A Visit to SHMU

On 24th June, our Youth Development Officer Sam Green and newly appointed Community and Media Matters Co-ordinator Ryan RocKs went to Aberdeen to visit the Station House Media Unit (SHMU).

In the most simplistic terms, SHMU provide employability, meta skills, youth development, and training opportunities to the community using the vehicle of media. This was an exciting opportunity to connect with an organisation who are very established with 20 years of experience delivering community projects.

On location in Aberdeen, they have a bespoke building built onto the original station house which acts as the perfect metaphor for the growth of the organisation and visual representation of how far they have come. Since we are looking to stimulate community growth and employability opportunities via our Community and Media Matters course, as well as other community led projects, it seemed a perfect opportunity to see first-hand the services and opportunities being offered at SHMU.

Employability Manager Michelle Trail gave us a full tour of the facility showing the workspaces, offices, radio and film studios, as well as communal areas for working and relaxing. Michelle was super generous with her time, sharing her expertise, describing the road to accreditation and how we may follow suit to also offer accredited courses here at Creative Stirling.

Adele Keith (Radio Development Worker) gave insight on their radio training programme and was very gracious with knowledge sharing and offering advice on media training as well as pointers on connecting to young people via her youth development experience.

There was so much to see and learn. We are very lucky to have had the chance to connect with the team and in the spirit of collaboration, SHMU offered to assist us with any insights and relevant training materials. They also offered advice with future funding applications as well as further community development projects and media provisions.

Thanks to everyone involved in making this visit possible.