one of the leaders of the organisations taking on trainees from this ‘Children’s Capital of Culture’ thing. He introduced himself as Toby Smith, leader of Rotherham Music Hub, an organisation I had read about in the email I was sent, but one I had thought would not be interested in me due to my limited music knowledge and experience. I asked my questions and had a polite conversation, which piqued my interest in some of the upcoming events I had read about.
Eventually, the day of the workshop came around, I met Toby in person and had a very nice chat with him and Bruno, another attendee at the workshop hoping to join one of the traineeships offered, we shared our interests in music as well as our various levels of experience with music. The workshop itself was pleasant and enjoyable, I was expecting some more formality, but was pleasantly surprised that it was nothing more complicated than any of the many workshops I had attended, and sometimes run, during my time studying for my Performing Arts degree. I ended up having to leave the workshop early as I was unable to book time off work for it, which disappointed me, but I was assured that it wouldn’t be a problem. It was only two hours after the workshop ended when I had received a call - I had to listen to the message left for me later because I was still at work – it was from Toby again, this time to offer me one of Rotherham Music’s two traineeship positions. I called right back as soon as I could to accept the offer, and that, finally, brings me to the point of this blog: my last six months at Rotherham Music. I must apologise for the long pre-amble, I thought it was important to explain where I was in life, and how I came to take on the traineeship in the first place.
It would still be a while before I started work, April 18th to be precise, 6 months ago, though I would meet most of the team, and my fellow trainee Karyss earlier through online meetings and being invited officially as a volunteer at the Particle Dance event. I was sceptical about how office work would suit me, being a goal-oriented person who much prefers the practical side of things to theory, I wondered if it would end up making me just as miserable as retail had. However, I quickly found that it suited me perfectly, my role as an events trainee had me taking on a wide variety of tasks, making use of a broad range of skills and knowledge to move us towards various goals. I ended up feeling like that one perfectly shaped piece in a game of Tetris.
I quickly felt like a part of the team and began to feel more at home contributing all the skills and knowledge I could to the job, even at one point offering to completely redesign the website (that’s right, I’m the one behind the websites new look). Before long I was taking new tasks upon myself, doing anything and everything I could think to do when I didn’t have any outstanding important tasks. When we got to the multitude of events over the summer, I attended every single one, though I’m sure I could have gotten away with taking a break here and there, I just didn’t want to stop. I felt useful and appreciated, every little task I completed felt like an accomplishment, and to see my efforts pay off at the events I attended was nothing short of glorious. I even took it upon myself to start getting interviews with the various artists and bands we had at the events.
It hasn’t always been easy, but my traineeship at Rotherham Music has been incredible, and has given me motivation, inspiration, and skills I can use to go forwards in my own pursuits. I never stopped pursuing voice acting and art, but after six months here I’m more driven than ever to make something of it, and I believe thanks to my work assisting with Rotherham Music’s social media, I truly now have to skills to put my talents out into the open. Even if that doesn’t work out however, I know I’ll be fine, as thanks to my experience, for the last month I’ve been working part time for another company, who took me on to support their sales and marketing.
The fact remains however, Rotherham Music has become something truly important in my life, and its truly sad that my traineeship is coming to an end. If I was offered the chance to keep working alongside this team, I know exactly what my answer would be…
… The most resounding yes.
Ben Unsworth, Events Trainee at Rotherham Music.
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