Welcome back to Creative Catalogue, where I, as a local young creative, speak to young creatives and companies who employ them.
This week is Youth Employment Week and this time, I spoke to Maximilian Zalewski, 20, a Westbrook-based videographer. He’s long been interested in making films, having started his YouTube channel in 2017.
He explained his love for filmmaking: “You can do anything with films, make them funny, sad, anything. It’s the absolute variety, and once I realised how film can make everything much better than it was, through frames. I knew then that it was something for me.”
With some training and a lot of informal practice, Max was looking for some paid work experience in the industry.
He first found out about the Creative Catalyst scheme around March this year, applying for a placement in the April round of funding.
Unlike most of the placements, where Co-relate finds placements with other local creative businesses, they chose Max to support with one of their in-house projects.
In April, Co-relate ran a two-day workshop for local young people focusing on sustainability and green skills and careers. With a range of local experts involved, the hope was that the workshops would help 16-24 year-olds understand a bit more about green industry, and hear personal career stories.
Max was in charge of filming and editing the workshops into a short video, giving a taste of the workshops and how people reacted to it, as well as several Instagram reels. The video was then shown to partners of the workshops and published on Co-relate’s social channels.
He said that he found the work helpful for his confidence and career.
Max said: “‘I was surprised. I really appreciated the work, it was a really heavy load. I didn’t do anything creative until last year. Here, I was doing something I loved. It broke the mold. I finally felt like I could do this for money, and it helped me a lot with my self-confidence. I realised, coming to Co-relate, that it’s a big risk to be a creative. It’s more about self-enriching than earning money. You really hit the jackpot when you get to do the two together. It’s been a really great introduction into networking.”
Why was Max chosen to help with this project?
Jessica Rose, Managing Director of Co-relate, wanted the workshops to not only be for young people, but to also involve a young creative in the process. The Creative Catalyst scheme was, after all, set up to help people like Max.
She said: “Co-relate wanted to capture our pilot Green Skills and Careers workshops in an accessible format that conveyed the nature and content of the workshops to partners, funders and young people.”
Since the workshops were aimed at young people, it seemed a good idea to have a young person deliver the filming brief.
She said: “Young creatives are brilliant for bringing fresh ideas and extra capacity to our projects. Their skills, enthusiasm and energy help keep us relevant and interesting to our audiences.”
So, would Jess recommend Max for another, similar project?
She said: “Yes! Young filmmakers like Max are keen to learn and gain experience and I’d recommend bringing young people on board for any creative project.”
This week Max has been filming for the UK Creative Festival at Dreamland. Watch his video on Co-relate’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/tP-tMXk6MHc?si=ei2QfMSrLaRlYLbY
