First Taskmaster Education Live at held at the University of Warwick
The University of Warwick hosted Taskmaster Education Live last weekend, a dynamic family event that drew over 1,200 participants to Warwick Arts Centre. The day featured 15 unique tasks for families to try their hands at, a duck hunt around campus, and a live show with the Taskmaster's Assistant himself, Little Alex Horne.
Taskmaster Education, which aims to bring the joy of Taskmaster to children across the UK through after-school clubs, resources, and events, is the brainchild of Dr. Ali Struthers, a Law Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick and the creator of the 'School Tasking' widening participation initiative. School Tasking is a not-for-profit initiative that aims to widen access to higher education for children from less advantaged backgrounds.
Taskmaster Education has been developed alongside the University's School Tasking project after Taskmaster creators, Avalon, recognised how the format could be used to engage young people.
On Saturday's Taskmaster Education event, Dr. Struthers stated, "It has been a long time in the planning, but seeing families throwing themselves into our tasks with such gusto made all that hard work worthwhile. Through Taskmaster Education Live, we wanted to capture the joy and silliness of Taskmaster and bring it to a younger audience, and the buzz and enthusiasm on the day was simply wonderful. We also now know who can run the furthest whilst screaming, who can throw a teabag into a mug from the furthest distance, who the noisiest person at the event was, and, perhaps most importantly, who was inside the giant chicken (spoiler alert: it was Mark Watson). All proceeds from day will support the brilliant children's mental health charity, Place2Be, who make such a huge difference to children's lives."
Alex Horne said: "The first ever Taskmaster Education Live Event was a perfectly Taskmasterish experience for me; curious people competing against each other in a supportive way doing ridiculous things for no good reason. The actual show is all about grown ups doing things they used to do as kids. It was excellent to see parents doing that while their kids watched on in horror, and the kids themselves being far more mature throughout. The Education team were superb, the university generous and unbelievably accommodating and our overall champion Bette was a very worthy winner."
The event marked the launch of the University of Warwick's Resonate programme for 2023-24, promising more exciting events to come. The Resonate Festival is a year-round programme of events for all ages, including talks and public conversations, exhibitions, film festivals and more.
