The day started off at King’s College with a surprise visit to an unknown destination. The protégés arrived at Cockpit Arts, a space where artistic entrepreneurs can use as a creative space to develop their work with financial and business support. After a short briefing by Mr. Michael, the King’s College leadership academic, the protégés excitedly rushed to the Cockpit Arts hallway where they were warmly welcomed.
Cockpit Arts brochure
The Cockpit Arts representative explained what Cockpit Arts is all about and how the business developed over the years. She said that they go through a long interview process and analyzing the quality of work before selecting people to rent out their space. They house a range of creative and artistic entrepreneurs from furniture makers to scarf weavers to jewelry makers. Cockpit Arts support over 165 businesses and is the only creative business incubator in the UK.
The protégés went on a tour to meet a few entrepreneurs to know more about what they do. The first visit was to a weaver, Sophie, which is passionate about making scarfs on her own machine. A couple of the protégés got a go at trying to weave some of the scarf that Sophie was working on. The second visit was to a fashion and bag designer, Justin Oh, who’s style is colorful yet minimal in shapes and structure. He explained how he loves to design bags and started making little wallets for credit cards so that he can use more pops of color and patterns freely.
Sophie explaining how she got into weaving
After a lunch break, the students went to King’s College for a lecture from Mark T. Fligauf on leadership. Mr. Mark asked the students to close their eyes and write down the first thing that came to mind when they think of “LEADER”. The students then explained their answers. Some said their father, a faceless leader, a football field and so on. Mark asked, “Why do we think of people like Churchill and Warren Buffet when we think about a leader?” the answer was because they are on the top of the pyramid. He explained that you do not need authority to be a leader. Anyone can be a leader.
The protégés then headed to the Houses of Parliament for a tour. The tour guide talked about the many figures, statues, paintings and history of the place. Every one of them was a leader. The tour guide explained how voting works and where the Queen has walked and sat reading the parliament rules for the year. The protégés were very inspired by all the stories they heard at the Houses of Parliament and were very engaged.
Infront of the Houses of Parliament
The protégés concluded their eventful day at Les Miserables play at Queen’s Theatre, which questions the values and morality of people.
At Queens Theatre waiting for the play to start
The Protégés 