Project Manager
Rolling Sound

Ayesha G

00:00:02 My name is Ayesha G. My job title is Project Manager of the Key Stage 4 Alternative Syllabus at Rolling Sound. Rolling Sound is an education provider so what that means is we deliver courses, workshops in many different locations all across London and also beyond. So, for example, we do creative multimedia workshops, photography, film, video games.

00:00:30 I help design the syllabi, what the teachers are going to teach. I make sure that all the young people are getting to finish their work on time, that they’re getting their work done, that they’re making their films, they’re taking their photographs, they’re making their video games and just checking that the criteria is being met so that actually get their grade at the end.

00:00:54 When I was in secondary school, I was so cool that I would skip school and go to Tate to look at some art and, you know, I was quite different to the rest of my peers ‘cos no-one else did that. I wanted to be an artist, that’s all I ever wanted to do. Very different to what my parents wanted for me which was to be a doctor or an accountant. But no, I wanted to be an artist.

00:01:18 I went to one of the worst schools in the country I think at the time. I was very low in the league tables. I was lucky that my…I had some very good teachers that sort of recognised that, you know, that myself and some of my peers were bright enough to do well and really pushed us.

00:01:40 And I went to Camberwell Art College which was really prestigious at the time and still is now. The head of the Foundation, I can’t remember his name now but if I did, I would curse it because he said that, you know, he said Ayesha, you’ve got technical skill but you don’t have that creative spark that, you know, that would help you be an artist and, you know, I believed him. I just sort of thought oh yeah, I’m not, you know, I sort of gave in to that idea. I thought oh yeah, you’re right, I’m not good enough, when clearly I was good enough.

00:02:19 I wasn’t focused ‘cos my attention was elsewhere because I was heavily involved in the school politics, the socialist politics in the school. We barricaded ourselves in Camberwell College for ten days. I don’t think that went in my favour either! That really set me back and I just thought oh fine, you know, I don’t belong in this stupid pretentious world. I’m just going to go and do my own thing.

00:02:50 I took a year out and then I did a art history degree instead of, you know, ‘cos I still really loved the arts. At the end of it, I did really well. I got a first class honours and I thought hang on a minute, I could do something with this. I ended up getting a curatorial traineeship at the British Museum and I worked in the coins and medals department and it sounds really old and fusty and boring but it’s a really cool department.

00:03:18 My boss at the British Museum has inspired me because he’s the most knowledgeable man I know. He knows something about almost every era of history. But the thing about him is that he’s just so down to earth, so kind. Always laughing. To be that clever and that down to earth, I just think is such a unique thing and he’s inspired me, just in his attitude and the way he is has inspired me.

00:03:47 I don’t know what I want to be doing in one year’s time let alone five years’ time. My brain explodes at the thought of five years, I’m sorry. I don’t know, I can’t explain, I’m very much based in now. I can’t really think about what I want to be doing in five years’ time.

00:04:09 As long as I’m doing something where I can be creative, where I can do something that has a social impact, then I’ll be happy. But what that actually might looks like in five years’ time, I don’t know. ENDS