If you’ve missed it before, Werkhouse is a weekend design studio experience for aspiring creatives, working alongside some of Bristol and Bath’s best professionals. We’re in our sixth year (after a brief hiatus in 2023) and the amazing team at Halo will clear the decks and allow us to use their entire studio for 30 attendees and 20 professionals to get stuck into a fast-paced, client-focused brief. Working in teams and with mentors, participants have two days to prepare and communicate a creative response.
Supported by WEDF, applications open in August. The workshop is going to be on the weekend of November 16th + 17th 2024 and is open anyone over the age of 18. We’re actively encouraging applications from anyone, including those not taking the usual university route into the creative industries – perhaps because university didn’t work out, wasn’t for them, maybe because they dived straight into some work projects, or they’re looking change careers!
Find out more and register your interest at:
Apply at https://werkhouse.org/
— Anastasia (Werkhouse participant 2018)At university we work quite individually, but this weekend showed how in industry you cannot hide away your opinion. Werkhouse taught me to have a voice. Your voice matters.
One of the reasons we’re able to do this again comes down to the enthusiasm and commitment of the local professional design community (follow us on Instagram as we announce this year’s agency team @werkhouseBRS). But the biggest encouragement is the amazing feedback from the young creatives.
In 2023, Werkhouse was just for 2nd year students so they could all take the learning back into their final year. This year we’re looking more widely for participants, not least because lack of diversity is an issue that the design industry – and we as professionals must tackle.
— George (Werkhouse participant 2018)Werkhouse made me want to work more in teams so ideas can be bounced around and developed further. It was an amazing experience.
The 2018 Design Economy Report from the UK Design Council found that 78% of the UK’s design workforce is male, 25% higher than the percentage of men in the general UK workforce. Women are also far less likely to be in senior roles, with only 17% of design managers or owners being female. While BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) designers are least likely to be in senior roles, making up only 12% of all design managers and business owners. One of the report recommendations was to increase access to design for young people and diverse groups, and the Werkhouse team want to support that.
So, please apply when the time comes and share the details of what we expect to be another intense but hugely rewarding weekend workshop like no other. We hope to have an amazing team of professionals on board, and lots of new faces to introduce – which we’ll be doing on Instagram later in the summer.
Werkhouse dates:
16 – 17th November at Halo Design, Bristol
Apply, follow or contact us:
werkhouse.org
@WerkhouseBRS
info@werkhouse.org
— Zoe (Werkhouse participant 2018)Werkhouse changed the way I thought about the industry. The beginning of a project is now more exciting and I’m not going digital until much later on in projects. Instead I draw and test ideas first.