Dundalk IT Digital Design student springboards to Milwaukee Irish Festival

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) Digital Media Design students, Jamie-Lee Forde has recently been offered an opportunity to gain industry insight into the internationally renowned Milwaukee Irish Fest. This USA festival is held over 3 days with over 100 acts across 16 Stages and includes traditional Irish to indie-rock performances.

Jamie-Lee was selected for this amazing opportunity as part of DkIT’s close links with the Milwaukee Irish Fest Committee. All full time and part-time students in the Creative Arts, Media and Music Departments were notified of the experience and encouraged to apply.  

Jamie Lee Forde said, “I applied for the Milwaukee Irish Festival Experience firstly because, as a musician and event organiser, I thought my skills matched the criteria well and I felt strongly that I could play a role in helping this year’s festival be a success. It also seemed like such an amazing opportunity to learn about event management and live performance production at the highest level. 

“An opportunity I couldn’t pass up! As well as that, I’ve never been to the US but have always been fascinated by Ireland’s connection to America and I thought what better way to learn more about it than at the largest Irish Festival in the world, while sharpening my event management and music production skills, building a network of overseas contacts and having some fun too! It really did seem like the perfect opportunity for me and I’m very grateful to have been chosen”.

Dr Adèle Commins, Head of Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music, DkIT said:

“The experience offered at this festival gives students an incredible overview of the range of skills needed to run an event like this. It is a wonderful opportunity for DkIT students to gain practical knowledge and be involved in an intricate event of this nature in Milwaukee. 

“It provides students the opportunity of applying their skills in a challenging environment in America and develop networks which may be of help to them in their future career”.

Jamie Lee further added:

 “I’m currently studying Digital Media Design in DkIT. I decided to do the course for a few reasons I suppose. I realised how much I actually love learning after moving to Spain and becoming an English teacher a couple of years ago, so after two years of that I decided it was time to come home and go back to education. 

“I had heard that Springboard courses were highly focused on employability and generally catered towards more modern fields of work, which sounded interesting, so I decided to check them out. 

“Digital Media Design seemed perfect for me as I’m a musician and event organiser too so learning how to design posters, album art and social media/website graphics in the graphic design modules, as well as learning how to promote them efficiently in the digital marketing modules, seemed really interesting and beneficial! Since starting I’ve obviously realised how much more can be done with the skills taught in the course

For more information on DkIT’s Digital Media Design Course click below:

https://www.dkit.ie/courses/school-of-informatics-and-creative-arts/creative-arts-media-and-music/certificate-in-digital-media-design.html