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BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE: Graduate puts new career in the frame by scoring a football club job
19/08/2022
A University of Wolverhampton School of Art graduate has put a new career in the frame by scoring a job as Content and Communications Officer at Aston Villa Football Club.
Annie Benton, 24, from Wolverhampton, studied for an Undergraduate degree in Photography at the University’s Wolverhampton School of Art.
Annie Benton is a Wolverhampton-based photographer, whose fine art practice explores areas of Feminism and Women's rights within history and the modern day. She worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) at the University for 2 years, and since graduating from her degree in 2019, has expanded her practice commercially into videography and visual content creation for social media.
Annie recently worked as a content creator for the Commonwealth Games, as part of the Queen’s Baton Relay. As well as representing the Organising Committee internationally, Annie also travelled around England and Wales, supporting the delivery of the relay, and producing a range of visual content on its journey around the 72 nations that competed at the Games, which took place in Birmingham recently.
In her new role at Aston Villa FC, Annie is responsible for the production and output of content and communications for the Aston Villa Foundation, creating engaging content to promote the Foundation’s many impactful projects and campaigns within the surrounding communities. The role sees her being responsible for understanding the Foundation’s audience and bringing case studies of inspiring and engaging stories to life.
Whilst studying for her Photography degree, Annie was put forward for some work experience to take photographs for the Black Country Chamber of Commerce’s redesigned Prosper Magazine which was launched in September 2019.
One of the articles in the magazine focused on the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, and Annie took a series of photographs of him in the School of Art’s photographic studios, as well as attending Chamber events to provide a catalogue of images for use in other stories in the magazine.
Annie said: “The support and guidance I received from my tutors on the Photography course gave me the skills to develop my photographic practice into something that I am very proud of.
“The experience whilst studying at University – both practical and academic, especially in my teaching role – has more than equipped me to move ahead in my career and I was delighted to get the job with the Aston Villa Foundation, where I hope to further hone my skills and create some great content for them.
“My advice for new and current students is that they should be in those studios as much as they can and be open to what they try and create! You take for granted how much time and space you have to explore your work while studying. Do not be afraid to expand your skills and utilise everything the School of Art has to offer. Do not be afraid to “fail”- and I say this in quotations, because there is no failure in art, it is just development.”
Check out more of Annie’s work and process on her Instagram account: @abentonphoto.
- For anyone who already has the results of their qualifications, applications can be made through Clearing from Tuesday 5 July 2022. The University’s Clearing webpage provides further information on all the courses available in Clearing. Applications can be made either by calling the Clearing Team on 01902 51 8585 or through the University’s social media channels on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
- For anyone who is awaiting the results of their qualifications, they can register their interest and book a phone call with a Clearing Adviser on results day, Thursday, 18 August 2022.
- For more information our next Open Day is on Saturday 20 August 2022.
ENDS
For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.
