Chart-topping duo Rizzle Kicks today announce the release of the first single from their hotly anticipated second album Roaring 20s. “Lost Generation”, a formidable and incisive pop treatise on the “morphine” of reality TV, will be available to pre-order through iTunes from July 8th with an impact date of August 26th.
The video for the new single will be made by young people, mentored by the best professional production cast in the industry. The band has teamed up with GoThinkBig – a work experience initiative launched by O2 and Bauer Media – to offer young people across the country a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Rizzle Kicks and GoThinkBig will be recruiting up to 150 young people to fill job roles on the set of their new music video to support the up-coming release.
From Tuesday 11th June, young people aged between 16-24 can apply for a host of different roles through the GoThinkBig website (www.gothinkbig.co.uk). The project offers applicants a unique opportunity to kick-start their career by landing a work placement as part of the production team.
A huge range of positions will be made available across a variety of roles, from runners though to stage hands, make-up artists to cast, camera crew to directors, producers through to editors and in the marketing and promotion departments.
Launched in 2012 by O2 and Bauer Media*, GoThinkBig.co.uk is a youth work experience and internship initiative designed to provide a gateway to employment for young people in the UK. More than 250,000 young people use the site to browse work placements with some of the country’s biggest organisations including ITV, Spotify, Channel 4 and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen.
Each young person appointed into a role will work closely with a professional counterpart on the set of the new video, which will be shot over three days in London, early July. For one lucky applicant, a star role alongside the director is available, overseeing all aspects of the production.
Jordan Stephens, of Rizzle Kicks said:
“We want to give kids the kind of break we got. There are so many talented young people across the UK who all too often don’t get the chance to prove themselves in a real work environment. That’s why we wanted to get involved with GoThinkBig, using the launch of our new single Lost Generation to offer up opportunities for people to get a foot on the ladder.
“We want to hear from everyone with relevant skills or simply with drive and determination to succeed. If you’re handy with a camera, know your way round editing software or a natural team leader, we’re asking you to go online and apply.
“GoThinkBig is an amazing opportunity for young people and there aren’t enough schemes like it. We’ve been blessed with some great opportunities but if we weren’t in the music industry, its schemes like this we’d be using.”
According to research by GoThinkBig, over 460,000 16-25 year olds say they have not been able to gain work experience relevant to the career path they want to follow. The biggest barrier to this is access to relevant opportunities – as over two thirds of businesses (69%) say they don’t formally publicise work experience opportunities.
GoThinkBig.co.uk addresses this by making thousands of opportunities open to all young people, enabling them to access these opportunities through a single website – as well as providing information about how young people can best place themselves to succeed in securing them.
Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa, Head of GoThinkBig said:
“Jobs in the media and creative industries are extremely sought after, so working with successful young people like Rizzle Kicks highlights exactly what it is possible to achieve. To work on a music video for one of the UK’s biggest selling artists is a massive opportunity and one we hope will inspire people to apply for work experience opportunities.
“I’d like to think the tide is beginning to turn as more companies are realising the value young people can add to their organisation. It’s a two way street, so it’s about matching young people with drive, determination and fresh ideas with organisations who thrive on new creative thinking.
“Employers tell us that they will always look at experience first and foremost – so bridging the existing skills gap for the almost half a million young people who have yet to gain relevant skills is vital if we’re to address youth unemployment.”
The scheme was set up by O2 and Bauer Media with £5 million in funding and a commitment to make 30,000 experience and skills opportunities available to 16-25 year olds over its first three years.
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