{"id":1309,"date":"2021-02-17T11:17:33","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T11:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/graduatecapabilities\/?page_id=1309"},"modified":"2021-11-05T13:35:26","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T13:35:26","slug":"testimonials-venture-matrix","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/graduatecapabilities\/developing-your-practice\/appliedprojects\/testimonials-venture-matrix\/","title":{"rendered":"Testimonials – Venture Matrix"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this column, some of our academic colleagues share their experiences of working with Venture Matrix and explain how their students benefit from engaging with work-related learning experiences as part of their courses at Sheffield Hallam University.<\/span><\/p>\n

ASHLEY BARNES \u2013 STAGE & SCREEN<\/b><\/h1>\n

“I often think that the most powerful learning comes from the experience of being \u2018moved\u2019. At Universities we can often be too focussed on educating, as Ken Robinson once famously said \u201cfrom the neck upwards\u201d. Emotion is a powerful tool in instilling memories and making things meaningful and, as educators, we shouldn\u2019t ignore this.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Performance team we would consider ourselves to be unafraid of expressing emotion. In our learning and teaching\u00a0 we think about, with our students, how you can recreate emotions on stage. The best student performances are often those that are technically adept, but also communicate the feelings of the character. However, as a team, we also acknowledge that there is a \u2018line\u2019 and at times we need to be very conscious of protecting our students from dealing with issues that are too \u2018close to the bone\u2019. Therefore, when, on a visit to St Luke\u2019s Hospice, one of my students sobbed uncontrollably at a memoir written by someone that had lost a parent, I was very concerned that I had stepped over that line.<\/span><\/p>\n

The students were at St Luke\u2019s as part of their \u2018Applied Theatre\u2019\u00a0 module and was organised with the support of Venture Matrix. They had been commissioned to write and perform a piece that encouraged people to discuss their feelings and attitudes to death. It was to be performed to staff at St Luke\u2019s at Christmas time and then again for a Health & Well-being summer event called the Death Caf\u00e9. When selecting the students to undertake this commission, I had been careful to rule out anyone that had declared a recent bereavement in the family, but death is a powerful subject for any of us to consider.<\/span><\/p>\n

I offered the student in question the opportunity to work on a different project, but she was having none of it. It was clear that the whole group had all been \u2018moved\u2019, but not in a negative way. They had heard stories of great heart break, but also stories of immeasurable courage. It was a sad experience, but also an inspiring one. For them the project had become more than just a module to pass and a box to tick. It had become something that they all felt was important. More important, even, than their studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their performance work, driven forward by this extra commitment, was excellent. The senior Chaplin at the hospice wrote to us afterwards to say it had been a privilege to be at the performance and other emails said things such as \u201cWow! What a Performance\u201d. The students are going to perform again at the Health & Well-being Death Caf\u00e9 2016 on Weds 11<\/span>th<\/span> May and are as committed as ever. After the original performance, they set up a Just Giving Page and passed a bucket round at a Performance Students cabaret evening.\u00a0 This type of learning opportunity that Venture Matrix source for our students creates a powerful and \u2018deep\u2019 learning experience for them and I would suggest that, long after they graduate from the University, it will be one of the most abiding memories of their time at SHU.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

BETH FIELDING-LLOYD \u2013 SPORT<\/b><\/h1>\n