Dr Andy Hurst

After graduating in 1992 Andy went on to work within the sound and lighting department at Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre, gaining experience as a front of house live sound engineer and lighting technician in a variety of contexts from orchestral performances through to large scale rock shows and musicals.

From 1997, Andy worked as a freelance writer for radio and television, quickly resulting in his first comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio Four, Grievous Bodily Radio, which he created with his writing partner, Jon Holmes. In 1999 he accepted the position of department Script Editor with BBC Light Entertainment. During this time, Andy made up part of the writing team of four that devised the successful impressionist comedy show Dead Ringers, working on the original radio version with Alistair McGowan, Kate Robbins and John Culshaw.

As a radio presenter and producer, Andy has recorded and edited spoken word and music based packages for a wide range of commercial radio groups (Capital Radio Group, Virgin Radio, LBC and Radio One) and won a Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Best Entertainment Show in 2000.

Andy has also worked as a freelance composer producing music for both radio and television (Channel Four – Harry Hill's Fruit Corner, Channel Five - Jim Tavare in Cabaret, BBC2, and BBC Radio Four).

Andy currently oversees the lighting and sound modules taught on the Performing Arts and Drama degree programmes at CCCU. He also supervises final year students through their practice as research projects and leads the Multimedia Performance Environments module.

Andy is the Technical Director for the School of Music and Performing Arts, overseeing expansion in resources and academic development in technical areas.

Andy's PhD research centred on the use of innovative control systems for the creation of projected solid light scenography for performance and installation. His practice-based research sees him create real time dynamic light projections that act as manipulable spaces within a performance or installation environment. These can be seen as performative structures in their own right, but are best positioned as a contribution to the visual language used in the creation of contemporary performance.

Using touch screen control surfaces such as the iPad, the research explores ways in which the typically closed world of performance technology can be expanded and re-positioned so as to empower the performance creator.

Membership

Andy is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.