Official opening of Walsall town centre's digital skills hub

Located in Walsall town centre, converted from four previously empty shop units, the new Hub boasts a large communal learning and meeting space, a specialist IT training suite and an additional flexi-space available for training, private hire, and co-working spaces for digital professionals.

Digital Skills Hub is run by The Mercian Trust and funded by the UK Government and Walsall Council as part of the Town Deal, providing access and opportunities to grow vital skills across the borough. It is part of a network of digital focussed support including the Walsall Connect centres located in over 25 libraries and community venues across the area.

Guests from a range of local businesses and community organisations came together to enjoy an interactive presentation from special guest Jennifer King, Education Lead for Global Creative Software company Adobe , demonstrating the collective power of creativity, community and AI. 

Students from The Mercian Trust’s Studio School & Sixth, located across the road in the St Matthew’s Campus, demonstrated how they are pioneering the use of digital skills and the specialist facilities of the Digital Skills Hub across their specialist creative disciplines of Performing Arts, Music Performance & Production and Creative Digital Media. Students were filming the event, using digital tools to create music, demonstrating 3D modelling and game design, and engaging in an eSports tournament

Following the interactive demonstrations, The Digital Skills Hub was officially opened by Jennifer King and Kevin Davis, Chair of Trustees at The Mercian Trust. Kevin said, “I was very moved to cut the ribbon, of our new Digital Skills Hub, alongside students of the Walsall Studio School I founded, which after the Goldmine Centre and The Ladder School, is the next piece in our St Matthews' Education campus. A 25 year journey, looking again into the future, with digital skills energising the direction of our students, and their communities.”

ENDS 

Notes to editors:

About The Digital Skills Hub

Walsall Digital Skills Hub is a brand-new specialist training centre focusing on providing skills training across all digital disciplines for residents, businesses, entrepreneurs, and students across the whole borough of Walsall.

Digital Skills Hub is located conveniently in the centre of town on George Street, just 1 minute from ASDA, in the St Matthew’s Quarter. Our large facility comprises of meeting spaces, training rooms with the latest PCs and Apple Mac computers, refreshment and breakout spaces, and collaborative working spaces.

We run our own workshops in-house as well as bringing in sector-experts to deliver workshops focused on their specialisms. Our programme of training is based on the feedback we get from our clients to ensure the workshops are relevant and impactful. 

We also run drop-in clinics, so whatever your digital skills needs, you can call in at this time for support, signposting, or enrolment on the right workshops or courses for you or your organisation.

Digital Skills hub is funded by the UK Government and Walsall Council, and many of the training opportunities that we offer are fully funded for eligible clients. Eligibility varies but is usually limited to people who live or work in Walsall Borough. More information is available on a workshop-by-workshop basis.

In addition to our own programme of digital skills training, the hub is available for hire by local organisations. The state-of-the-art facilities, convenient transport links, and modern and attractive space are three great reasons to hire – alongside rates specifically designed to make this affordable to local groups.

Digital Skills Hub is run by The Mercian Trust and its creative vocational school, Walsall Studio School & Sixth, which is also located on the same campus. As an education trust, we are a not-for-profit charitable organisation, committed to increasing opportunities and improving outcomes for the communities that we serve. 

Digital skills workshops include:

• Content Creation including photo editing, graphic design, animation, podcasting, and social media
• Video Production including filming on a budget, using video platforms and live-streaming to reach audiences, and postproduction and film-making skills
• Interactive Media including app development, website design, and using existing technology to digitise your business
• Microsoft Certification including Office 365, Windows, Power BI, Power Automate, and Viva
• Cyber Security including operating online safely, data storage, GDPR compliance, record keeping and best practice.
• Marketing & branding including using digital technology to boost your business, building networks, and using social media effectively
• E-commerce including developing tools to process online transactions, understanding how to build an online shop, and using existing platforms for fulfilment and delivery
• Digital Transformation including Artificial Intelligence including understanding your organisations challenges, and how to use digital technology not just to substitute manual processes, but improve them through transformative practice

For more information about our exciting programme of skills training, to hire our facilities, or to register your interest either as an employer or an industry-leader, visit our website https://studioschoolandsixth.org/digital-skills-hub/