Sarah helps students at GMIT reach for the stars

For someone who has spent most of her career in arts administration, returning to work with students is a breath of fresh air for Sarah Searson.

The recently appointed head of the new Centre for Creative Arts and Media at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) is buzzing. At a time of great flux, she is thrilled to be at the helm in a very hands-on way.

“I have been writing a lot of policy documents, doing curatorial work in writing, supporting museums and galleries to develop programmes, advising organisations on shows,” she explains.

“I’ve also done quite a lot of mentoring with artists. I’m really interested in the development of arts in Ireland in the development of artists. So the opportunity to come to Galway represented a great challenge for me.”

She had regularly travelled to Galway when writing the last Galway City Council Arts Plan, which spoke about what investment in the arts can give back to the city.

It was some artist friends who let her know that the GMIT was advertising for the current position and urged her to apply.

“I had such a great art college experience myself so the opportunity to come here and develop it and bring it into the future was really exciting,” she reflects.

“It’s very exciting to work with students – the energy when you first come to college. I absolutely loved lecturing. There’s nothing more exciting than working with potential. I’ll be delivering workshops with them. For the first two or three years there’s a lot of management work but I hope to return to some lecturing.

“We’re at a very interesting time in education and it puts us in a great position to look at what we’re doing and it’s probably what creative people do very well.”

September was the first year that the film and documentary course at the Cluain Mhuire camps was elevated to an honours degree.

The course covers all aspects of the industry, including editing, sound, production design, cinematography, 4D design and knowledge of the planning, budgeting and management requirements involved in shooting and delivering film and documentary projects.

“We are looking to graduate students with a wide range of skill sets – everything from a data wrangler to a screen writer. There’s a big emphasis on collaboration. You learn a whole host of different skills because not everybody is necessarily going to be a director.”

The faculty also offers a well-regarded degree in art and design with an optional year-long specialisation in fine art or textiles.

Students study art history, critical theory, and they learn interviewing skills, how to draw, print making, ceramics and sculpture.

“They work in groups to produce exhibitions and events. There’s a real rigour to the course as a lot of that takes time to achieve. It’s total immersion.”

A third year print student is currently preparing for a two-week exhibition in London, while the student body and staff are busily readying their work for the high-profile end-of-year art show.

This month GMIT students out filming in all nooks and crannies of the city can be spotted night and day as they prepare their end of year project, which will feature in a college screening.

Many students will go on to set up their own company, working on a range of projects on a contract basis. They will work with a production company or go into a media organisation such as RTÉ or TG4.

“Visual education is so valuable. You work on a project basis, you have to conceive something and see it to delivery. It has to be professionally resolved at the end. You’ll be a self-starter, entrepreneurial, capable of critical thinking, you’ll have vision and imagination – really they are transferable skills.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.