Fashion show marks unveiling of £5m college media centre

A creative summer fashion show marked the official opening of a £5 million media centre at Banbury and Bicester College.

The centre represents the final stage of a £12 million investment in the campus over the last five years.

The official opening coincided with the college’s end of year creative showcase, which gives students from all creative fields the chance to exhibit their work to family, friends and industry contacts.

Cutting the ribbon was Banbury MP Victoria Prentis and Sir John and Lady Frances Sorrell, founders of the Sorrell foundation, an arts body which runs a network of free clubs for school children at colleges and universities across the country.

Sir John said: “We set up our foundation 17 years ago with the idea of inspiring creativity in young people. From that we set up the Saturday club which this college is a part of.”

As one of the hosts of the National Saturday Art Club, Banbury and Bicester College used Tuesday’s event as an opportunity to exhibit work produced by children from the local club.

The media centre opened to students earlier this year and provides industry standard facilities for classes in media production, photography and graphic design.

It includes a television studio, photographic dark room, Apple Mac suites and a cinema room and is a base for further and higher education programmes.

Mr’s Prentis said: “This is absolutely fabulous, its just fabulous what they do here and the thing is it’s inspirational. You can just see it.”

Sally Dicketts, chief executive of Activate Learning, which runs Banbury and Bicester College, said: “This investment in the new media centre demonstrates our commitment to developing learners with the technical and soft skills required by the area’s creative industries.”

“This investment in the new media centre demonstrates our commitment to developing learners with the technical and soft skills required by the area’s creative industries. As the first students complete their programmes at the centre, we look forward to hearing how their experiences have supported them on their career pathways.”