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Why Radio 1 and 1Xtra have asked young people to pledge 1 million hours

2016-01-26T10:00:00+00:00

As Star Wars continues to break daily records in the cinemas, it’s hard to move for talk of ‘The Force’. An indefinable and benign power, which when used in the right way can literally rid the world of evil. While not wanting to over-inflate Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s role on the planet - and certainly not to draw any direct parallels between Luke Skywalker and our presenters - we never take for granted the influence we have over our audience, and the trust they have in us to guide them in many areas of life.

That trust has allowed us to bring our precious audience with us on our #1MillionHours year-long volunteering campaign which launched in December. We want to encourage our audience to give 1 million hours of their time to good causes over the next 12 months - and there’s nothing like a big target to motivate: In the first month of the campaign, over 100,000 hours of volunteering were pledged to good causes - an amazing start, and something we hope helps to inspire others.

#1MillionHours is Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s most ambitious social action project to date. Time is a precious thing, but in a world where money rules, it feels right to subvert the usual ask, and motivate real action instead. In an unprecedented move we are side by side with four of the UK’s most experienced charities; Age UK, Barnardo’s, Cancer Research UK and Oxfam. Most people will be affected or moved by the work one of those organisations does at some point in their life, so being able to bring stories and causes to life via those partnerships has felt fresh.

Listeners can pledge 8, 16 or 24 hours for various volunteering opportunities that they can cash in over the next year. From working in shops, to helping in children's play centres and daycare centres for older people, cheerleading at fun runs and helping in festivals, the opportunities are as much about them gaining skills, confidence and material for CVs themselves. A survey Radio 1 and 1Xtra conducted last year taught us that after the cause itself, personal benefit was the next biggest reason for young people wanting to volunteer.

Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac volunteer for #1MillionHours

#1MillionHours is also about wrapping our arms around the thriving volunteering sector as a whole. Aside from our featured charities, there are so many inventive and hard working organisations, both national and local, already relying on the kindness of strangers and motivating young people to take part in something ‘more’. From the familiar Guides and Scouts to newer organisations like IWill.org.uk, we plan to shine a spotlight on good works in progress. What Radio 1 and 1Xtra can bring to their expertise, is scale, and our ability to pull people together. We see ourselves as the link between our loyal army of young listeners and those organisations, so we’re encouraging our audience to pledge time to any cause close to their heart too via social media, using the #1MillionHours hashtag.

The first drive in December was about getting the #1MillionHours message out there, establishing intentions with our audience, and connecting fully with the sector. We’re excited to be gathering many faces from the volunteering world in January to plot the detail of the rest of the challenge ahead. Our use of ‘The Force’ there will be about encouraging collaboration and hopefully matchmaking between likeminded organisations. We're in a unique position to be able to do that, and for that we have endless energy to reach targets like #1MillionHours.

Our audiences trust us to get them the best new music, the most accurate and relevant news, the latest in the world of entertainment, the most up-to-date everything. Having earned the trust of a loyal group of young people, comes the potential to inspire and make waves in their lives beyond pop culture. So Radio 1 and 1Xtra have come to consider ourselves a force for good in the UK for young people - ensuring we curate the best advice for getting ahead in their careers, dealing with the trials and tribulations of first times, and how to stay safe and happy in a complicated world.

But our definition of this ‘Force’ is more than our own weight and influence; we have a strong belief that our young listeners themselves are a positive power, ready and able to change their world for the better. At events we do with and for young people up and down the country, we are always struck (but never surprised) at how motivated and curious our audience is to change things. As grand as this sounds, the swell of good intentions is often flooring.

From Radio 1’s Academy, 1Xtra’s outreach sessions, Internet Safety focuses and our weekly Surgery programme, to the newly launched #1MillionHours campaign, Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s commitment to utilising our platforms, talent and staff for something ‘more’ is second-to-none. Beyond our public service duties, it’s just what we do on the 8th floor of New Broadcasting House and is one of the many reasons that Radio 1 is distinctive.

Rebecca Frank is Editor, Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

Visit the #1MillionHours website for more information and advice on how to pledge.

A new UK arts platform for the internet age

2015-09-29T09:20:00+00:00

Over the last year, we've been having lots of conversations with arts organisations and leaders, not to mention artists and audiences from all different walks of life, right across the country. The idea is to find out what the BBC can do to support creativity in Britain better than we already do. In turn, for us to find new ways of working, new forms of art, and engage with a broader range of audiences.

The main mechanism has been a BBC Arts Advisory Group, set up by Sir Nicholas Serota last year. It consists of a handful of arts leaders from different backgrounds: Maria Balshaw from the Whitworth in Manchester, Vicky Featherstone from the Royal Court, Marcus Davey from the Roundhouse, Indhu Rubasingham from The Tricycle and Amit Sood from Google Cultural Institute. Each of these leaders led workshops in different parts of the country, reaping the insight of over 20 arts organisations - big and small, national and regional - looking in particular at how we might do more to engage younger audiences and support grassroots creativity throughout the country.

Alongside this, the BBC Connected Studio led a day during the summer focused on arts and digital technology, which brought together 30 organisations - from Hull, UK City of Culture 2017 to the Edinburgh Festivals. Meanwhile, our Get Creative partnership with the What Next? movement (consisting of hundreds of arts leaders from across the country) has opened up dialogue on an unprecedented scale with organisations like Voluntary Arts, 64 Million Artists and Culture 24.

Lots of conversations. But one message coming back clear and loudly: the desire for a more open, generous and enabling BBC.

But why?

Our economy has changed greatly over the last 10 years and the challenges facing arts organisations - those crucibles of world-renowned talent - and the audiences they serve are vast. Many have had to scale back or, indeed, close entirely. The benefits of digital technology, which should be the great liberator, are far from universal, dividing the haves from the have-nots. The ability to digitally capture and distribute art requires resources and expertise that many smaller organisations just can't afford. Some of this underpins the alarming revelation by a report published earlier this year (the Warwick Commission's Enriching Britain: Culture, Creativity and Growth) that the most culturally active part of the population is also the wealthiest, better educated and least ethnically diverse.

Meanwhile, the BBC, for all the challenges it faces, has a degree of stability that means it can think far into the future. Its services reach over 96% of the population a week, so it can deliver access to the arts and culture like nobody else. And it has a precious and sophisticated infrastructure of local services that can connect artists and audiences at regional, national and international levels. More than most other organisations, the BBC can enable the wider sector to continue making Britain one of the most culturally exciting nations in the world.

Last week, we announced our vision of a more open BBC for the internet age: working with partners to both tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities surrounding arts and culture in 21st Century Britain. This requires working in a new way - listening hard, contributing with commitment, developing ideas with partners that will actually achieve what is needed for a wide range stakeholders each with their own unique challenges.

At this stage, the key thing is not the individual content ideas, but creating the right framework and working practice for those ideas to emerge. This is the single most important principle behind the 'new UK arts platform' described on page 72 of our 'British, Bold, Creative' report.

The word 'platform' is one of those deceptively simple-sounding words which is actually rather hard to pin down. My own understanding of it is informed by brilliant thinkers in the wider arts and tech sector, as well as within the BBC, who have been engaged with this stuff far longer than I have. A 'platform' does not mean 'a website', although it will certainly have digital outlets and may be digitally led. A platform is a framework for collaboration as much as anything else, enabling a wide range of partners to work together on a regular basis: sharing technology, collaborating on forward plans, as well as broadcast, online and physical expressions of those collaborations. This is why the description of the 'new UK arts platform' avoids being dogmatic about what it looks like, but rather what it needs to achieve.

In Monday's speech and report, the words 'open' and 'partnership' were used a lot, and there were also revealing insights into what some of the tools might be. The Director-General talked about 'co-commissioning' with partners. We have some precedence with this already, like the 'EIF Conversations' with Juliette Binoche, Sylvie Guillem and others, created by BBC Arts Online and Edinburgh International Festival together last month. Or the ongoing BBC, Arts Council of England, Battersea Arts Centre 'Live from Television Centre' project with BBC Four.

Creating a framework for enabling more of these collaborations and developing a shared forward plan of seasons and themes that other partners can opt in or out of has obvious advantages in achieving both impact and savings for all involved.

Likewise, the 'British Bold Creative' report talks about how the arts platform will sit within a broader Ideas Service that will work across broadcast as well as online, suggesting a modern and nimble commissioning approach. This should be reassuring to those organisations who cite the reach of the BBC's services as its greatest asset and are rightfully wary of projects which exist only online.

The next few weeks and months are crucial in getting the 'new UK arts platform' off on the right footing. Since partnership is to be at the core of the service, then partnership needs to be at the core of the creation of it - from development to realisation. We are consulting a range of partners and independent voices about how best to frame this development process and we will make announcements soon about how it will work. Later in the autumn we will hold a series of consultation days for those who want to input. Finally, we will be looking for short-term opportunities to test and pilot the ideas that emerge, which will inform and prepare the ground for the longer-term vision.

Did I forget to say how excited I am? If we get the process right - honouring that spirit of openness and partnership - then I truly believe we'll succeed. Thoughts, insights and suggestions will be welcomely received at jonty.claypole@bbc.co.uk

Jonty Claypole is Director, BBC Arts

What The Space is and why the BBC is involved

2015-09-22T05:52:05+00:00

BBC Arts Director Jonty Claypole, responds to recent reports about The Space and explains how the BBC is involved in the digital platform that pushes the boundaries of creative expression.

There has been press coverage over the last twenty-four hours about The Space, so I wanted to explain what The Space is, why the BBC is involved and what the plans are for its future.

The Space was originally set up by the Arts Council England and the BBC to run alongside the Olympics in 2012. Its primary purpose is to use digital technology to increase access to the arts and culture - for those who simply want to enjoy events at home or who, because of disability or the distances involved, are physically unable to attend. This vision was supported by the Government and was cited by DCMS ministers as a way of ensuring greater engagement with the work of publicly-funded arts organisations and artists.

The Space is also committed to taking advantage of the creative opportunities that digital technologies offer. It does this by working with theatres, galleries, museums, individual artists and digital agencies on creating new art. Finally, it provides development and training to support arts organisations and artists across the UK. Space projects can be found on The Space website as well as a range of other platforms - from YouTube to Tumblr to BBC Arts Online.

Why does the BBC have a role in The Space? Primarily because it's in our remit. Our Royal Charter says one of the purposes of the BBC is to deliver the benefits of emerging communications technologies to the public. As part of this commitment we want to make the arts more accessible and use our knowledge of digital production to help our partners make the most of online opportunities. So as well as providing funding (£8.16 million over four and a half years) we want to use our experience of innovating and engaging the public to help The Space do the same.

The Space has commissioned new projects from many of our best cultural organisations - National Theatre of Wales, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre, Artichoke, Unlimited, Brighton Photo Biennial, Manchester International Festival, to name a few - as well as emerging artists of different backgrounds at a crucial stage in their careers. The Space should engage a broad audience, but it is also expected to take some risks and learn from what works and what doesn't.

While you can get an overview of all Space commissions on the website, with extra context and information about how to submit projects, they are most commonly encountered in other places. For instance, Inside Soundtrack 7, a piece commissioned by The Space and Manchester International Festival from FKA Twigs, went viral over the summer through Tumblr. A special artist-in-residence collaboration with Radio 2 will also bring the work of innovative Dundee-based choreographer Thomas Small to an audience of many millions. And recognition is coming in other ways too. Only last week, Karen, a project commissioned from artist group Blast Theory and National Theatre of Wales, received a BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) Best of British Digital Award.

Recent media reports have commented on Alan Yentob's involvement. Alan Yentob was not the founder and has never been Chair of The Space. He served on the independent board as one of the BBC's two nominated Directors for two years and stepped down in March this year.

What does the future hold for The Space? The team are moving to Birmingham this autumn to take its place in a city which has emerged at the forefront of digital innovation - it's an important part of our commitment to Birmingham, which has one of the youngest and most diverse populations in Europe. This move is being led by incoming Chair, Fiona Allan, Chief Executive of the Birmingham Hippodrome and outgoing CEO of Leicester's Curve Theatre.

And next week, The Space is announcing a range of new commissions, working with partners like Northern Ballet, the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Poetry Day, as well as launching an Open Call for projects for the new year.

Jonty Claypole is Director, BBC Arts

Discover more digital art on The Space website.

All about the BBC's new trial with Spotify

2015-05-20T15:45:00+00:00

As Spotify announces a partnership with the BBC, Karolina Joynathsing, Business Development, Digital Music, explains the details.

We’ve been experimenting with different ways of reaching international audiences with BBC radio output for a while now – whether it's through our own brands like the BBC World Service or through licensing our content overseas to third parties.

The latest example of this is a new trial with Spotify that will let users of the streaming service outside of the UK listen to a range of BBC speech radio programmes.

For a year-long period, overseas Spotify users will be able to listen to around 50 speech-only podcasts from BBC stations. These programmes are already freely available in the UK, so we’re running this trial only for overseas users. This means we can generate income for the BBC to reinvest in programmes for licence fee payers as well as reaching new audiences across the globe.

We do already offer our podcasts internationally through arrangements with third parties – like iTunes, Audioboo and Soundcloud – but this trial will allow us to test the commercial market for BBC audio in digital services overseas and will help inform our future activity.

Our colleagues in BBC Worldwide and BBC Global News Ltd are also partnering with Spotify to licence video content, enabling even more people around the world to access our great content on the platform of their choice.

You can read more on the Spotify press site.

Karolina Joynathsing, Business Development, Digital Music

Education and the Micro Bit

2015-04-02T09:17:54+00:00

It’s just over three weeks since BBC Director General Tony Hall brandished the Micro Bit at a press launch and announced that the BBC and partners would be manufacturing 1 million of the pocket-sized devices and distributing one free to every year seven (or equivalent) pupil in the UK.

Since then we’ve been hugely encouraged by the levels of interest and excitement that announcement caused. It’s been truly gratifying to find that others are as enthusiastic about the project as the BBC and its partners.

However, the Micro Bit was one of a raft of exciting opportunities and programmes revealed as part of the Make It Digital initiative, so inevitably there wasn’t the space to go into lots of detail about the project.
So now is the time to start and first we‘d like to restate and underline two of the fundamental objectives of the Micro Bit:

Firstly, that its purpose is to enthuse, excite and empower a new generation of digitally creative young people. This is why the Micro Bits are for the children themselves to own.

Secondly, that we absolutely intend the Micro Bit to support schools and teachers in delivering the computing curricula.

Though the children will own the Micro Bit, the general distribution will be through schools. As well as being a fun, codeable and wearable device they are an educational aid. As such, the teaching community is vital to this initiative and we have them very much in mind as we’re planning the roll out.

There is a lot to plan in terms of that roll out and it is a big logistical challenge. Not only will we get the devices to all UK schools, we will also ensure that home-school children in that year group are also involved.

We also realise how important it is for teachers to get a chance to see and use the Micro Bit in advance. We are working through the detail but we aim to ensure that IT teachers get their hands on the device before the summer holidays. We also want to give them the opportunity to explore ways of using the Micro Bits in lessons so there will be some curriculum resources made available at the same time.

We’re still looking at the logistics of how to achieve this and which are the best networks to use. But it’s important to note that our broad range of fantastic partners working across the project are also planning teacher events to support the roll out.

One of the most inspiring things about trials of the prototype in schools was the creative potential the students quickly saw in the Micro Bit. Among many examples we saw students create a rudimentary rock, paper, scissors game and an entertaining little tale told in LED lights called simply “The Story of Pizza”.

With this in mind, we and around 16 partners are working to create a diverse range of supporting materials for teachers, that will not only assist them in delivering the computer science curriculum (this includes all UK curricula) but also help students realise the Micro Bit’s full creative potential.

Among resources the BBC is planning is a series of Live Lessons for students on the Micro Bit –these are curriculum-focused but fun and interactive webcast programmes that feature BBC talent and brands for example, The Voice UK themed lesson hosted by Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo.

Finally, for now, it’s important to stress that there will be lasting legacy – though the Make It Digital initiative will have a major focus in 2015, many aspects will continue in some form and we are in the process of finalising future plans for the Micro Bit beyond the autumn.

We’ll have more to share on the detail and timings over the coming weeks but we’d love to hear any questions or comments you have below so that we can make sure we’ve got everything covered.

Cerys Griffiths is Executive Producer, BBC Learning.

Find out more about the initiative at the BBC’s Make it Digital website.
Look at other resources the BBC has produced which support the computer science curriculum on the BBC Bitesize website.
See what happened at the launch of Make It Digital in London on 12 March 2015 via About the BBC's Storify.

32 Fellowships from the BBC Performing Arts Fund

2014-12-10T12:47:02+00:00

Today the BBC Performing Arts Fund, one of the BBC’s corporate charities, announces 32 Fellowships in Performing Arts for emerging talent from across the UK.

Where will the next generation of talent come from? Who will be the Danny Boyle, the Matthew Bourne, the Kate Tempest of the future? And what can the BBC Performing Arts Fund do to help them reach their potential?

Today we are delighted to announce the 32 people who have been selected to become BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellows for 2015. They make up a fantastically diverse group from producers, choreographers, directors, writers, musicians, conductors, a poet and a circus performer. They come from across the UK and two thirds of them will undertake their Fellowships outside of London.

We asked arts organisations to select a Fellow through an open call in order to make the application process fair and transparent. Once the Fellow was on board, they worked with the host organisation to design a bespoke Fellowship built around their particular development needs and objectives.

For some Fellows this was about getting access to a mentor, to a building or to advice and critical feedback. For others it was about having time and space to develop a piece of work in a supportive environment. For most, there was some element of business planning involved to help them shape their career as a freelancer or set up their own company.

Following a rigorous application and interview process, the final 32 were selected on the basis of their ambition, talent and potential. Each Fellowship will take place over one year and is worth £10,000. The host organisations will open up their doors, giving the Fellows access to their audiences, platforms and networks. This unique scheme is an important investment in the talent and creativity of the performing arts sector.

The funding for the Fellowships comes from residual phone voting on BBC Entertainment shows and is not funded by the licence fee. The BBC Performing Arts Fund is one of the many ways the BBC fosters creativity and nurtures and supports UK talent.

For more information on all the Fellows visit the BBC Performing Arts Fund blog

Miriam O'Keeffe is Director, BBC Performing Arts Fund

Follow @bbc_paf on Twitter and the hashtag #32OnesToWatch
Find out about writing opportunities on the BBC Writersroom website
Discover BBC Introducing and New Generation Artists

The BBC Introducing in the West Folk Residential

2014-10-21T07:34:19+00:00

Earlier this year BBC Introducing in the West ran the inaugural “Folk Residential Weekend”. Partnering with the National Centre for the Folk Arts, as well as BBC Points West, we spent two nights at Halsway Manor in Somerset with six very talented new musicians.

The weekend involved collaborative music workshops, folk inspired song writing classes and one-on-one artist development sessions.

As a producer and presenter at BBC Introducing, this weekend was the perfect opportunity to get to know some of the new artists in the West Country, support them with the advancement of their careers and produce some new creative content.

The whole thing was recorded and filmed for BBC Introducing in the West, and broadcast last week. The response on social media has been great and the reactions from the artists involved were incredible. As part of a partnership between BBC Introducing in the West and BBC Points West, we produced a short film documenting the weekend.

Artist collaborating at the BBC Introding Folk Weekend

The artists invited to Halsway Manor included Ange Hardy, Archie Churchill-Moss, George Wilding, Hattie Briggs, Natalie Holmes and Sharon Martin from the duo Lazybird. Although all six of the artists involved varied in style, instrument and profile, they had three things in common: they were talented, ambitious and had all uploaded to bbc.co.uk/introducing.

"The weekend made me feel part of a community of musicians and affirmed my identity as an emerging musician." (Musician on the Folk Residential)

"They weren't necessarily musicians I would normally have had the chance to spend much time with." (Musician on the Folk Residential

The weekend was a chance for all of the musicians involved to really focus on their craft. The artists came together several times during the weekend, writing songs inspired by the folk traditions of the local area. They collaborated with each other, working on each other’s songs as well as group compositions. And at the end of the weekend, they performed together in front of a live audience.

"I thought it was an amazing and inspiring place to focus on music and to be creative. It is a beautiful setting and a space conducive to a project such as this." (Musician on the Folk Residential)

For me the best thing about the weekend (and possibly my favourite initiative working with BBC Introducing so far) was the one-on-one artist development sessions. Phil Day, a local manager and music professional from Bath, joined us for the weekend, sitting with all six of the acts one-on-one for up to 90 minutes, talking to them about their career to date and the possibilities for them in the future. There were no strings attached and no agendas - we just wanted to help the artists achieve their ambitions. It was pure public service!

BBC Introducing team and the musicians outside the National Centre for the Folk Arts.

"Following some of my conversations with Phil I've got an even clearer view of my career plan over the next few years." (Musician on the Folk Residential)

"It has motivated me and given me some insight into the things I am doing well as well as those that I need to improve on." (Musician on the Folk Residential)

I am really proud of what we’ve achieved with The Folk Residential. BBC Introducing is genuinely an incredible platform for new unsigned, undiscovered and under the radar musicians. But projects like this demonstrate that BBC Introducing is also the place to experiment with new content, formats and events.

Massive thanks to Jeremy Wiles, Charlie Taylor, Richard Pitt and Will Lang for their help with the Folk Residential Weekend.

Sam Bonham is a producer and presenter for BBC Introducing in the West.

Find out more about BBC Introducing.
Apply for the Young Folk Award 2015, closing date 28 November 2014.
Follow @bbcintroducing on Twitter.

BBC Learning's massive open online courses

2014-07-23T06:57:39+00:00

Digital technology is continuing to change the world of learning and nowhere is this more apparent than in the huge range of massive open online courses (MOOCS).This new breed of global online courses emerged from the United States and are proving to be hugely popular with platforms including Coursera and edX providing access to hundreds of courses to students across the world.

In BBC Learning, we have been following the progress of this revolution in online learning very closely and today we are revealing details of an exciting pilot project looking at opportunities for the BBC to work alongside UK universities as a content partner; I want to use this blog to tell you more.

I have been an online student myself and have loved the opportunity to dip into a huge range of world class learning in subjects as broad as the history of modern art, innovation in business, global cooperation and England in the time of Richard III. Online learning has given me the chance to experience amazing standards of teaching from the comfort of my home and to suit my schedule.

In the UK, FutureLearn has been working with a large number of universities to launch the first set of MOOCs originating from the UK. In addition a number of content partners are working to support these online courses with relevant material; current content partners include the British Library, British Museum and the National Film and Television School. At the beginning of this year, BBC Learning started to work with four university partners to deliver a pilot project, allowing us to explore the value that could be added by supporting online courses.

This year has seen the start of four years of commemoration of the centenary of World War One – as part of this commemoration, a number of the UK’s leading universities have been developing online courses which explore themes around the war that changed everything. For the BBC it offered the perfect opportunity to explore the value we could add as a content partner.

We are working with universities to support the formal learning aspects of the course with a range of supporting material – content in production at the moment includes curated audio and video clips for the archive, audio slideshows and articles written by our world-leading news correspondents. The BBC will also look to engage with course learners by driving debate moments and conversations across social media and online. Users will also have chance to curate their own exhibition from Britain’s collection of oil paintings on the BBC Your Paintings website.

We cover a broad range of subjects in this exciting set of online courses.

Aviation Comes of Age, from the University of Birmingham
Changing Faces of Heroism, from the University of Leeds
Paris 1919 - A New World Order?, from the University of Glasgow
Trauma and Memory, from The Open University

You can register for one of the free courses from today – you’ll be sent welcome and background information; the courses will run through October and November this year.

To support this pilot, we have created four new BBC iWonder guides based on the themes of the online courses, presented by Dan Snow (pictured), Sian Williams, David Shukman and Johnson Beharry VC to introduce audiences to these topics and explore different perspectives on thought-provoking questions.

You will find links to all related iWonder guides from the BBC’s World War One portal.

As I have said, this is a pilot project and very much an experiment both for the BBC and our universities partners so a vital part of the process will be to hear from you on what works well and what could be improved. If you haven’t dipped your toe in the amazing world of online courses perhaps now is the time to start – we’ll be interested to learn from your experiences.

Let us know your thoughts through the comments below or by emailing onlinecourses@bbc.co.uk

Tim Plyming is Executive Producer, History, Science & Nature in Knowledge & Learning.

Read the press release on the Media Centre
Register for these courses online

Bristol Food Connections: BBC partnership cooks up a storm

2014-05-08T14:09:49+00:00

Last Sunday morning I found myself on “washing up” duty at the Sikh Temple in St George. There were four of us up to our elbows in sudsy water at the sinks – a trainee dentist, a solicitor on maternity leave, a student preparing for her exams and me –sharing stories and laughing about our grandmothers cooking – good and bad. Time just flew. They were regulars and I was visiting as part of an open morning organised for Bristol Food Connections to give anyone who wanted the chance to discover the workings of a Sikh langar (free kitchen). Visitors got to see and taste what was being cooked, have a go themselves, share in the preparation and, of course, find out about the role of food in the Sikh religion. And the whole point was that preparing and sharing food together connects people.

On that same day there were 13 other events taking place in Bristol as part of Bristol Food Connections – a partnership festival which I initiated last year on behalf of the BBC. Between May 1–11 this city will host 130 events from large scale ones with recognised BBC brands and starry names to small intimate ones. I’m writing this on day 7 and, so far, over 175,000 people have taken part in the festival across many sites and venues all-round the city. To get a sense of the scale and size of it you need to look at the website.

Sikh langar at the Sikh Temple in St George, Bristol

It’s a first for the BBC. A ground-breaking partnership event with a strong emphasis on the 'P' word which meant that, throughout the process, how we worked with the rest of the city would set the tone. I put my idea for a food festival initially to Dan Saladino, series producer of Radio 4’s Food Programme, and Kalpna Woolf, then in Factual TV, who thought it was worth pursuing and our initial working title was “Project Pasty”.

We issued an open invitation to the food community in Bristol and 150 people turned up at the BBC on Whiteladies Road for a conversation. From the outset we made it clear that the BBC would not produce the whole event but we would be a good partner and help facilitate and support ideas where we could. But people would need to find their own funding and prove they could deliver what they promised. They also would need to sign up to agreed objectives. Bristol City Council, with the endorsement of the elected independent mayor, George Ferguson, came on board almost immediately and we all agreed that good food would be the perfect way to bring people together.

Bristol takes food seriously. It is one of the few UK cities to have an official Food Charter. But Bristolians also know how to have fun. We were inundated with ideas. People wanted a chance to showcase their talents; to help us use food to make connections with people and places the BBC doesn’t normally reach; to provide learning opportunities for all ages and backgrounds and, from a programme making point of view, we suddenly found ourselves in direct contact with young and dynamic food talent across the city. It did help that, in 2009, Bristol and the BBC had signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding to work in partnership and I had also run a Radio 4 festival in March 2012 called More Than Words which had shown me that it was possible to deliver something special by calling upon the creative talents and expertise of the public.

Abigail Appleton in BBC Learning had the vision to get behind the event and her support was essential in getting it off the ground with the BBC Learning Hub at the centre of it all. I formed a local steering group and we all signed up to an agreed set of objectives. We wanted Bristol Food Connections to be affordable, achievable and inspirational. We wanted it to connect and welcome people of all ages, from all backgrounds, through the enjoyment of good food. It had to be participatory and not just about watching. And we wanted it to have a legacy and impact on the city over time. So not your normal food festival.

I won’t say it has been an easy process along the way but everyone has kept their good humour and found ways of compromising and making things work. The culture has been one of support and help and sorting things out together. Bristol City Council has been amazingly flexible, resourceful and generous in finding solutions to tricky problems. To deal with the financial challenges Bristol Food Connections set itself up as a Community Interest Company which meant they were able to fundraise for the non-BBC side of the festival but on the basis that any money raised would go directly back into the community and the festival. Nobody has made a profit.

Jamie Oliver and Mary Berry at the BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards 2014 in Bristol

The May Bank Holiday celebrations started with the BBC Food & Farming Awards which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and across the BBC local radio network and, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday the city centre became one big food adventure playground – bread, chocolate and coffee trails, local producer markets, buskers, pop-up street food vendors and children’s events filled College Green, with Italian chefs from Slow Food International arriving to teach people how to make real pizza using the best British produce as part of the Ark of Taste project.

There was a huge Eat In with people sharing dishes prepared by chefs which had, originally, been destined for the landfill sites and bus trips took people on a Ploughman’s Day Out around local farms on the outskirts of Bristol to learn about bread, cheese and cider making. Farming and the link from plot to plate has been a key part of the event.

Parts of Bristol which are often excluded from these kinds of events have been running their own markets, food fairs, foraging walks and cook-ins – Easton and St Paul’s ran a Cook & Converse feast pairing up single parents who had never cooked before with chef mentors to teach them how to prepare affordable, delicious food and then invited their local shopkeepers, health professionals and community support workers to join them – making useful connections. The underpass Junction 3 became the site for a pop-up global street food market and planting fair which brought together the local community for the first time

Along the way we have learned so many lessons, tasted amazing things and we’re already talking about doing it better next year. From a BBC point of view we have found some amazing stories and made connections which will benefit a UK-wide audience. Personally, thanks to my experience at the Sikh Temple, I have learned how to make chapattis, made some new friends and heard some fantastic stories which may well find their way onto the BBC very soon.

Clare McGinn is Head of Radio & Music Production, Bristol & Creator of The Bristol Food Connections Partnership Festival.

Follow Bristol Food Connections on twitter.
Read Food Programme presenter Sheila Dillon's blog on how the BBC Food and Farming Awards began.

Radio 3 at the Southbank

2014-03-27T17:14:25+00:00

Presenter Petroc Trelawny sums up his experience of broadcasting his Radio 3 show from the Royal Festival Hall as part of the station's two week residency at the Southbank Centre.

Alongside Bach, Vivaldi and Ravel, my Radio 3 Breakfast show on Friday morning will include a favourite number by Stephen Sondheim. ‘Another hundred people just got off of the train/And came up through the ground’ sings Marta in Company. The song tells of commuters rushing to work in a busy city, and seems more than appropriate for the last weekday of BBC Radio 3’s Southbank Centre residency. When we go on air each day at 6.30am from our studio just inside the front foyer of the Royal Festival Hall, the first commuters are slowly making their way from Waterloo, across the Hungerford footbridge towards jobs in Charing Cross, Strand, Soho and Covent Garden. By 8 o’clock the footfall is enormous; hundreds of people passing en route to work. And for the minute or so that it takes each person to pass by, they see multiple Radio 3 logos, and hear our output carried on half a dozen loudspeakers.

BBC Radio 3 broadcasting within sight of the Hungerford Bridge

It’s a brilliant chance for our regular audience to get behind-the-scenes of Radio 3 as well as to share what we do with tens of thousands of potential listeners. When our Southbank residency was first mooted, I was a little sceptical. Sean Rafferty introducing live music on In Tune as concert audiences assembled; that made perfect sense. Ditto CD Review, The Early Music Show and Essential Classics live on a sunny Saturday, as Londoners and visitors queued for a coffee or beer on the terrace. Breakfast seemed a harder sell – especially as the Festival Hall wouldn’t be opening its doors to the public until 8.30. How wrong I was.

The view of London waking up has inspired us all. Normally we’re used to a windowless control room deep inside Broadcasting House. ‘Lets call it the Radio 3 road-show’, laughed Simon from Outside Broadcasts as he handed me microphone and headphones for an al fresco link from the terrace. And what sights to describe to radio listeners – the gilding of the Palace of Westminster glinting in the early sun; the 0630 from Gravesend making an on time arrival at Charing Cross. Big Benzine, as the clock on the Shell Mex Tower used to be commonly known, proved as reliable as any BBC timepiece. ‘It’s like Test Match Special’ tweeted one listener, after I’d mentioned five non-moving buses on Waterloo Bridge.

Petroc Trelawny presents the Breakfast show, live from the Southbank

This sort of thing can soon begin to grate for listeners in Truro or Scunthorpe. But our UK wide audience has risen to the occasion, supplying us with anecdotes about visits to Southbank concerts on school-trips or weekend breaks, and showering us with organ requests. Pull Out All The Stops, the celebration of the restoration of the Festival Hall organ, was a key reason for our residency. It’s sounding magnificent, as we’ve heard in a series of concert broadcasts. And on Breakfast we’ve featured other organs, in locations from Dallas to Beverley to Buckingham Palace, all suggested by listeners.

Some have come to say hello in person. The violinist Tasmin Little dropped in after the school run and remembered her first RFH visit aged 5 (to hear Rite of Spring). A London florist told us how the Southbank inspired his first career, as a ballet dancer. And Simon Russell Beale popped by for a coffee on his way to meetings at the National Theatre. Next to the studio an information desk has been giving listeners the chance to share their views about what we’re doing - or find out more if Radio 3 is new to them. Some spend a few minutes watching and then move on; others have made use of our headphones-on-loan service to linger and literally listen close-up. It’s going to seem a little lonely back in Studio 30C on Monday morning. The walls of our pop-up Festival Hall home are all made of clear perspex – never before has Radio 3 been more visible. How terrific it’s been, being on public display in the heart of one of our nation’s great cultural palaces.

Petroc Trelawny is a presenter on Radio 3.

Follow @PetrocTrelawny on twitter.
Find out more about the Pull Out All The Stops Festival at the Southbank Centre website.
Discover more about classical music on the Radio 3 website and blog.

BBC Introducing in the West present: Halls of Resonance

2014-03-04T15:28:51+00:00

A fortnight ago BBC Introducing in the West produced an event celebrating music and radio at the University of Gloucestershire. "Halls of Resonance" took place over seven hours, across three stages, in front of an audience of 250 invited guests. Richard Pitt (my co-presenter) and I introduced special guest speakers, music industry panel discussions, workshops and a load of live music from new acts in the area. Everything on the day was recorded and highlights were squeezed into a two-hour radio programme, broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, BBC Somerset and BBC Wiltshire (we’ll be putting out more on future shows too).

BBC 6 Music’s Tom Robinson kicked off the day by posing a question: Is guitar music dead? Following some of the changes to national radio playlists and discussions about the longlist for the BBC’s Sound of 2014, it’s a question that I’ve been asked a lot recently and it laid the foundations for a great day.

We invited 20 music industry professionals to speak on discussion panels throughout the day. Speakers included Jon Harper from the Cooper Temple Clause, Loki Lillistone from Bristol Live Magazine, James Scarlett from 2000 Trees Festival in the Cotswolds and Matt Jamison from Amazing Radio. My highlight for the day was a 20-minute rockin’ guitar masterclass, as given by Wiltshire-based technician, Dan Steinhardt.

We also called on music colleges (Bristol Institute of Modern Music), festival promoters (The Swindon Shuffle) and video bloggers (Lost and Found Sessions) to curate live performances throughout the day. This was a great way of engaging a wide range of interested parties and profiling as much of the local music scene as possible. Not only that, but the music was great! Meadowlark were the standout act for me. They’ve got an EP release in May – watch this space...

The biggest draw of the event was Radiohead bassist, Colin Greenwood. He was great fun and spoke knowledgably about recording techniques, the importance of radio and live performance. “It is fantastic to hear all this great music” he said leaving the stage, “BBC Introducing is really, really brilliant”.

And he’s right. I genuinely love the work that BBC Introducing does, and for me this event embodied everything that is good about it.

There is no way that BBC Introducing in the West could have put this show together without the support of the University of Gloucestershire. The partnership with this institution was brilliant. BBC Introducing provided the content, the branding, the events management and the distribution, whilst the course leaders and team of students at the University supplied the space and considerable expertise to engineer and host the event.

We got as many musicians and music professionals across the area involved in the event. Broadcasting on four BBC Local Radio stations it can be tricky to stay “local” and events like Halls of Resonance provide us with an opportunity to not only meet musicians and music professionals in the area, but also bring them all together to share ideas and knowledge, as well as gain greater exposure for their work. Halls of Resonance was as much a networking event as anything else.

In this sense, the event provided a good public service to musicians and industry professionals, all of whom will have taken away a few nuggets of information from the speakers and panelists involved. Not only that, but working with the University, we also led a series of classroom workshops in parallel to the main event, with music industry professionals (including me!) taking short Q&A sessions with students.

As you’d expect, multimedia ran strongly throughout the event. Using the hashtag #hallsofresonance we engaged musicians and audience members during the event (the tweet wall behind the main stage remained a prominent feature in the room), as well as during the show’s broadcast. The show was also covered in the local press too, giving those involved further profile.

I love working on projects like this. Halls of Resonance is the sixth event we’ve run in partnership with external groups in 15 months. The BBC has numerous strengths and these are celebrated widely, but I am a true believer that the BBC (and specifically BBC Introducing) can benefit from partnering with external organisations like the University of Gloucestershire.

Sam Bonham is a Producer and Presenter for BBC Introducing.

Find out more about BBC Introducing.
Read how BBC Introducing was involved in the first BBC 6 Music Festival in Tom Young's blog.
Read about how BBC Introducing also had a hand in this year's Eurovision entry.
Follow BBC Introducing West on Twitter, @bbcintrowest.

Hearing Strauss's Voice in Manchester

2014-01-09T16:53:48+00:00

The Strauss’s Voice festival gets underway in Manchester today celebrating the 150th anniversary of composer Richard Strauss’s birth.

The festival is the work of a unique ongoing partnership between the pre-eminent orchestras in Manchester, The Bridgewater Hall and the Royal Northern College of Music.

We asked representatives from Hallé, Manchester Camerata, BBC Philharmonic, and The Bridgewater Hall, to share their thoughts on the festival and Richard Strauss's legacy.

Peter Davison, Artistic Consultant to The Bridgewater Hall

Ever since The Bridgewater Hall opened in 1996, collaboration has been the cornerstone of its artistic policy. Having two symphony orchestras and a chamber orchestra in residence is a significant challenge, but we have always tried to turn it to advantage by encouraging dialogue between them. Our track-record reveals the benefit of that strategy: four ambitious piano festivals; Shostakovich and Mahler symphony cycles, and now the Strauss’s Voice project.

Strauss often portrayed himself as an anti-hero; a pragmatist who enjoyed a bourgeois lifestyle. But in truth he was a complex personality, who sold himself short and whose ill-judged association with the Nazis made him a target of criticism. He also showed little sympathy with Schoenberg’s avant-garde ideas, identifying him as a reactionary among modernists. But Strauss belonged to a previous generation and his long life saw rapid and revolutionary change. As a Mozartian master of comedy in an age of tragedy, he was out of step with the times

Scratch the surface, and we find a composer who was well-read and deeply thoughtful, who evolved from enfant terrible to a refined neo-classicist. His lyrical gifts were unsurpassed, as were his technical skills. When he stopped writing large orchestral works, he went on to portray remarkable women in his operas – from the morbid Salome to the elevated Countess Madeleine in Capriccio. Strauss sensed the 20th century would be a period when women came into their own, which was an entirely modern outlook.

The Bridgewater Hall will host all the Strauss’s Voice concerts, but we have created a special collaboration with Manchester Camerata on Saturday 22 February; Heroes and Tyrants. It will explore Strauss’s relationship with the Nazi regime, finding parallels in Beethoven’s admiration of Napoleon, which inspired his Eroica Symphony. The evening concert includes that work, ending with a late-night rendition of Strauss’s elegiac Metamorphosen, which quotes from the Eroica symphony’s funeral march.

Samantha McShane, Head of Creative Programming, Manchester Camerata

Often heralded as the last of the great romantics, Richard Strauss is most celebrated for his extremely powerful and dramatic writing, merging the operatic style of Wagner with the passion of Liszt's tone poems to create a uniquely expressive musical language that catapulted romantic music into the 20th century.

It's almost impossible not to be moved by Strauss's writing, whether it be the luscious third movement of Four Last Songs or the powerful narrative of Don Juan, while the sheer size of his orchestras, sumptuous writing and use of programmatic music gives listeners a wonderful insight into his emotions and inspirations.

Strauss' music is not only loved in concert halls but also on the big screen. Over 60 years after his death you can still hear Strauss-inspired film scores, especially in the works of Korngold, Newman and more recently John Williams. The familiar and dramatic opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra, which was used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to impact popular music to this day, but it is not only film music that has been influenced by Strauss's writing - his vast orchestration, harmonic style and use of ‘chromaticism’ paved the way for many great contemporaries who followed in his footsteps. Indeed, his writing continues to be admired among many of today's foremost composers

Manchester Camerata, led by Gábor Takács-Nagy, will explore some of the greatest works by Strauss, Mozart, and Beethoven. Strauss's lieder (performed by rising star and BBC New Generation Artist Ruby Hughes) and string masterpiece Metamorphosen present a real retrospective of his life and work, while Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 is performed by Paul Lewis, arguably one of the finest pianists of his generation.

Alongside these works we will hear Beethoven's famous Eroica Symphony, undoubtedly the most powerful orchestral work of its time, and part of which is explicitly quoted by Strauss in Metamorphosen, accompanied by the dedication, 'In Memoriam!'

It's difficult to pick one highlight from the festival, I'm spoilt for choice with Manchester's fantastic orchestras and the fabulous setting of The Bridgewater Hall. Aside from Metamorphosen with Camerata, I truly can't wait to experience the coming together of The Hallé and BBC Philharmonic for their performance of the epic Eine Alpensinfonie.

Geoffrey Owen, Head of Artistic Planning, Hallé

Music that thrills and transports an audience is always popular. Strauss was a giant of the late 19th and 20th centuries. I believe that, despite widespread regard for his music, his time has yet to come. The popularity of a few of his most brilliant works blinds us to the enormous range and depth of his output.

This man has left us an extraordinary legacy. By the time he was 30 he had written Don Juan, Tod und Verklärung and countless songs, amongst many other works. His operas explore the human condition in all forms, and his wide sense of style was such that he always found the means, however unsettling or comfortable, ground breaking or familiar, to express the subject in hand. On the one hand there is the sensual depravity of Salome and the expressionist violence of Elektra; on the other, the intimate subtlety and high jinks of Der Rosenkavalier. Later in life he drew upon all this to write deeply personal music such as Metamorphosen and the Four Last Songs which seems to communicate directly with the soul.

Strauss’s matchless orchestral handling went hand-in-hand with his life-long fascination with the voice, the soprano voice in particular. In presenting all of the wonderful songs he orchestrated himself, we are hoping audiences will join us on a journey covering no less than 63 years of a supremely creative life. We have carefully chosen outstanding singers who love these songs, and anyone who does not already know that the Hallé and The Bridgewater Hall is a magical combination has a treat in store.

The thrill of our two great orchestras combining for Eine Alpensinfonie will be hard to beat, but I am particularly looking forward to the artistry of Anne Schwanewilms, Laurence Rogers and Lyn Fletcher in the Four Last Songs.

My favourite piece of music by Strauss is Die Frau ohne Schatten. Or Morgen. Or Ein Heldenleben. Oh go on then, the closing scene of Der Rosenkavalier.

Richard Wigley, General Manager, BBC Philharmonic

In our age of cinema, Strauss’s music speaks to an audience who are looking for the full audio technicolour experience in the concert hall. He is one of four or five dominating figures of the 20th century and remains one of the great melodists and orchestrators.

It’s hard to say that his legacy lives on in certain composers as he represented, to my mind, the high point of Post Romanticism. However many living composers would list him as an influence.

The BBC Philharmonic will show the impact that the voice had on the music of Strauss with the soaring melodies and fluid lines that appear in all his orchestra-only tone poems.

Along with the joint Alpine Symphony with the Halle, I’m particularly looking forward to the rarely heard Symphonia domestica in February.

Concerts from Strauss's Voice will feature on BBC Radio 3, including a live relay of the opening concert on Thursday 9 January 2014 at 7.30pm on BBC Radio 3.
Further live broadcasts are scheduled for Saturday 18 and Thursday 23 January, and Saturday 1 February, all starting at 7.30pm on BBC Radio 3.
The line-up for Strauss’s Voice also includes special preview talks, pre-concert performances and workshops. Further details on these events and a play about the composer and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal can be found at the Strauss's Voice website.
Find out more about Strauss's Alpine Symphony on the BBC Proms website. The BBC YouTube channel also has a clip of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing the work under the direction of Bernard Haitink from the 2012 Proms.

Digital Theatre on The Space: The Parade

2013-03-25T12:01:01+00:00

This week The Parade - a series of a new stage plays filmed exclusively for the digital arts service The Space - is published. I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the journey that the BBC Writersroom has been on, and on our collaboration with the Slung Low Theatre Company.

The BBC Writersroom mission is always to discover the most exciting new writers, work in partnership across the cultural industries and then make sure that any talent we do find gets seen and heard.

So, in May 2011 after a targeted call to UK theatres to nominate their most exciting new writers, ten writers were selected by myself and playwrights Lee Hall and Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

Each of the ten writers was then given support and mentoring from the BBC in a series of writing challenges and workshops. Over a period of 12 months they wrote a new script for their theatre, and after a creative brainstorm facilitated by us at the BBC Writersroom, they came up with the idea of The Parade: a state of the nation banner giving the individual writers a provocative trigger to create a short play that got under the skin of the decline of the high street up and down the country, a play that when staged collectively would have more impact.

Performed at Live Theatre Newcastle in March 2012 the diversity of the work, characters and ideas went down brilliantly with the audience. The plays were reinvented for radio with five of the pieces developed for Radio 3's The Verb. Following an ideas meeting with Ali Cole and Peter Manuria from The Space, The Parade was commissioned in February 2013.

Filming a scene for The Parade

The agreement with The Space stipulated the filmed plays had to be delivered for March 15th 2013, so we had to find the perfect production partner pretty fast. My thoughts immediately turned to the extraordinary and innovative theatre company, Slung Low in Leeds. Based in old railway arches in the Holbeck area of the city they jumped at the chance of creating a new form of digital site-specific theatre and were prepared to make all this happen in less than five weeks.

The scripts - the most essential element - already existed, but everything else had to happen with skill, imagination and no existing model to refer back to, and on tight budgets. But I'm an Aries, have a background as a theatre director and in youth work and rarely allow 'no' to be an option: this opportunity was too exciting to miss. The four dramas had to be filmed overnight and over a weekend as they were using a local Turkish-run supermarket as their main location.

Fortunately (and uniquely) the supermarket has a kebab shop within it, so this one place gave the production team three distinct locations. I went to visit rehearsals in the freezing cold and had a guided tour of Slung Low. The place is an inspiration and a reminder why art and the people who make it matter. (If you're ever in the vicinity go visit.) So as I watched the rehearsals in the railway arches, warming myself by the wood burner, actors sat on old sofas were joined by Billy the dog as he wormed his way into every scene. Did it matter? No, because the commitment, and the emotional engagement with the work was not going to be distracted by anyone or anything.

One of the four locations in the supermarket used for filming The Parade

So BBC Writersroom's first collaboration with The Space and Slung Low theatre, explores the human stories behind Britain's troubled high streets. The performances are set in and around venues that might be found on any UK parade of shops in a high street and the four you will see, are Somewhere between a News Clipping and the Gossip Section by Kenny Emson. Set in a cornershop, it is a tense two-hander and conveys society's obsession with news media and its portrayal of crime.

No More Poundshop Wars by Amman Paul Singh Brar is about two rival pound shop owners going to war. This humorous, touching play looks at the length people will go to survive in a recession.

Can You Hear Me Baby by Rebecca Prestwich is set in a cheap late night take-away. A lonely, drunken man tries to talk to a heavily pregnant woman in a kebab shop late at night, and an unexpected encounter ensues.

And finally, and set in a flat above an off-license, CSI Millionaire by Katherine Mitchell tells the story of an ex's revenge on her former lover.

It's been a brilliant partnership all round, innovation in action. And for the final word I think a note Alan wrote to all the writers (included below) really sets the scene.

Kate Rowland, Creative Director, New Writing, BBC Writersroom.

"It seems very strange to write to you all not having met you - I've never worked on anyone's script I've not met before. I'm writing to congratulate you on your plays and to thank you for writing such detailed and intelligent pieces that were such a delight to stage.

We were asked to stage and film your short plays from The Parade for The Space. We filmed them last week in Venus Supermarket in Holbeck South Leeds.

We are a theatre company specialising in work in non-theatre spaces and so I decided that we would play to our strengths and film these pieces in one take: digital theatre the BBC rather nicely called it, one-take-cinema my director of photography knowingly nodded.
We focused on lighting the scene interestingly (in a painterly fashion I instructed our lighting man who was previously of the National Theatre).

Two of the plays (Somewhere Between and No More Poundshop Wars) had live music composed and performed by the guitarist Guiliano Moderalil cast strongly from experienced theatre actors.

And Director of Photography was the Sheffield based Ed Cartledge.

Alan Lane, Artistic Director. Slung Low."

The Space is a free, digital arts service from Arts Council England and the BBC showcasing arts and cultural events across the UK. There are posts on the BBC Internet Blog and here on About the BBC which explain how the project was established.

The BBC Writersroom has an online resource for writers here.

Heritage! The Battle for Britain’s Past - A BBC / English Heritage Partnership

2013-03-06T07:42:47+00:00

From Kenneth Clark to David Dimbleby, Fred Dibnah to Fiona Bruce, the BBC has memorably celebrated heritage on the small screen. So memorably in fact that it can sometimes feel as if we’ve always loved our ruined abbeys and castles, prehistoric monuments and grand country houses.

Not so. Shakespeare’s home was torn down in 1759 by its owner who was tired of visitors peering through the windows. Can you imagine the uproar such an act would cause today? While in 1847, Berwick Castle was demolished to make way for the East Coast Main Line.

So our love affair with ancient buildings is relatively new. It was inspired by a revolution that flew in the face of modern progress, one led at different times by socialists, aristocrats and until now, anonymous civil servants.

Starting this Thursday, a new BBC Four series tells the story of that revolution. Heritage! The Battle For Britain’s Past focuses on the pioneers of the past including Victorian archaeologists who fought to save our great prehistoric stone circles and those 1970s campaigners who railed against the demolition of the once loathed St Pancras train station.

This year is a fitting year for such a series. Because 2013 is the centenary of a landmark moment in the protection of heritage: The Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act of 1913.

With the passing of this Act, the State for the very first time stood up and recognised that it had a duty of care towards the physical remains of this nation’s history. The 1913 Ancient Monuments Act created many of the powers still used to protect Britain’s unique legacy of historic buildings and also established Europe’s most ambitious outdoor museum – today’s National Heritage Collection of historic sites and monuments, looked after by English Heritage, CADW and Historic Scotland.

English Heritage’s origins stretch back to this landmark Act and we wanted to mark the centenary in a way that fully captured what was at stake and what has been achieved since then – all the challenges, dilemmas and decisions, setbacks and successes.

Enter the BBC.

A meeting with the Controller of BBC Four, Richard Klein, the series’ Executive Producer, Basil Comely, and the BBC’s Partnerships Manager, Judith Nichol, and Heritage! The Battle For Britain’s Past was born. The series is the result of a partnership between English Heritage and the BBC. The BBC got special access to our experts and archives, while for English Heritage the BBC brings our research alive as only the BBC can and shares it with as large an audience as possible.

The series features familiar names like William Morris, Octavia Hill and John Betjeman but also the unsung heroes who worked quietly behind the scenes, the men (and in those days, they were almost all men) from the Ministry of Works, English Heritage’s predecessor. And it raises important questions as to who decided what did and did not constitute heritage as well as what is worth saving – and losing – today.

Above all, rather fittingly in this English Heritage’s centenary year, Heritage! The Battle For Britain’s Past inspires people to think again about those pieces of the past that surrounds them, why they survive today, and what should be done with them tomorrow.

Dr Simon Thurley is Chief Executive, English Heritage

Heritage! The Battle for Britain’s Past starts on Thursday 7 March at 9pm on BBC Four.

A series of complementary exhibitions is running throughout the year at Wellington Arch, London W1J 7JZ.

Your Paintings on The Culture Show

2013-02-22T15:03:41+00:00

Last week The Culture Show highlighted the success of the ambitious Your Paintings project which shows the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, and details their stories online.

A joint initiative between the BBC, the Public Catalogue Foundation (a registered charity) and thousands of participating collections and museums from across the UK, the Your Paintings website is definitely worth a browse, not least because they need your help – some paintings have missing information, so there’s a function where you can submit any details or leads you might have.

Hannah Khalil is Digital Producer for About the BBC website and blog.