Charity Archives - Page 7 of 10

Our Chief Executive talked about the importance of our fully-funded university scholarship in an interview with Nikki Tapper on her evening show on BBC Radio WM last Sunday.

The Millennium Point Scholarship offers a fully funded undergraduate degree to one young person each year in the West Midlands at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment. Applications are open for 2021 and close on midnight 31st January 2021. To start your application or find out more information please visit millenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship.

Talking STEM on BBC WM
CEO of Millennium Point Abbie Vlahakis featured on Nikki Tapper’s Sunday evening show on BBC Radio WM on Sunday 24th January 2021. The host interviewed Abbie on the importance of STEM as well as the life-changing fully funded scholarship that Millennium Point is offering to students in the West Midlands. You can listen back to the interview by following this link and skipping to 01:23:00.

Speaking to the host, Abbie discussed how the Millennium Point Charitable Trust is working with schools to break down the stigma of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers through the scholarship by funding a range of STEM-related degrees including video game design, film production, digital technology, cybersecurity among more traditional STEM subjects such as construction and engineering.

Abbie comments: “Children don’t realise the opportunities that are out there […] STEM subjects are not necessarily white lab coats […] they’re problem-solving careers, they’re creative careers. Don’t think of STEM as something that is feared.”

Other topics discussed included the importance of diversity in STEM, briefly mentioning world-famous mathematician Katherine Johnson whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and the subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights; and the need to encourage more people of colour into STEM subjects. Past winners and finalists of the scholarship, now in its seventh year, have included a range of students from diverse ethnic, social and economic backgrounds from across the region looking to pursue a spectrum of subjects from civil engineering the music technology.

Deadline for 2021 applications
The application is quick and easy with a simple application form which can be downloaded from our website and submitted to [email protected] before midnight on 31st January 2021. A shortlist of finalists will then be chosen to take part in an assessment day in early March.

Sagal, who won the scholarship in 2017, comments about her experience of winning the life-changing scholarship: “Winning the scholarship has given me the confidence to yes to every opportunity and as a result, I am working in a field that I am passionate about. I would definitely advise you to apply for the scholarship if you’re thinking of studying a STEM degree at BCU!”

Sagal graduated with first-class honours in Civil Engineering last year and now works full time for esteemed international engineering company Jacobs.

Photo caption: L/R – Hanifah Shah (BCU), Abbie Vlahakis (Millennium Point) Shennice Talburt (Scholarship winner 2020) Professor Nick Morton (BCU)

For further information on the fully-funded scholarship or to start your application please visit www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship

Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands. Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.

The deadline for our life-changing fully funded undergraduate scholarship at Birmingham City University is midnight on 31st January 2021.

Each year, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust fully fund an undergraduate degree at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, which covers over 20 different courses across computing, digital technology, engineering and the built environment. Now in its seventh year, the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship has already funded six young people from the region through their degrees at Birmingham City University.

The competition is open to applicants aged 17 and over within the West Midlands Combined Authority, who are looking to start a qualifying degree in September 2021. To apply, they need to download and complete our quick and easy application form from our website by answering four questions. They will then submit their completed form to [email protected] by Sunday 31st January 2021. We will invite five applicants to a final assessment day in March 2021 before deciding a winner.

Why apply?
If you win you we’ll pay your tuition fees. If you make it to the shortlist you get a range of benefits and support that develop your core skills and create opportunities to help you kick start your career in science, technology, engineering and maths. You have nothing to lose by applying.

Get started
If you or someone you know is interested, head over tomillenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship to download the application form before 31st January 2021.

Applications are now open for our life-changing scholarship at Birmingham City University.

Who can apply?
Applications are only being accepted from students living in the West Midlands Combined Authority, who cannot already have or currently be studying an undergraduate degree. The scholarship only applies to a qualifying course at Birmingham City University. For further information, check out the rules section.

Why should they apply?
All finalists will benefit from the programme with opportunities that can kick start their career in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM). One person will get a fully funded degree – which means they won’t pay their undergraduate tuition fees. They’ll also have several opportunities to develop through networking, events and industry links provided through Millennium Point. All finalists receive skills development and training to build their confidence before the live final. Following the competition, they can become an alumnus of the programme and benefit from a range of opportunities such as mentoring, work placements and networking.

Why do we do this?
Birmingham and the West Midlands is teeming with unfettered STEM talent. Now, more than ever, young people need our support and encouragement for them to unlock their potential. The scholarship is one of several ways we, as a charitable trust, support the growth of STEM industries in the region and do our bit to secure the future and economic growth of an area and a community that has been designated the largest hub for science and innovation outside of London. For more information on how you can get involved please visit this page.

Get started
If you or someone you know is interested, head over to millenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship and start the application.

Organisations within the West Midlands Combined Authority have just one week left to apply for a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to support their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education projects. Not-for-profits, schools and charities can apply for funding from £1,000 up to £20,000 from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to fund their STEM projects starting in September 2021. Projects can be activity focussed or for the purchasing of resources and materials which enables STEM-related education to children or communities. With the deadline fast approaching, we are urging organisations not to miss out on this important funding opportunity.

Applications close on Monday 30th November at 5pm.

How do you apply?
Applicants will need to download and complete the application form on the Millennium Point website. The completed application should be submitted to [email protected] before 5 pm on Monday 30th November 2020.

Since 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 through its annual grants process to a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums. This year Millennium Point awarded £560,000 to fund over 60 projects across the region. Projects funded include ‘STEM stars’ from Aston Villa Foundation, a programme which engages young people in coding using football; and ‘Sensory STEM’ from Longwill School for the Deaf, Northfield, and a programme teaching the science of rollercoasters to children with illnesses, which will make science more visual and accessible to their pupils through science-based equipment and an enhanced curriculum.

Where does the money come from?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust owns the 46,450 sqm landmark Millennium Point building on Curzon street in the eastside of Birmingham City Centre (opposite the future Curzon Railway). Millennium Point is “COVID Secure” and has 17 versatile event spaces capable of holding a variety of events from meetings to formal dinners. Profits from our commercial activity as a landmark public building and multi-award-winning conference and events venue feedback into the charitable trust, enabling it to donate and invest in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives. The grants scheme is our flagship initiative alongside the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship which funds at least one young person’s undergraduate degree each year at Birmingham City University.

Head over to our grants page and start your application. Applications close at 5 pm on Monday 30th November 2020.

Each year Millennium Point Charitable Trust give hundreds-of-thousands in grants to schools, charities and not-for-profits in Birmingham and the wider region. These grants fund projects, resources and activities which enhance education of science, technology engineering and maths (STEM) education. While applications for 2021 are open now, we look at how a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust changed one primary school for the better.

Great Bridge Primary School – “Lego WeDo” Project
Great Bridge Primary, Tipton, is a large primary school with over 500 students. The school sits in an area of known deprivation within the region. Like many of its kind, the school suffers from limited funding which means a restricted programme to engage pupils in the opportunities of STEM learning. In 2019, they successfully applied for a grant from the Millennium Point Trust to change this.

Their application sought to enhance their teaching and learning within computing and coding which would expand their currently limited curriculum. The grant-funded 17 LEGO WeDo sets, for coding lessons at the school alongside resources to help train staff in how to use the equipment. “LEGO WeDo” are sets designed for primary school classrooms comprising of an assortment of physical LEGO building components, electronics and accompanying software for desktops or mobile devices. With the kits, the pupils at the school can build physical LEGO models including tilt and movement sensors and motors then control them via code they build themselves in the dedicated LEGO WeDo software programme. Students would then be set real-life scenarios in which to come up with models and code that would suit, such as creating a science rover to explore a radioactive setting or spy bots detecting movement.

What was the impact?
Now the school benefits from an engaging computing curriculum which is inspiring their students to pursue STEM learning previously unobtainable. Over 120 Year 5 and 6 pupils benefited from the programme. Each 2-hour lesson developing their computer and coding literacy alongside transferable skills such as problem-solving, teamwork and communication. Most significantly, the project has created a much stronger enthusiasm for STEM subjects, with the school reporting an increase in student performance. Similarly, several members of staff also benefited from the project which improved their confidence with computing and coding, allowing for them to set more engaging and “outside-of-the-box” tasks for the pupils as their confidence with the equipment grew.

Judith Bedford, Computing Curriculum Leader for Great Bridge Primary Comments:
“Enhancing the computing curriculum for upper Key Stage 2 at Great Bridge has had an immediate impact. The children who have taken part in the initial part of the project have had the opportunity to see how coding can be used to control a range of physical mechanisms and relate this to developing knowledge of coding in real-life scenarios […] As a school, we will not look back on our Computing curriculum but instead, this project has made us look to the future and consider how we can inspire children to engage with STEM.”

This is just one example of how a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust can help make a difference to schools in the region. Applications are now open for 2021 and close on 30^th November 2020. For further information visit millenniumpoint.org.uk/grants

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.

Organisations within the West Midlands Combined Authority can now apply for a grant from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to support their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education projects. Not-for-profits, schools and colleges can apply for funding from £1,000 up to £20,000 from the Millennium Point Charitable Trust to fund their STEM projects starting in September 2021. Projects can be activity focussed or for the purchasing of resources and materials which enables STEM-related education to children or communities.

Since 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 through its annual grants process to a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums. This year Millennium Point awarded £560,000 to fund over 60 projects across the region. Projects funded include ‘STEM stars’ from Aston Villa Foundation, a programme which engages young people in coding using football; and ‘Sensory STEM’ from Longwill School for the Deaf, Northfield, which will make science more visual and accessible to their pupils through science-based equipment and an enhanced curriculum.

Head over to our grants page and start your application. Applications close at 5 pm on Monday 30th November 2020.

We’re delighted to announce the latest recipients of the Millennium Point Charitable Trust grants initiative.

Building on the continued success of the programme, The Millennium Point Charitable Trust received 170 eligible applications from not-for-profit organisations, schools and colleges from across the West Midlands region – a 55% increase from the last round of funding in 2019. This year we have granted more than £560,000 to STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) projects and initiatives across the region. Projects funded include ‘STEM stars’ from Aston Villa Foundation, a programme which engages young people in coding using football; and ‘Sensory STEM’ from Longwill School for the Deaf, Northfield, which will make science more visual and accessible to their pupils through science-based equipment and an enhanced curriculum.

What’s the Millennium Point Trust’s Grants initiative?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust’s Grants initiative provides funding annually to not-for-profits, schools and colleges across the West Midlands. Applicants can apply for up to £20,000 to fund their STEM-related project providing they meet the criteria and can demonstrate a measurable impact in STEM education. Since its launch in 2018, Millennium Point Charitable Trust has donated over £969,000 to successful recipients funding a diverse range of projects across education, STEM-focused charities, sporting charities and museums.

Where does the money come from?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust owns the 46,450 sqm landmark Millennium Point building on Curzon street in the eastside of Birmingham City Centre (opposite the future Curzon Railway). Profits from our commercial activity as a landmark public building and multi-award-winning conference and events venue feedback into the charitable trust, enabling it to donate and invest in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives. The grants scheme is our flagship initiative alongside the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship which funds at least one young person’s undergraduate degree each year at Birmingham City University.

To learn more about our events and conference venue or how booking with us can widen your company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), please get in touch.

When is the next round of funding available?
Information on the next round of applications will be made available soon, you can register your interest by emailing [email protected] or by keeping a watch on our dedicated grants & funding page. As the Millennium Point Charitable Trust, we are constantly reflecting and improving our projects to ensure they stay relevant, accessible to those who benefit from them and impactful to STEM in the region, for further information on the wider charitable operations, opportunities available or to get involved, please get in touch.

Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands. Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.

The next round of applications for School of Code’s free remote Bootcamp is closing on 3^rd August.

What is it?
Founded by Dr Chris Meah in 2015, the School of Code aims to teach people programming skills in a free, immersive short course designed to address the UK’s growing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills gap. Similar to Millennium Point’s own scholarship competition, the School of Code Bootcamp seeks to provide opportunities to address the 175,000 shortfalls in skilled STEM workers by eliminating barriers, such as money, to show people that it is never too late to start a career in STEM.

How does it work?
The Bootcamp runs for 16 weeks and starts on 21^st September 2020 and is open to anyone interested in a career in coding. This course will be conducted remotely online and you do not need to have any prior coding experience. The Bootcamp leaders work with you from coding novice to professional developer and links you to hiring businesses on completion of the course. To be eligible you need to meet a few simple criteria including being in a West Midlands Combined Authority postcode and able to attend remote lectures between 9 am – 5 pm weekdays for the duration of the 16 weeks. This is a perfect opportunity for people who have lost their jobs or are on furlough who are looking for a career-changing opportunity.

Remote Bootcamp — Image Credit: School of Code

The course itself includes a myriad of opportunities to grow and develop your tech skills, from hands-on workshops, mentoring from professional software experts, soft skills development, industry talks and networking as well as job placements at the end of the Bootcamp.

How can I apply?
The application is quick and easy. Head over to schoolofcode.co.uk/apply and fill out the quick and easy online form before 3^rd August 2020. If you are successful, then you will start your 16-week intensive course on 21^st September.

Why are we supporting this?
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust contributes over £5million each year to support the growth of STEM in the West Midlands. Recent reports have identified the region as a hotbed for science and innovation, with a high population of SMEs in STEM industries such as digital, tech and engineering. We firmly believe that the future of the West Midlands lies in the growth of STEM industries. To secure this future, we must collaborate, celebrate and support organisations like ourselves and the School of Code, who are working to address the STEM skills gap, raise the profile of STEM skills and careers; and increase diversity and inclusion in STEM-related industries and education.

Find out more from the School of Code by visiting their website now. To learn more about the work of the Millennium Point Charitable Trust, please visit our dedicated page.

With our 18th birthday on the horizon, we are taking a look back at some notable events and highlights over the years so far. Millennium Point was conceived in 1999 as the catalyst for the regeneration of the Eastside of Birmingham city centre. It was opened officially on 2nd July 2002 by HRH Queen Elizabeth II, and today is the last remaining Millennium Project remaining outside of London. Our nature as a public building, commercial events venue and charitable trust means that our building means a lot to many different people for a variety of different reasons and various times within the almost two decades of our existence.

This week we are looking at the inception of the Young Innovator Prize – what has become known today as our annual Millennium Point Trust Scholarship competition – and the closure of the renowned Giant Screen Cinema.

2014 – Millennium Point Launched the Young Innovator Prize (Millennium Point Scholarship)
Today, we’re delighted to see that there is a significant emphasis made by the government and local authorities on skills pertaining to roles in science, technology, engineering and maths (known collectively as ‘STEM’) both in education and in business (although there is still a long way to go in bridging the STEM skills gap and addressing wider issues such as inequality and diversity). Back in the early 2010s, however, this was not the case.

In 2014, Millennium Point’s Charitable Trust arm partnered with our tenants, Birmingham City University, to launch the Young Innovator Prize. This initiative was designed to encourage young people to consider careers in STEM by offering one lucky winner a fully funded undergraduate degree at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment. A call was put out to school leavers across the West Midlands region and six young hopefuls were selected to compete in a live final of the competition the following March. The launch event took place in our Atrium space in December 2014, where our then CEO Philip Singleton announced the competition alongside (then) Dean of BCU’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment and engineer and popular BBC Presenter Kate Bellingham, known for presenting the BBC 1 Tomorrow’s World.

(L – R) Mel Lees, Kate Bullingham and Philip Singleton at the launch of the inaugrual Young Innovator Prize

The first final was hosted by popular comedian, writer and broadcaster Robin Ince and saw then 17-year old Malik Sheryar-Karamat from Ark St Alban’s claim the sponsorship prize.

Then 17-year old Malik Sheryar-Karamat from Ark St Alban’s claim the sponsorship prize.

Malik graduated with 1st Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering in 2018.

In 2017, the Young Innovator Prize was overhauled to what it’s known today as the Millennium Point Scholarship. This overhaul was part of a wider refresh that the Millennium Point Charitable Trust was undergoing in order to increase the visibility and impact of the charity’s contributions back into the West Midlands region. The scholarship is still running today, with the most recent winner, 28-year old Shennice Talburt, being crowned back in March this year.

Scholarship 2020 Finalists (From Left to Right) Kallum Wright, Chloe Copeland, Shennice Talburt, Lauren Davies, Amber Kelsey.

The competition will open again from September for students looking to study at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment.

2015 – The Last Performance at Millennium Point’s Giant Screen Cinema.

In our 2010/2011 Birthday blog, we talked about the transition from IMAX to the Giant Screen before alluding to its subsequent closure.

Following a great 14-year-long run, The Giant Screen Cinema’s time at Millennium Point was drawing to a close, and what better way to say goodbye than with one last epic movie night?

The movie chosen for the final performance was from the world famous fantasy film series and the second-highest-grossing film of 2014 – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. With the incredible sound quality and a 70ft x 41ft cinema screen, over 100 people were able to sit and enjoyed the show.

The Giant Screen Cinema as seen from the outside of Millennium Point

Both iterations of the cinema as an IMAX and the Giant Screen is something that was close to the hearts of Brummies and something that many will still reference today. Unfortunately, the closure was a sign of the times with increased competition and a rapid decline in attendance, it was no longer sustainable for the charitable trust to uphold. Their legacy lives on, however, in the Millennium Point you have come to know today.

The foyer of the Giant Screen Cinema in 2014. This is now our event space Platform.

The foyer of the cinema on level 1 was transformed into the flexible open plan event space Platform. This space features an in-situ, fully licenced bar and slick audio-visual equipment including multiple HD repeater screens and PA system.

Platform is available for hire for events

The installation of a new white screen and 4K digital projector means that the former cinema, now known as the Auditorium, is still a key attraction for client events held at our multi-award winning venue. To this day, the quality of the auditorium remains outstanding and has become the home for major events in the region such as the Birmingham Film Festival and VSFighting.

Our Auditorium is the home of several major events including Birmingham Film Festival and can be hired now

The Auditorium is available for hire right now suitable for a wide range of great events from film screenings to product launches and live performances. Find out more by visiting the dedicated page or getting in contact with our friendly events team on 0121 202 2200 or [email protected]

Concerned about hosting events? Read Millennium Point’s Client Protection Plan which outlines everything we are doing to ensure the safety and well being of your people and ours to prevent the spread of coronavirus when delivering events in our building.

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.

Millennium Point has been around since the turn of the century. Yet when asked “what is Millennium Point?” you will get a number of different answers depending on who you ask. That’s because since our building opened 18 years ago (19 technically but we won’t tell if you don’t!), not only were we the catalyst for regeneration in the eastside of Birmingham city centre, but we have been, done and seen a lot of different things as our time as a landmark public building, multi-award winning venue and charitable trust. To illustrate our point, here are five things you probably didn’t know about Millennium Point:

1. We are an Award-Winning Venue
Millennium Point is a multi-award winning venue, with 17 event spaces including a large 354-seat auditorium, formerly one of the first IMAX in the West Midlands region. We’re also a member of venues of excellence, HBAA certified and we are proud to have an amazing events team with over 40 years of experience combined.

2. We Mingle With Royalty
Millennium Point was officially unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll on 2nd July 2002. Following her visit, she said she had no doubt Millennium Point would be used to ‘inspire the next generation who will shape the technology and industry of tomorrow’ (you can find her full speech here).

More recently we were joined by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for our event on International Women’s Day in 2018 and were also visited by the Duchess of Cambridge during the launch of her national survey ‘Five Big Questions on the Under Fives’ in January of this year.

3. Our Charitable Trust
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust is one of the only two-millennium projects still in existence today. Profits from our commercial activity as an award-winning venue and landmark public building are contributed to the Millennium Point Charitable Trust and over £5m has already been invested.

We plan to continue supporting and facilitating great projects, events and initiatives across the West Midlands that support the growth of Science, Tech, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and help the region thrive.

4. We’ve Featured in Various Films
Millennium Point is no stranger to the silver screen- As well as hosting the annual Birmingham Film Festival, we’ve also had our fair share of the spotlight being featured in various films, interviews and TV programmes, usually as a backdrop. One of our highlights includes being a Police Station in the first series of ‘Line of Duty’ back in 2012.

5. Our Annual Scholarship Programme
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust is proud to have supported five incredible and ambitious individuals by funding an undergraduate degree for each, through the annual Millennium Point Scholarship Programme.

The sixth individual was selected in March this year and is set to start her degree in September.

There you have it! We can’t wait to open our doors once again and welcome you back for a host of new and fabulous experiences.