boomsatsuma is an independent education provider, offering training pathways to people from all backgrounds, aged 16 to degree level, into expanding creative industries.
Established in 2011, with a background in Community Interest Projects, boomsatsuma has grown to be a creative industry educator maintaining close ties across Bristol community projects. Year-on-year expansion has been underpinned by consistently high results, with students—drawn from diverse socio-economic areas of Bristol—exceeding national averages.
Following the success of level 3 National Diploma courses, 2020 saw the launch of six BA (Hons) degrees, giving extended education pathways into the West Country’s vibrant creative industry sector.
Innovative and disruptive have become overused words, but they certainly apply to boomsatsuma, with its decentralised campus model breaking traditional education models. Its learning centres are located with creative industry partners across seven centres, with 31 full education staff and around 50 specialists.
Courses written and delivered with industry partners give students practical experience and relevant course content to prepare them for a career that best suits their passions and ambitions. boomsatsuma students’ access to creative workplaces inspires them and drives them forward with industry-relevant knowledge, skills, and experience. For this reason, its full-time diplomas—Creative and Digital Media; Film and Television; Sports Media Production; Games VR & VFX; Professional Acting; Dance—are hosted at dynamic working environments like Engine Shed Digital, Bottle Yard Studios Film and TV Studios, and Bristol City Football Club with the Robins Foundation.
boomsatsuma is an incubator of ideas that empower young people to develop their own creative identities. As an ode to this, in 2020, they launched six degrees including Documentary Photography & Print; Filmmaking Production and Post-Production; Game Art; Game Audio, alongside Bristol School of Acting, where students can study BA (Hons) Acting for Screen and BA (Hons) Acting for Stage and Screen. The conservatoire-style programme was developed with Acting for Film and TV BFA at Pace University, New York, and with their patron, actor Charlie Cox. It is run in partnership with Bath Spa University, prestigious The Bottle Yard Studios and TV Studios, and Tobacco Factory Theatres, dedicated entirely to cutting-edge training in the discipline of screen acting.
In 2020, boomsatsuma was the winner of the Diversity in Education award at the Bristol Diversity Awards, with judges commending the education provider on ‘showing leadership in promoting and owning the diversity agenda’.
boomsatsuma has maintained links with marginalised communities and created opportunities in education across Bristol for nearly two decades. During the COVID pandemic, staff at boomsatsuma worked tirelessly during the weeks prior to lockdown, providing its students with Apple iMacs and Wi-Fi, delivered and installed in student homes. All students could continue their education via online seminars, with live help from tutors, giving valuable support and expanding their knowledge despite lockdown. That continued assessment of coursework gave meaningful grading, which once again saw grades come in above national averages.
At the start of lockdown, with students facing isolation and potentially a lack of stimulation, boomsatsuma initiated an innovative project: managing virtual basketball games for students from Bristol Metropolitan Academy and their oppositions via live stream gaming platforms. A three-year collaboration with the Iconic Black Britons project also progressed, with students developing an AR tour of the Seven Saints of St Pauls.
boomsatsuma pioneered #InBristolYouCan, highlighting Bristol’s flourishing creative industries and the career opportunities for people aspiring to work within film, TV, photography, games, theatre, or acting. This became a live street art poster exhibition displaying students’ work.
