This week in our Community Media Discussion, we’ll be chatting about what 2022 meant to us as community media makers, and what we are hoping to achieve in 2023. Reflecting on what I worked on last year, it’s clearly been a busy year. After the pandemic interrupted my freelance opportunities, I’ve been rebuilding my relationships across a variety of community media projects. There is a thread that connects them – why wait for people to make better media for us, when we can get together and make what we want ourselves.
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The last year has felt busy and fast-moving year. After the pandemic disrupted everyone’s way of working, it’s been curious to re-engage with people again, and do more work with colleagues in person and face to face. Getting to grips with being a freelancer in the present economic climate remains challenging, but I’m enjoying the variety of work I’m that is coming my way. I enjoy that I can do things that are related to my values, particularly my advocacy of democratic forms of community media. Even though the financial reward for doing them isn’t spectacular, it’s much more fun than I expected.
The work I’ve been doing over the last year has been satisfying because it enables me to put into practice the concepts and the values that I’ve been writing and thinking about for many years now. I’m a passionate advocate for community media, which, I think, is one part of the answer to many of our social challenge. Having the ability to share and discus our concerns, on platforms that we run ourselves, by active citizens in their communities. Being the Media is an essential aspect of media reform for me.
I’ve found that it’s best to take a practical rather than an ideological approach to this reform. So, I’ve been doing a lot of training with people to make podcasts and become community reporters. I’ve also been helping people applying for community radio licences, and I’m in the process of setting up a new digital radio station in Leicester. I’ll be talking about Radio Lear much more in coming weeks. So, I realise I have plenty of plates to spin, and while there’s not much of a safety net if things go wrong, but the freedom to be my own boss and to take on these challenges is both daunting and energising.
The need for enhanced community media and news in Leicester also came to the forefront of my work during 2022. Independent local news in Leicester is sparse and needs some attention, so I’ve been helping the Evington Echo develop their website, and training for volunteers as community reporters. After forty years the Echo is going strong, even joining IMPRESS, the independent media regulator. It’s been great to work with Helen and Harkesh to contribute to the renewal of community news in Leicester. The Echo will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary in the new year.
Beta-X was another highlight of 2022. Even though Beta-X has proved to be temporary, it’s been a great benefit to Leicester. Beta-X has provided an additional creative pop-up space for interaction between designers and artists of many different types. I was able to do some podcasting work, capturing audio material for different Beta-X related podcasts. Being able to host extended discussions about design and creative arts was really fascinating, and I learnt a lot from Jonny Prest of Seed Creativity and Ady Alexander of Zander Events.
Podcasting can also be whatever you want it to be, which is something we experimented with in Norfolk when we visited for the Y-Heritage project, taking young people to learn about museums and heritage spaces. It was great fun to work with Juliet, who is so enthusiastic about turning young people’s expectations of themselves around when they might be low. There is something direct about recording a podcast that you can’t get with video. People like to talk and listen, which bodes well for dealing with some of the social challenges we have to face in the future. The more we get chatting, the better.
I’ve also been helping with the ArtWorks Alliance, which is a network of participant arts organisations, freelances and advocates. I like ArtWorks Alliance because everyone involved understands and has experience of the role of participation in both the community and the cultural development process. It was interesting that the DCMS MPs committee noted this year that there needs to be greater focus on Cultural Placemaking, and a stronger connection between public arts and culture policy and levelling up. This is something that I noted when I spoke at the House of Lords DCMS committee on the future of the BBC, that there seems to be no connection in government policy between levelling up and the social purpose of our media or culture.
Talking of local media, it’s been a busy year for helping out with the launch of Small-Scale DAB, both in Leicester and Coventry. Being part of two successful teams that applied and won these licences was very exciting. I’ve gained a lot of insight into the Ofcom licencing process, both for digital stations, and the multiplex operations. The reason I think these have both been successful is that they are community-focussed and not-for-private-profit. I enjoy working on projects that have a social benefit, and return any surplus to the community that is being served. I think there is a lot of support needed to rebuild local radio and community media here in the UK back to the point where we can be satisfied that we are serving our local needs, especially at a time when the BBC are slashing their local radio services.
