Last chance! Sign up for Film and Media Production (Cert HE) by 12PM (BST) 19 August 2026. Enrol here!
Explore #WeAreOCA
Skip Navigation
JISABOKE is an experimental spoken word and sound album that explores memory, identity, silence, empathy, emotional resilience, displacement, and belonging. It is a project that began with a simple question: what happens when music is not created only to be heard, but also to encourage people to pause, listen, reflect, and connect with their own experiences and those of others?
Read More
Funding for studies is changing. Radically. And yet just over 1 in 10 people are aware of what is happening. In January 2027 the new Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) system will come into effect. This is an initiative designed by successive governments to allow learners to study flexibly through a modular approach to learning. This will replace the student loans system in England.
Read More
There are moments in the life of a creative practitioner when you glimpse yourself, as if from the outside, and are confronted by the question: Is this a productive, or even sane, use of my time? I experienced one such moment during the creation of my latest album.
Read More
Creativity rarely exists in isolation—ideas flow between disciplines, shaping and reshaping artistic practice. This blog explores how Chamfer emerged as a response to the limitations of the contemporary art world, finding a more immediate and flexible outlet in music.
Read More
Composer Neil Tòmas Smith discusses the dialogue with the Scottish Renaissance in his new work for Orchestra, Baroque Orchestra and Soprano.
Read More
Composer Neil Tòmas Smith reflects on being selected to write a piece for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dunedin Consort, and soprano Anna Dennis.
Read More