SAE Auckland is opening its Parnell campus on Sunday 8th November, for a free day of hands-on creative workshops in screen, songwriting and creative business. Open to anyone at any level, the free skills classes bring the public, working creatives, SAE’s own music production students and alumni together for a day of teaching and learning.
Attendees can pick one discipline and spend the day working through practical workshops with people who are already developing their careers in these industries.
“We’re excited to give people an experience of what developing your creative skills feels like in a group, and we’re super happy to offer these workshops to anyone who wants to get creative. Whether you’ve been writing songs in your bedroom or you’re wondering how to develop your professional identity, this is an accessible, free opportunity to upskill creatively and learn from people who have built their careers in the creative industries.”
– says Alex Harter, Student Experience Manager at SAE Auckland.
The songwriting workshops will start with a group writing session led by Lu Kang, a recording artist & songwriter based in New Zealand. Lu blends English and Spanish in his music to honour his Chilean roots. After releasing a 16-track album with his team Exile Crew NZ last year and starting this year with a rock/punk EP, he is now working on two EPs with local talents AKLMADZ and Kaio, while releasing international singles with artists like Spain’s Teti Bear. Lu will split the group into teams of three or four and attendees will write a song as groups, while Lu will help with any lyrical ideas or tips. By the end of the morning, every group will have a complete two-minute song and share it for review.
SAE Student Producers Kwyze and Dally the Kidd will then work with the songwriters and offer different techniques. Kwyze is an independent artist and audio engineer from Aotearoa New Zealand, making music rooted in authenticity and experience. He has performed at AUM Festival, Festival of Lights, Pātea in the Park and more events around Aotearoa. Dally the Kidd is a multi-skilled creative, he writes, produces, mixes, masters and engineers his own projects while also working with other artists. His music moves between hip hop, alternative and everything in between. The session will wrap up with the producers helping the group wrap up the songs, so participants leave with something they can continue to listen back to in their songwriting development.
For the screen lovers, The Producers Toolkit session will be led by Ryn Liddell, a filmmaker based in Tāmaki Makaurau who graduated from SAE in 2025 with a Bachelor of Screen Production. She has written, produced and directed multiple short films, and enjoys the challenge that taking on multiple roles brings to the creative process. In this screen workshop, Ryn will walk through what a film producer does across preproduction, production and post, with real production examples. Groups will then team up to build a grant pitch for a mock $5,000 grant and pitch it to your session lecturers, then receive feedback.
The second session will be run by Tim Coetzee, filmmaker and content creator, and the founder of Monkee Media. Since graduating from SAE, he has been immersed in New Zealand’s live music scene, from lead social media creator and live visuals artist for the sold-out new festival “This Place Here”, to directing music videos for Charisma Club and Slow Rage, and filming live gigs for artists including Villainy, Jaycee!, Sabreen and more. In Content Creation for Beginners, you’ll learn all the basics of content creation. Tim will show groups through framing, lighting, hook-driven structure & editing, and how content differs across platforms, channels and software, and then shoot and edit a 15 to 20 second video to a mock brief.
Creative Business workshops kick off with Music Management for Beginners, led by Alex Yong, who manages SACHI at Higher-Ground Management and works in A&R at Sniffers Records. From SACHI’s 30-day London songwriting trip and collaborating with some of the biggest topliners in the dance space, to working with creatives in the photography and videography space, Alex has seen what it takes to manage artists at a professional level. In this workshop, he’ll walk you through how a music manager does what they need to, using real examples, and show you real workflows and required tasks. You’ll then get into groups, choose an artist, and draft a 90 day artist plan and present it for feedback from Alex.
Networking for Early Creatives is led by SAE screen alumni Aria Chaplin, a creative producer, project manager and creative entrepreneur. Over the last four years she has helped bring ideas to life across Aotearoa’s local music, fashion and film communities, from Netflix production office work, to assistant directing the award-winning (Isaac Ieremia) short film Ciggie and working on NZ On Air-funded music videos. In this session, she’ll share how she’s built her own connections, discuss the general anxieties of networking for early creatives, and help you do the same: you’ll commit to an event or organisation you will attend or join, then update and refine your LinkedIn profile so you leave with a stronger one you can start utilizing immediately.
Screen and Songwriting classes each have 10 spots and Creative Business has 12 spots. SAE has kept the numbers small on purpose, so everyone will get quality individual feedback and space to collaborate with the lecturers and each other. The day wraps up with Q&As and an opportunity to connect with guest lecturers, meet other attendees, and enjoy a refreshment and a snack.
Join us for the SAE Free Skill Courses on Sunday 8 November, 10:00 am to 3:30 pm, at SAE Auckland, 12 Heather Street, Parnell. Just 32 places are up for grabs, so register now before they’re gone!
Registration is free, and we’d love to see you there. To secure your spot, register at: https://events.humanitix.com/sae-auckland-free-skill-classes
