Drink less caffeine?

This post is being fired at you from the sleep-weary eyes of a (hopefully temporary) insomnia-driven young women, who has been postponing most forms of productivity in favour of undertaking ‘festive’ activities, whilst scrounging for money in the month-long build up to Christmas & the New Year.

Once again, a new year brings with it a new job. Such is the nature of a radio career, where self-employment begins from the off and staff roles come much, much, much later in life. Amongst the excitement is great apprehension; the usual nerves have been bubbling under as the suspense of a month’s wait gradually draws to a close. Perhaps it’s the thought of going home for Christmas, not working, relaxing and present-giving that’s keeping me up all night, perhaps it’s all the ideas for the new job, it’s probably both – either way it’s looking like a good few weeks lie ahead.

The new role in question is that of Radio Station Assistant Manager at Roundhouse Radio, based in Chalk Farm (near Camden). Since joining the Roundhouse Studios as a writer for Redtop Magazine and producing podcast content for the Camden Crawl, not to mention the small task of creating a monthly Arts and Culture show; Redtop radio – the day-to-day running of the station plus a whole host of creative projects looks set to keep me on work overload for the next 6 months.

I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be in control of a personal daily schedule and initiating projects (while getting paid to do so!) Since I (finally) left Solent in 2009, I’ve been craving the luxury of arranging my own meetings, conjuring up vast plans and hoping that someone will approve/reassure me that they might be worth pursuing…and then going ahead with them regardless.

The main aim however is to get just one, big project completed by the end of the 6 month-stint. I have a tonne of ideas, but one overall goal must be achieved, else the day-to-day tasks will overrule and all I’ll be left with is a CV addition, and a heavy heart that longs to turn back the clock.

Speaking of clocks, I’ve just glanced at mine and it’s horrendously late. Must.Switch.Off. Wish me luck…?

BBC Blast Event at the V&A

BBC Blast Event at the V&A – 20th-21st June 2010

Blast is a creative outreach program run by the BBC’s Learning department. At its core is the BBC Blast Tour, which runs for 9 months of the year, hosting a range of free art, cultural and media orientated workshops for young people aged 13-19, at various destinations across the UK.

After building up a relationship with the BBC Blast crew over the past year – through completing a Creative Trainee Scheme and previously gaining work experience on the tour – I was asked if I would like to get involved with this year’s London event, held at the V&A and the Natural History Museum.

Saturday

The first session was held in a lecture theatre in the Victoria and Albert Museum, where most of the creative arts and media workshops took place throughout the week. I was part of a discussion panel member for ‘Getting into Radio’, alongside Rampage, 1Xtra Producers; Janine, Emma and the compere – Iyare, who has worked for both 6 Music and 1Xtra.

As a panel, we each spoke about the challenges of getting work experience and paid jobs in radio, as well as debating the relevant training and qualifications required; each using our differing areas of expertise to offer advice to an audience of young people.

After the discussion, we were approached by a number of young people, eager to find out more about how we gained work experience and for advice on which University courses to apply to. It felt extremely rewarding to pass on the knowledge I have gained so far and to hear from the rest of the panel about their career progressions.

Immediately after the Q&A session myself and Iyare headed to the Natural History Museum to facilitate a workshop on how to ‘Build your own radio demo’. After passing numerous fossils we reached our second workshop room, where we spent the afternoon guiding a small group as they wrote scripts, recorded and produced their very own demo, representing their views on music, festivals, fashion and exams.

I helped them to script-write, whilst gaining knowledge of audio-editing program, Garage Band.

It was brilliant watching talented young people experiencing new skills, producing their own work and leaving with a sense of achievement.

On Sunday I volunteered to work Front of House on the BBC Blast truck at the Natural History Museum.

Here I worked within a small team of work experience and crew members – signing young people into creative workshops, answering general enquiries, guiding people to workshop rooms and giving out goody bags containing information on various local arts organisations around London.

As always, the Blast event ended on a high, the sun came out, we spoke to many enthusiastic, young (and some old!) people, many of whom were eager to continue what they’d learned and who had produced some amazing content. You can view some of the content on the BBC Blast website.

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As well as the Blast workshops, many other creative sessions took place throughout Sunday as part of the Exhibition Road Music Day.

This event took place in order to encourgage people to visit the many arts institutions in Kensington and to diminish the perception of the insitutions and museums being old and outdated. You can hear Paul Cutts, the CEO of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group speaking about the purpose of this event on the Guardian Careers Talk podcast.

Camden Crawl Podcast

Now online!

Roundhouse Radio have a brand new website – if you have trouble listening to the podcast let me know. Once I have my own copy I shall stream it directly from this blog.

https://roundhouse.org.uk/explore/radio/camden-crawl-podcast-project

Anti-bullying package, BBC Blast/Radio 1’s The Surgery

Last year, I became a Creative Trainee for Radio 1 through BBC Blast – an exciting outreach programme, which unfortunately looks set to be cut in the near future pending the BBC’s forthcoming strategy review.

At the heart of the Blast scheme is the Tour, which visits several cities across the UK each year, from April through to November. I was fortunate enough to work as a volunteers at both the Brighton and Isle of Wight events beyond my Radio 1 placement last summer; assisting across the TV and Radio production workshops.

The workshop that most inspired me was Radio Journalism, run on the IOW with two great facilitators, Kath and Kevin.

We aided a group of young people as they revisited their pasts (some recent) and faced some uncomfortable memories of bullying, in the lead up to anti-bullying week. Surprisingly, all of the young people had experienced some form of bullying and despite the initial unease, they relayed their experiences with us as a group, recorded each other and edited together a short package for BBC Radio 1’s Bullyproof campaign.

The content expressed was inspirational and the resolutions and tips they presented for others hopefully not only reassured those within the group, but also those across the nation who listened as the package aired on the BBC Radio 1 Surgery, soon after the event.

Listen to the packages here:

Bullyproof Part 1: Experiences

Bullyproof Part 2: Resolutions

New ventures for 2010

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you have been having fun in the snow and that it hasn’t inconvenienced anyone too much (I personally love it and wish I owned a snowboard or a pair of skis to throw myself onto!)

I have begun a few new ventures for the year ahead,all voluntary, but all equally as exciting, community-based projects.

Living Memories Project

Firstly, I have been working as a Broadcast Assistant for Express FM in Portsmouth for many months now; helping to book guests for shows, researching content and assisting with workshops.

The station have been given funding in order for them to put together a radio soap, in collaboration with the New Theatre Royal. I have been helping to collect memories from Portsmouth residents so that we can create characters for this soap, based on our city!

So far we have undergone interview training (as the method differs vastly from journalistic interviewing) and I am attending a script-writing session soon (from one of the writers of Radio 4’s ‘The Archers’). I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into it all as I’ve not worked on creating a drama before and it means I get to have a real insight, not only into peple’s perceptions and memories of the city but also into the theatre’s history and Portsmouth Arts and Cultural sector.

RANT on the Radio

RANT is something I am already hugely familiar with. It’s an initiative funded by Portsmouth City Council to allow the young people of the city to express themselves artistically. I began writing for the RANT magazine when I was at College (articles to be uploaded shortly) and later became a radio presenter for RANT on the Radio, between my first and second years and University.

Now that I have returned to Portsmouth I have been asked to help organise/produce a new show, with two new presenters (Jess and Jess!) We kick things off next week with a training session and the girls have been brainstorming feature ideas so hopefully we will be on the airwaves at 93.7 Express FM in no time at all!

Visit the EXPRESS FM website here.

And last but NOT LEAST, I introduce to you…Culture Flash

As part of the Big Challenge, a friend of mine Rich has been granted funding to begin a brand new project in Portsmouth.

Summary:

“To break down the media hysteria that surrounds the youth of today, and remove stereotypes surrounding them in local communities. The concept would purely involve giving a handful of youths, from a variety of backgrounds, a camera each for a day. They would take shots of their everyday life, hopefully providing images of a stark contrast to those constantly reported by the media, some iconic, others striking. It may also highlight the social difficulties some face. The results would be housed on display in a local art gallery. The camera thus becomes a tool of power for the youth, and can give them the voice that some political movements have often wished they had.”

View the Culture Flash website HERE and find out more about the Big Challenge HERE.

That’s the synopsis! Please keep checking back as I will be updating this website regularly with news on each project, as well as further Music Reviews for The News (Hadouken!, Frank Turner and 65daysofstatic) and article ideas as and when they occur…for now, Happy Snow Day!

Calling all Portsmouth residents

I am volunteering with Express FM on a new project and I need your help!

Express FM and The New Theatre Royal are working together on a new project called LIVING MEMORIES.

The premise of the project is to collect people’s memories about the city, their childhood, the theatre and so on.

PLEASE COULD YOU FILL OUT THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AND EMAIL/MSG THEM BACK TO ME – or alternatively, let me know if you would like to meet up and I will do a longer, more detailed interview! 🙂

HAYLEYCLARKEUK [at] GOOGLEMAIL.COM

These will then be used two-fold;

Firstly to form the inspiration behind 10 performance vignettes to be performed at The New Theatre Royal.
Secondly as the basis of Express FM’s very own radio soap to be aired in April.

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NB: You do not need to still be living in Portsmouth OR have lived there for long – just tell us what your impressions of the city.

Living Memories
Memories Questionnaire

Name:
Year of Birth:
Birthplace:
Date Moved to Portsmouth if not born here:

Earliest memory of Portsmouth?

Where did you play as a child and what did you do? / Where do you spend most of your leisure time now?

Describe Portsmouth in three words……..(You can include: what it smells like, what it sounds like, etc)

Tell us about the street you live on now…..(funny things that have happened on it, most unusual thing, most memorable events, for example….)

What is your earliest memory of the New Theatre? What did you see? How did you feel about the performance? (If you have been)

I give permission for this contribution to The Living Memories project to be used on radio/online/theatre and archived at City Museum.

Signed:…………………………… Date:…………………………………

http://www.expressfm.com

Working with the Student Radio Association

I Love Student Radio Campaign

The I Love Student Radio campaign aims to promote the activities of student radio across the UK, highlighting the variety, diversity and quality of what is surely one of the most vibrant and interesting sectors of the UK media landscape.

I was involved in organising and promoting the launch event in London on October 21st at Westminister University and got the chance to mingle with industry professionals; including interviewing Radio 1’s Greg James and David Garrido.

To find out more about the project go to the I Love Student Radio website – my interviews will be up on the site shortly!

Interviewing David Garrido – picture by Barry Carlyon

Muse Night on Radio 1

Phenomenal. They always have been, still are and hopefully always will be.

MUSE.

I was fortunate enough to be involved in the creation on the Muse at Ten documentary for the Muse Night on BBC Radio 1, Monday 7th September, celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the band’s Showbiz album.

Radio 1 is currently playing 5 hours of Muse highlights from the past decade and celebrating Muse’s career, right from the start. As well as playing a whole hour of live music from their homecoming gigs in Teignmouth on the 4th&5th September.

The Muse at Ten documentary takes listeners through Muse’s new purpose-built studio by Lake Como in Italy as the band tell the story of their progression towards and the making of the new album The Resistance.

To find out more about Muse Night visit the Radio 1 website

Field Day Review for Newsbeat

The Horrors, Little Boots and The Big Pink brave the rain to play the third instalment of the London fete-festival.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_8181000/8181576.stm

Organisers, Eat Your Own Ears, haven’t had the best of luck in the three years Field Day has been running. When it all began in 2007 they were swamped with complaints after misjudging the demand for bars and toilets. Last year improved but they still came under fire and what’s more, bands had to contend with day-long drizzle.

Inspired by traditional sports days and summer fetes, the one-day festival, held in London’s Victoria Park, fell victim to more unpleasant English weather this year. But unlike previous years the vibe of the festival remained high as 20,000 punters roamed the site enjoying the eclectic line up.

Jonathan Gurteen, London:

“We mainly came to see Fake Blood. I came two years ago and it was so badly organised you couldn’t get a drink for love or money. This year’s so much better, with more bars and much better music.”

Gwen and Helen from Manchester.

“It’s great apart from the rain. We’ve seen Final Fantasy and Michachu. There’s lots of new music so it’s a good chance to see some new stuff.”

FIRST BANDS:

First up on the Main Stage are BBC Introducing faves Gaggle, an alternative all-girl choir draped in brightly coloured cloths, chanting misfit harmonies with modern-hinged lyrics such as “I’m drunk, she’s drunk” to early arrivers.

Errors take to the Main stage around 2pm to whirl through an electronic instrumental set whilst wild-haired King Charles’ country guitars ring out from the Beetroot stage. Later on it’s Temper Trap who captivate the audience with their blend of indie-rock and soul.

In keeping with the day’s theme, games of tug of war and the egg and spoon races commence on the Village Green. Even when the rain begins to pour, putting an end to the remaining sports day activities, the crowds still find ways to have fun – by starting hay bale fights.

Jurgen from Amsterdam:

“ I came because Four Tet was playing I flew in two days ago. The weirdest thing was when Wood Pigeon were playing, everybody was sat down inside the tent, I’ve never seen that before.”

During Fake Blood on the Bugged Out stage, Little Boot’s (a.k.a Victoria Hesketh) shelters from the rain whilst preparing for her set after a mishap involving the band’s stage costumes;

“We lost all our costumes this morning, we’ve got capes and hoods that we come on with – a bit like Jedis. So there’ll be a bit of improvisation going on but I’m sure it won’t stop the spirit of it.

Fake Blood’s on before us and Erol Alkan’s on afterwards so I think ours is the rave tent. It all seems really fun, it’s raining but no-one seems to mind.”

A sea of umbrellas emerge during the Horrors set. You can hear front-man Farris growling from across the other side of the site as he murmurs beneath a cloud of purple lights.

Little boots takes to the Bugged Out stage at 6pm. Fighting through the crowd to watch the electro-pop princess once Fake Blood ends is like waiting for Kylie Minogue to emerge after Slipknot have desecrated the stage. But the 25 year old from Blackpool somehow manages to make pop-music acceptable amongst an indie crowd as she produces infectious beats and pitch perfect vocals, alongside her glittering keyboard & Tenorian performance.

Whilst Rusko is bashing out electro, dub and drum and bass on the Blog stage to an over-spilling tent, The Big Pink play to a slightly less enthusiastic crowd, seemingly captivated by the trios’ synth-fused grunge.

Headliners, Mogwai, promptly grace the Main Stage after Skream’s thumping dupstep is cut short to keep from going over curfew. This is the Glaswegian band’s only English festival date this year so expectations are high. As the surrounding tents begin to wind down and all that’s left is the distant sound of throbbing bass, the 5-piece plough through an atmospheric ensemble of bespoke melodies and pounding, heavy guitars that burst into crescendos when the audience least expect it. As they make a dedication to the late football manager, Sir Bobby Robson, their seamless wave of melodies make for the perfect finale to this damp, but lively festival – let’s hope the sun comes out to play next year.

Beeb life update…

Just a quick update to let everyone know that I am a month into my BBC Blast Creative Traineeship, as a Broadcast Assistant at Radio One!

I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone, I have done a number of different duties, some of which I have never undergone before so it’s brilliant to try new things and have an insight into how the station operates.

I’m hoping to visit Newbeat whilst i’m here and possibly get some written reviews up on the online music news pages, as I am keen to try out new areas of work and keep my written skills in tact (/practice them…!!)

A video I helped to film, of Kid Harpoon in session was up on the Radio 1 website for a while, I am hoping to get a copy of it from the team – but here’s where you can find out a bit of info about the session:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/videos/inmwtstevelamacq/video/090709_kidharpoon

At the moment i’m looking for a project to undertake for the Arts Award. I could simply document my time here, but I’d like to go beyond that and create a mini-project, perhaps a mini-documentary about the station and it’s current position…I have ideas – it’s just putting them into a workbook, playing them out and putting together the final product! Not tough then, ha. Here’s the site:

http://www.artsaward.org.uk/site/?id=66

Calvin Harris is coming on the show tomorrow – which should be funn! 🙂

Beyond that I have done a fair bit of sightseeing, but need to do more (London is massive though, I could spends days writing a ‘must-see’ list alone.)