North West Regional College lecturer Liam Craig has been shortlisted for the Inspirational Educator award at the Derry Journal People of the Year Awards.
Liam, who has worked at the college for almost a decade is a Lecturer in Music. And the hundreds of students that have benefited from his unique style of teaching will agree that Liam is no ordinary lecturer. His ability to think outside the box, give students real-life situations to work in, and nurture young talent, are what make him stand out as an inspirational educator.
As the coordinator of the College’s Level 3 Extended Diploma in Music Technology, students who have studied under this award-winning lecturer have gone on to achieve their dream careers of becoming performers, composers, sound technicians, teachers, DJs, Music managers, promoters, Live performance and sound operators, Broadcast engineers and songwriters.
But it’s his passion and dedication to helping students succeed that makes Liam Craig special.
Liam is one-third of the hugely successful trio at NWRC who founded the college’s Five Dollar Shake production company.
Along with his colleagues Michael Poole and Dominic O’Callaghan, Liam has brought to life extremely ambitious theatre projects including Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds, The Big Lebowski, and Shaun of the Dead. Every year the shows have been a sell-out.
Their collaboration led to them being named Tutors of the Year at the annual NI Creative & Cultural Skills Awards being named in the final three of the annual Creative and Cultural Skills Awards.
Always willing to go the extra mile, Liam happily takes on the extra planning effort, stress and nerve that goes along with putting on a production of this scale.
For his students, there is a huge value in being involved in such a professional show allowing them to work with others across such a wide range of disciplines. It also gives them the opportunity to participate in problem-solving, bring their own imagination and creativity to the fore, feel the reality of teamwork in action and experience the sense of achievement for playing a part in making what seemed impossible happen.
Most recently Liam Craig was instrumental in nurturing home-grown talent such as Roisin Donald, known professionally as ROE. Roisin came to North West Regional College in 2016 to study Music Performance and progressed to a Higher National Certificate.
Liam, who also works as a music producer was quick to spot ROE’s talent as a performer and composer. As well as guiding her through the education process, Liam also became ROE’s producer and manager. She’s since gone on to play live at Glastonbury, Electric Picnic and live venues in India and Germany.
ROE says that meeting Liam helped her become a better musician, giving her the experience she needed and to meet the many people that went on to support her in her career.
Another student Ethan Kelly, who studied an HND in Music Production, and now works as a Music Producer, singled out Liam Craig for the help he gave him making the right choices for his career path.
Describing Liam, as a ‘mentor’, he said the lecturer guided him with information on professional development and also gave him the opportunity to showcase what they had been taught with external organisations and within shows/projects held within the college.
Never looking for any prize for himself, the best reward for Liam is seeing the success of his young students, both in their technical ability and building confidence in their own skills.
Any student who has had the privilege of being guided by Liam’s teaching will know that he rarely takes credit for his success, however, his contribution to the career progression of the North West’s young people is immeasurable.
