Brendan O'Sullivan Talks About Northern Song

On Thursday, the blog team interviewed Deputy Provost Brendan O'Sullivan about the Northern Song event, asking him what the event is about and what he hoped it would achieve. Here is his response:

A: "Tell us a bit about yourself."

B: "My name is Brendan O’Sullivan, I am the Deputy Provost of the Warrington campus and also the media department, so I have two roles. One is to support the Provost, Annette, with her oversight of the work of the campus, so all departments across business, media, sport, health, education, policing and social work. Also I have a direct responsibility for the department of media, the staff and the students within that area."

A: "Could you give us a brief overview on what the Northern Song event is about?"

B: "Yes, the Northern Song event is a celebration of student work of the university, but particularly that of the media department. At the end of every year we have the degree show for the Level 6 students who are exiting the department and the university, and we want to find a way to celebrate and showcase their achievements. We have had degree shows in the past, but recently with Phil [Potter] heading up the module, we’ve tried to find ways that we can use the second year students (the Level 5 students) both to capture the Level 6 student’s work and celebrate and showcase that work, but through showcasing and celebrating their own work. So we’re able to ask the Level 5 students to work in photography, with radio, with TV, with web content, to showcase other student’s work, and in doing so showcasing their own."

A: "What inspired you to create an event that would promote student’s work, and what the media department does?"

B: "Well, for a number of years we didn’t have a final degree show, and often they’d be more associated with the departments of art and design, where there’s a breadth of work on show.

We’ve obviously got art and design within the university here, and we were certainly missing out, I think, by not taking the opportunity to show our student work to the world. And it is the world now, it’s not just people who come to the site to see the work - the material will go online, and anyone can tap in to see the work wherever they are. So we have a strength (and always have had strength) in production here, we’ve got very good students producing

some excellent work. Partly it’s a celebration of that work, partly it’s a recognition that we are situated in the North - there’s a strength and a pride in the work that comes out of the North, and actually probably something about being

"...we’ve got very good students producing some excellent work..."

in the North that contributes to the way we see the world, and the way that our work is produced. That’s true for students who were born and brought up around here and come to study with us, and indeed for those who may have moved home to come and study in the North. There’s a wealth of opportunity and perhaps a way of viewing the world which is peculiar to people in the North as others in other regions would say too. So we want to celebrate all that there is about the production, and the talent and the creativity of our students, whilst also celebrating where that talent was nurtured."

A: "What do you hope the Northern Song event will achieve, both for the university and the local community?"

B: "We’re always trying to engage with the community, and also it’s never a bad thing to tell everyone else in the university what you’re up to. So we are hoping that the physical audience for that programme will be friends and family and supports to the students who are producing the work for their final degree show. There will be people from the local community

invited along too - I’m part of the Warrington Culture Board, and I’m hoping that our meeting

"...it's never a bad thing to tell everyone else in the university what you're up to..."

(which is being held at the Warrington campus that day) will allow them to stay, and enjoy the show too. Of course, because much of it is going to be online (the photography show, the radio work is always online, so is the production work and TV), our message will get out beyond the university, beyond the North-West, and even perhaps beyond the UK, for people to pick up on what we do here and how well we do it."

To learn more about Brendan and his role at the University of Chester, click here.

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