One Giant Gig for Mankind

Having graduated from LSBU in 2010 with a degree in Sonic Media, Josh Oliver is currently part of the University's Enterprise Associate Scheme, developing his business Nought2Sixty Productions.

Josh will be involved in the technical aspects of putting on the first live music show in outer space.

Nought2Sixty undertakes projects in off-world entertainment, or music in space, and Josh is now negotiating with One Giant Gig for Mankind to undertake managing the technical logistics of the first ever live music show in space. The project involves building a mock-up model of the inside of the Virgin Galactic White Knight II spaceship. Josh is involving LSBU students in the project who are competing to come up with designs for the show as part of their engineering and product design course.

Students are involved in the whole project from start to finish including developing designs, testing ideas and finally creating a prototype of the spaceship's interior. Once the prototype is built, Nought2Sixty will undertake testing for filming & acoustics and carry out destructive testing.

Focusing on the LSBU students working on the project, Josh says: "Some of the students have already taken a keen interest in the project and I have more students than I do placement positions. Four lucky students, however, will get chosen and the beauty for them is not only that they will get to say they worked on the first music show from space, they will also get a chance to have their ideas about design solutions heard and be able to make artistic suggestions."

The final spaceship model will be used for art direction of the first live music show in space and feature in promotional materials. Ultimately the whole project will move to the US where it will be finalised in the run up to the show in mid 2014, meaning work by LSBU students and graduates will be part of this exciting and historic event.

In addition to current LSBU students, Josh is working with a former member of the Enterprise Associate Scheme on the engineering aspects of the project and discussing making the project part of the new Nat Puri Innovation centre.

One Giant Gig for Mankind is due to become an annual event with major artists from different genres performing in this unique zero gravity environment. Josh expects to be based in Los Angeles for the next five years and hopes to take on a bigger role in the execution of the event, from a financial, sponsorship and media rights perspective.

Excited that the project is finally getting underway, Josh says: "It has taken eight years of dreaming, five years of higher education dedicated to it, three years of research and development in my business and now I am only two months away and on the cusp of signing the contract that will change my life forever."