Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work at a busy arts venue? We received a huge amount of applications to get involved in work experience at Z-arts and would have loved the chance to work with many more of you. This week Maisy from Stretford Grammar spent the week developing her creative skills with the Z-arts team; from blogging and claymaking to being on the other side of the desk, Maisy tells us about her week at Z-arts:

“Hi my name is Maisy, I’m 15 years old and have just finished a week of work experience at Z-Arts. I chose Z-Arts because I love performance arts and Z-Arts specialises in that. It has been a great week and I have really enjoyed my time here. My colleagues have been so nice and included me in activities and really made me feel like home. I have done a range of jobs including; going out to primary schools, spectating meetings and working with visitors to the building.

The highlights of my week have been MMU Summer School. This was kids coming from a variety of different schools in Manchester and having a workshop in Z-Arts. I helped out in a clay making workshop and I really enjoyed helping out the kids and I really liked being the supervisor not the kid doing the workshop. Another highlight of my week was going off site and going to St Brigids to work with year 1s and year 2s. I really enjoyed this because the kids were very cute and there was always something going on, so I was never sitting around.

A main challenge for me was being the adult and not the kid, especially with the summer schools, it was strange at first because these children were the same age as me and I was telling them what to do.  At first I was a bit nervous but I soon realised that no one even noticed my age and if I looked the part and showed my authority they would just think I worked there and show me the respect they showed the head leaders.

I would really recommend Z-Arts and it has made me think about doing creative arts as a career in my future.”

Thanks Maisy, we’re glad you enjoyed it as much as we did!

The Z-arts Team