Jools Holland was among media industry stars who praised the work of Nottingham’s Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies at an event marking its 25th birthday.
Hundreds of people attended a celebration at performance venue Metronome, on Huntingdon Street, to mark the work of students and staff since the Institute was set up in 1994.
Known for its courses in film, TV, music and gaming, Confetti has helped start the careers of thousands of people in creative and media industries.
Jools Holland was among famous faces who attended – and took the stage to praise the institutions’ work and facilities.
Holland is a pianist and television presenter well-known for his ‘Later’ BBC TV series featuring performances by legendary and up-and-coming musicians.
“I am honestly amazed at the mind-bogglingly brilliant facilities you have here,” he said.
“The studios I have seen are better than any I have seen anywhere. And the students I met were so engaged because they love what they do. They have such great opportunities. I haven’t seen anything like this before and I am sure this place will soon be on the global map.”
Video: Stars praise Confetti and the achievements of its students at its 25th birthday event
To commemorate its 25 years of training new talent, Confetti unveiled a new prize, ‘The Confetti Award’, honouring people who have made an ‘extraordinary and sustained contribution’ to promoting new creative talent.
Holland was the first person to receive the award, which was presented to him by Confetti founder and CEO Craig Chettle.
“It was an honour to stand up in front of hundreds of friends to talk about the impact Confetti has had over the past 25 years,” said Mr Chettle.
“From humble beginnings, we are now a leading provider of specialist education with a student body of over 2,000. Our graduates are behind the scenes of Star Wars – the Rise of Skywalker and big games such as Grand Theft Auto. They are performing at venues all over the world and they start that journey with us.”
Other guests at the Metronome event included BAFTA winners Shane Meadows and Vicky McClure – a Confetti Ambassador – as well as the Vice Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University Professor Edward Peck and the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Rosemary Healy.
Performing at the event was former student and international beatboxer THePETEBOX, and the Confetti House Band – including current Confetti students Grace Baker, Holly Taylor Gamble and former student Matt Burrows
Guests at Tuesday night’s (November 19) celebration were also treated to an impromptu rendition of “Happy Birthday” from Holland himself.
Confetti became part of Nottingham Trent University in 2015. Since then, there has been more than £15 million of development on the Confetti campus, in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter.
This includes a new ‘digital media hub’ building for students on Convent street, a state-of-the-art education building. Metronome is also a brand new part of the campus which includes cutting edge recording studios for students as well as a public facing performance venue.
Confetti is also part of Confetti Media Group – a collection of creative businesses which include Spool Films – responsible for audio post-production on award-winning productions This Is England and Dead Man’s Shoes as well as Shane Meadows’ acclaimed drama for Channel 4, The Virtues.
The group also runs Notts TV in partnership with Nottingham Trent University. The channel helps to train TV and film students, with more than 50 graduates now working for major broadcasters and media groups including Sky, the BBC and ITV.
“We ensure real-world industry experiences are always on offer as well as academic study. Our ‘do it for real’ ethos underpins all activity,” added Mr Chettle.
“Creating authentic experiences and opportunities for our students has always been at the centre of everything we do. Whether that is crewing music festivals, making programmes for Notts TV or performing in our venue.
“We have always strived to ensure our students learn about the industry by being in it – being a part of it – and it was fantastic to see Jools Holland as well as our friends Shane Meadows and Vicky McClure here tonight to share in our company milestone.
“At Confetti, we want every young person who is wondering how they can get started in the creative industries to know that they can find the answer to that question with us.”
