Designed to build confidence and technical skills filmmaking & creative digital media, it’s led by professional artists and filmmakers. Learn scriptwriting, sfx makeup, camera techniques for mobile devices, editing, storyboarding & more!

Get Digital has been successfully running for the last five years, working with 16-19 year olds from all across Barrow and Cumbria and being supported and mentored by a number of reputable industry professionals. 

Projects have explored a variety of different subjects, looking into homelessness, mental health, hate crime and Autism awareness. Over the past few years Get Digi have brought together ‘Film in a week’, where a group of young people between the ages of 16-19 have managed to bring together ideas, collaborate and produce inspiring short films. 

2020 & 2021 has and will be no different. It’s about a different way of working and thinking, sparking new ideas and generating thought provoking content from the comfort of their own homes. It’s a great opportunity to build skills, confidence and to work towards something productive and engaging at the same time. Ten weeks to develop new and innovative ideas perhaps having never met or worked with their fellow participants before. The course is a way to develop opportunities socially and creatively. Get Digital is now offering a new strand, having developed into two separate courses, we now run Get Digital Art & Get Digital Film. 

Karen Bird: Youth Project Delivery / Trustee /Lead Artist Get Digi Film

Karen Bird has been running the project since the very beginning, mentoring and developing the participants in all aspects of Film and screenwriting. Karen also works closely on our Signal Starters programme (8-11 year olds), a completely different strand of work but a highly reputable course that has seen these younger participants create some amazing animations and short films.  Karen has mentored crew trainee schemes on productions such as Channel 4’s SHAMELESS and the BBC’s WATERLOO ROAD. Primarily a writer/director, Karen has overseen production of over 30 short films at Signal which have screened at festivals around the world and won numerous prizes!

Ashley Holmes: DJ & multidisciplinary Artist/Lead Artists Get Digi Art 

We are really excited this year to have Ashley Holmes running our Digital Art strand. He is an artist and DJ working in Sheffield across installation, sound, moving image, radio broadcasts and performance. His practice is informed by concepts of property, access and citizenship and explores an interest in archival processes and Black musical practices.

Ashley has introduced the course to Photography & audio and how these can work alongside. The aim of Get Digi Art is to produce a series of soundscapes to run in parallel with the West Coast photo exhibition, opening later this year. We are really looking forward to seeing the results!

Recent exhibitions include A Free Moment, FUTURA Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, (2020) away, completely: denigrate, curated by Languid Hands, Narrative Projects, London (2019) Double 6, collaborative performance with R.I.P. Germain commissioned by Poor Image Projects at former courtroom in Leeds Town Hall (2019)