As a second year History and Journalism student, Tom Mackenzie has studied the history of Stirling and the university. He noticed a distinct lack of musical presence.
“There’s never really been any big ensembles, like a concert band, orchestra, any of that. It just hasn’t happened before,” he said. “So, what I want to do is bring that sort of large ensemble to Stirling.”
This is something Tom has a background in. He’s spent most of his life involved in various musical projects, and plays multiple instruments.
“I’ve done music since I was like seven or eight. I did recorder lessons for 10 years. I played the saxophone when I went to high school, so I’ve been doing that for about seven years now. I’ve done concert band, wind band, choirs, I’ve worked my way up to the National Choir of Scotland. I was in the opening concert of the Edinburgh International Festival last year.”
Now, as the Equipment Manager for the university’s Live Music Society, having run the Slanj a Va open mic night and Stirling Music Quest, Tom wants to bring the arts to Stirling students, initially by encouraging arts society collaborations and offering advice and support for arts societies in applying for funding.
“I have been applying for grants and stuff like that. I got the CZEC Community funding for a new PA system. What I hear quite often is that someone used to play an instrument, they’ve not got it with them or they would like to play more. But because there aren’t things here, there’s nothing for them to do. So they don’t go. I want to break that cycle, by having things to go to and encouraging people to bring their instruments to campus.”
Tom plans to run consultations with university students as early as the end of this semester, to run consultations with students and arts society committees to figure out what projects they want to run. Tom also wants to facilitate more collaborations between the university arts societies, and the MacRobert Arts Centre.
“It’s a fantastic resource, we have on campus and I think that could really be used by students here. I’ve been really involved with music, but I want to learn from acting societies, and art, and photography as well. The photography society does showcases at MacRobert, big receptions, and it would be great to do that with other societies.
“If we can get stuff working um, with students and at the University, we can engage with the community like we have with Slanj and the Music Quest.
“People don’t notice when the arts are failing. It’s not something particularly in the wider context of the economy and stuff like that.
“It’s not something you’d see failing in terms of hospitals or schools, but it’s something that needs supporting.
“At the end of the day, why do we go to work and do all that? It’s to enjoy fun things like films, concerts, or art. It’s really important to have someone in the Arts Officer role so we can keep that going.”
Featured Image Credit: Tom Mackenzie
