Connecting Africa’s Skilled Professionals
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Michael Garrison
I was educated at....
....Ernest Bevin school in south-west London and then went on to college to train as a carpenter.
My first job was....
....working as a carpenter with a medium sized firm where I was involved in carpentry construction including roofing, doors and kitchens.
What I do now is....
....I am the Managing Director of View Now TV, an internet channel that interviews people of influence in the public domain and across the entertainment business.
While working as a carpenter, I also worked as a DJ in the music industry. In the late 1980’s I was made redundant as a carpenter and felt this was my opportunity to find myself and a profession I could apply myself to, not a trade. I went to college and studied TV & Film production and made a piece of work – ‘Out of a Suitcase’ - which was shown at the British Film Institution. I received rave reviews as a documentary film maker and with that, I was able to gain access into the Kent Institute of Art and Design in Film and Communication Media.
Michael Garrison has worked in media and with young people from Black communities for the past 30 years. Starting as a Youth Worker for ILEA Youth Services, he moved to Southwark Council as a Media Tutor producing some notable videos that featured issues of public concern. Years later, he moved on to Lambeth College as a Youth worker and Princes Trust team leader.
After gaining qualifications for Radio Production techniques at Goldsmith College, he qualified as a mature student in Film and Communication Media at Lambeth College and Kent Intuitions of Art & Design.
In the late 1990’s, Michael was recruited by pioneer music & performance school, Islington Arts and Media School, where he managed and co-ordinated training for students in their Multimedia Broadcast Radio and Visuals platform Studios. He also developed programmes to train young people in a Radio and Visual Productions Scheme, which worked in partnership with popular industry figures liked the Heartless Crew.
Michael also put together summer university courses for Islington Youth Service and North London University, training and familiarising young people in a multi-media Radio environment. He took the project forward to develop courses with other local youth services and the Youth Offending Team.
Michael has worked in a freelance capacity with most mainstream broadcasters, including the BBC and Channel 4, and developed an interest in media promotions and productions which led him to create a visual production company called ‘NOW Productions.
This, with his extensive knowledge of visual media art, secured contracts to tour and produce and record videos for numerous recording artists including Beenie Man, John Holt, Morgan Heritage, Sean Paul, Buster Rhyhmes, Luciano, and the Marley family.
Now Productions was one of the first community based Visual Production Companies of its type and it has now been operating for over 20 years at the forefront of visual media technology.
These Projects were the inspiration behind the setting up of View Now TV.
After graduating, I worked as a freelance with TV companies and used my connections within the entertainment business and skills to formulate a company called Now Productions.
That organisation, now running for 25 years, was at the forefront of producing radio ads and then major visual productions. I would go on tour with artists as visual arts were gaining a foothold within our communities, and I would always interview the artists and entertainers, but I didn’t have a marketplace to stream my content. With the advent of social media and YouTube, there were the devices for me to output the content I had on my shelves and I saw a gap in the market for historical references for people who come over to perform here. We then formulated a channel called View Now TV to diffuse this and other type of content and genres of programming.
What I learned along the way is....
....to have patience; it really is a virtue. As a young man, I wanted to have everything, right then and there. But I came to the realisation that if you want something, you have to work for it; show respect and have patience in developing your skills and knowledge to get what you want in life. I had to learn all this to equip me for what I do now.
My greatest influence has been....
....my elder brother, Len Garrison, who formulated the Black Cultural Archives, and my father. My father died at the age of 95 in 2012 and he was married to my mum until he died. We were a family unit for over 60 years, which has given me strength and courage that I have drawn on in my own life. If you’ve lived to 95 years, you’ve got to have learned to have some patience!
The best advice I ever received is....
....a lot of things my mother used to say to me; Caribbean/Jamaican sayings that I replay in my mind. ‘If you want good in life, your nose has to run’. ‘If market is not good in the morning, the market won’t be good in the evening’. Sayings that tell that you’ve got to get it right the first time off and then you’ve got the chance to get it even better. ‘A patient man rides a donkey’ is another one; while everyone is whizzing around, the little man on the donkey is just getting there quietly. I used to think these were just sayings with no substance, but going through life and reflecting, I have really embraced our cultural heritage. A lot of what we adopt is not from our own cultural beliefs, so I try to take these sayings on board as part of my inner strength as I go forward, because these values are just as significant as any others I have come across.
My top tips for succeeding in my career area are....
....to have a plan and to make sure you continue to develop your abilities. If you have not been given chances and opportunities, you can end up feeling that you can’t succeed. So develop your confidence and abilities and, whatever they are, have belief in yourself. Whatever is done in this world is done by a human being and that human being could be you. Nothing is beyond you. It’s not just others that can deliver; you can also - if you have that belief and confidence in yourself.
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