Art, Identity, and Rehabilitation: Creative Practice in Prison Contexts This podcast explores how art can play a meaningful role in the rehabilitation of people in prison. The discussion brings together Rob Watson, Xiaoye Zhang, and Charlie Birtles, recorded at the Brewhouse Arts Centre in Burton-on-Trent. Each contributor brings a distinct perspective, shaped by their work in community media, arts practice, and engagement with criminal justice contexts. A key focus of the conversation is how art creates space for reflection and expression in environments that are often restrictive and emotionally pressured. Drawing on their experience, the contributors describe how creative practices such as visual art, writing, and performance can help individuals process difficult experiences, manage emotions, and begin to reframe their sense of identity.

Can art meaningfully support rehabilitation in prisons? This podcast explores how creative practice helps people reflect, express identity, and manage emotions. What role should art play in supporting long-term change beyond custody?

Studio 17 – Holding Space for Art, Memory and Shared Practice What does it mean to have a place where art is not only made, but lived? How does a shared studio shape the way people think, create, and relate to one another? And what happens when a space becomes part workshop, part social environment, and part archive of lived experience? Studio 17 in Loughborough offers one response to these questions. Emerging in the mid-1990s from a small group of artists connected to the Albert Street Artist Day Centre, it has grown into a sustained, working studio that continues to support artists at different stages of their journeys.

What does a shared studio make possible for artists over time? From first exhibitions to 30 years of collective memory, Studio 17 in Loughborough offers a space for making, learning, and remembering. What would you create in a space like this?

Spotlight on Heritage – Leicester University Heritage Hub 2026 Heritage is often spoken about as something fixed in the past, but the conversations recorded at the University of Leicester’s Heritage Hub suggest something far more active. This episode of Spotlight on Heritage captures a day where history, craft, research, and lived experience intersect, not as static displays but as ongoing practices shaped by the people who engage with them. What becomes clear across the interviews is that heritage is not confined to museums or archives. It is something that is continually rediscovered, interpreted, and shared. Archaeologists describe the immediacy of uncovering objects that have not been seen for thousands of years, bringing the past into direct contact with the present.

What does heritage mean when it’s not just preserved, but shared, practised, and reimagined? From archaeology to digital museums, this episode explores how people are connecting past and present in everyday ways.

Cockney Identity, Memory, and the Meaning of Place What does it mean to be a Cockney today? Is it defined by geography, by heritage, by language, or by something more intangible – a sense of belonging shaped by shared experiences and ways of seeing the world? In this episode of Spotlight on Heritage, Rob Watson and John Coster explore the evolving idea of Cockney identity through personal memory and historical reflection. Their discussion begins with the Modern Cockney Festival, a month-long programme of events that invites people to consider how East End culture continues to adapt in a changing city.

What does it mean to be a Cockney today? Is it defined by birthplace, language, or shared experience? In the latest Spotlight on Heritage podcast, we explore how identity, memory, and place shape the story of the East End

Women, Community Media, and the Work of Holding Communities Together in Times of Conflict How do women working in community media respond when their communities face tension or conflict? What does it mean to tell local stories from within the community rather than from a distance? And how can everyday communication through radio, local journalism, and storytelling help rebuild trust between neighbours when misinformation and misunderstanding threaten to divide them? These were the questions explored in a discussion recorded for International Women’s Day, bringing together women who are actively involved in community media and local communication projects. Sumaila Jafri opened the discussion by reflecting on her own background as a journalist who had previously worked in national and international newsrooms.

How do women in community media respond when tensions affect local communities? This discussion reflects on the 2022 unrest in Leicester and asks whether storytelling, radio, and local journalism can help rebuild trust & encourage dialogue across communities

Reclaiming The Narrative – Childhood Sexual Abuse, Media Responsibility, And Survivor Agency Childhood sexual abuse remains one of the most under-acknowledged forms of trauma in society. It often occurs in silence, is carried in private, and continues to shape lives long after childhood has ended. For Deborah Knight, Chief Executive Officer of Quetzal, the starting point is clear: no one should suffer for life because of abuse they experienced as a child. Quetzal works with survivors of childhood sexual abuse on an individual basis. The impact of abuse is not uniform. Some survivors live with persistent anxiety. Others struggle with trust, relationships, or long-term mental health difficulties.

How should stories about childhood sexual abuse be told? Are survivors given control over their own narratives, or are headlines shaped by spectacle and agenda? What would responsible, survivor-centred reporting look like in practice?

Better Together And The Question Of Civic Media On Monday 23 February 2026, the African Caribbean Centre in Leicester hosted the formal launch of the Better Together report, the most detailed independent inquiry so far into the unrest that affected the city in 2022. Introduced by Dr Subir Sinha and chaired by Professor Juan Méndez, with research led in part by Professor Chetan Bhatt, the report represents nearly three years of investigation, testimony and analysis. The inquiry team interviewed more than eighty witnesses, gathered survey data from over one hundred residents, and engaged directly with hundreds more through public hearings and community meetings.

What does the Better Together report mean for Leicester’s future? Can trusted, place-based media help counter misinformation, rebuild civic trust and strengthen shared identity after the unrest of 2022?

Spotlight on Loughborough – Wonderland Dance Studio There is a particular energy that you notice as soon as you step into Wonderland Dance Studio. Mirrors line the walls. Costumes are stacked ready for performance. A gymnastics mat sits to one side. The space is compact, but purposeful. It is designed not simply for dance, but for participation. In this edition of Spotlight on Loughborough, Soar Sound visits Wonderland Dance Studio in Shelthorpe to hear how one local initiative has grown from six children to nearly sixty in seven years. Founder Cary Benze explains that the studio emerged from a simple observation.

How does an affordable dance studio help build confidence and belonging in a neighbourhood often described as low income? Our latest Spotlight on Loughborough visits Wonderland Dance Studio. Listen to the podcast and hear the story behind the show.

Civic Futures Forum – Radio Policy, Plurality and the Future of Independent Media The UK is entering a significant period of review for broadcast radio policy. Ofcom is consulting on its future approach to broadcast licensing. DCMS has launched a wider Radio Review that will shape long-term distribution strategy, market structure and public policy into the 2030s and beyond. These processes raise fundamental questions about spectrum management, platform access, economic sustainability, content supply, and the balance between producer interests and the interests of citizens.

How should Ofcom’s licensing plans and the DCMS Radio Review shape the future of independent and local media? Join our Civic Futures Forum on 26 February 2026 at 2pm or 6pm. One session per person. Your perspective can inform the national debate.

Spotlight Recording for UNESCO International Mother Language Day Saturday 21st February – Soar Sound On Saturday 21 February 2026, Soar Sound, the Evington Echo and Parallel Lives Network will host a live podcast recording session to mark UNESCO International M

How does your mother language shape who you are? Join Soar Sound on Saturday 21 February, 10am–2pm at Bishop Street Chapel Café, Leicester, for a live podcast recording for UNESCO International Mother Language Day. Would you like to share your story? www.soarsound.uk/spotlight-re...

Spotlight Recording for UNESCO International Mother Language Day Saturday 21st February – Soar Sound On Saturday 21 February 2026, Soar Sound, the Evington Echo and Parallel Lives Network will host a live podcast recording session to mark UNESCO International M

How does your mother language shape who you are? Join Soar Sound on Saturday 21 February, 10am–2pm at Bishop Street Chapel Café, Leicester, for a live podcast recording for UNESCO International Mother Language Day. Would you like to share your story? www.soarsound.uk/spotlight-re...

Spotlight Recording for UNESCO International Mother Language Day Saturday 21st February On Saturday 21 February 2026, Soar Sound, the Evington Echo and Parallel Lives Network will host a live podcast recording session to mark UNESCO International Mother Language Day. The session will take place at Bishop Street Chapel Café, Bishop Street, Leicester, opposite the Town Hall Fountain, between 10am and 2pm. We are inviting members of the community to take part in a recorded conversation about language. This is an opportunity to share your experience of speaking your mother language, learning new languages, or living between different linguistic and cultural traditions.

Spotlight Recording for UNESCO International Mother Language Day Saturday 21st February

On Saturday 21 February 2026, Soar Sound, the Evington Echo and Parallel Lives Network will host a live podcast recording session to mark UNESCO International Mother Language Day. The session will take place at…

World Radio Day 2026 – Trust, Technology and The Human Voice World Radio Day 2026 invited a clear proposition: technology alone does not build trust, radio broadcasters do. In this discussion, recorded for broadcast on Source FM, that idea was tested against lived experience, professional journalism, and long-standing place-based media practice. What emerged was not nostalgia for radio’s past, but a sober assessment of its present condition. Shamila Jafri, a former BBC journalist now researching Leicester’s media ecology, described radio as intimate and immediate. Without images, sound carries emotional proximity. Her account of a former political hostage who recognised her voice from BBC Urdu broadcasts during captivity illustrates radio’s distinctive capacity to sustain connection across distance and danger.

On World Radio Day 2026 we asked: does technology build trust, or do people? In an age of AI, centralisation and noise, what makes a voice credible? Is trust earned through presence, consistency and place?

Spotlight on Art – Intangible Labour’s Spiritual Cleanse What does it mean to start where you stand, not as a slogan but as a practice? If art begins on the pavement, by the bus stop, at the edge of a park or in the corner of an adult education building, what changes in how you listen, how you notice, how you belong? When a poem names what is small and close rather than grand and distant, does it ask you to look again at the ground beneath your own feet? Where does performance end if the street becomes part of the stage?

What does it mean to start where you stand? As you listen, what unseen work, quiet care, or shared effort comes into view? When art moves into the street, does it change how you notice the place you’re already in?

Spotlight on Travel – Standing at the Junction Travel is often framed as escape, leisure, or consumption. In this edition of Spotlight on Travel, the conversation moves in a different direction. John Coster and Rob Watson reflect on travel as a practice of attention, discomfort, and perspective-shifting, shaped as much by winter darkness at home as by encounters abroad. Drawing on recent journeys to India, Nigeria, Japan, and Cambodia, the discussion explores what travel reveals when it is undertaken with purpose rather than spectacle. Sound becomes as important as image, whether it is the organised chaos of a Mumbai junction or the quieter atmospheres of places shaped by difficult histories.

Is travel still about escape, or has it become a way of testing how we see the world and ourselves? When journeys involve work, volunteering, or listening rather than leisure, what do they reveal that staying put cannot?

Intangible Labour and the New Folklore Exhibition The Intangible Labour and the New Folklore exhibition, taking place at Leicester Adult Education Gallery on Belvoir Street brings together artists, performers, and musicians who are interested in the kinds of work that usually go unnoticed. This is not labour measured in hours, wages, or output, but the quieter effort involved in creativity, care, endurance, and emotional commitment. The exhibition and the accompanying podcast explore how much artistic work happens below the surface. Artists speak about the time, risk, and personal investment involved in making images, performances, and music. Much of this labour leaves little behind once a moment has passed, yet it shapes how culture is felt and remembered.

How much creative work goes unseen? Intangible Labour and the New Folklore explores how artists, musicians and performers carry emotion, risk and care through everyday acts of making. What kinds of culture are being formed beneath the surface?

Spotlight on Art – Computala Robots and AI This edition of Spotlight on Arts explores Computala, a digital and new media exhibition currently showing at LCB Depot in Leicester. Through a Radio Lear podcast conversation recorded at the launch, artists and curators reflect on how artificial intelligence, robotics, and generative systems are reshaping creative practice. Rather than promoting technology uncritically, the exhibition asks open questions about human agency, authorship, systems, and our relationship with machines. Visitors encounter installations, visuals, sound works, and participatory pieces that invite reflection rather than instruction. The podcast aligns closely with Soar Sound’s focus on accessible arts conversations rooted in local cultural life. Computala is open throughout January at LCB Depot, Leicester, with exhibitions, workshops, and events running alongside the main show.

How are artists responding to AI and automation without losing what makes creative work human? Spotlight on Arts on Soar Sound explores the Computala exhibition at LCB Depot in Leicester. What questions does this kind of art raise for you?

Spotlight on Travel – Finding Meaning in the Journeys We Take In this edition of Spotlight on Travel, Rob Watson and John Coster return after time away on their respective journeys, bringing with them a conversation that moves far beyond the idea of travel as leisure. Instead, they explore why travel matters, what it changes, and how it shapes the way we understand the places we come from. John begins by reflecting on his recent return to Nigeria, a country he first visited nearly twenty years ago. This latest trip took him deep into the working world of a new media house and into regions that are often described from afar through the language of instability and fear.

How does travel reshape the way we see home and the people we meet along the way? What stories emerge when we look beyond sightseeing and pay attention to everyday life? A question for this week’s Spotlight on Soar Sound.

Spotlight on Art – Intangible Labour and the New Folk Culture In this episode of Spotlight on Art, the conversation turns to the elusive, everyday forms of creativity that often pass without recognition. Artist and curator Miffy Ryan introduces the idea of “intangible labour” as the starting point for her forthcoming exhibition at the Basement Gallery, opening 12th January 2026. It is a concept that emerges not from theory but from dialogue, rooted in the instinctive, often unnoticed forms of cultural work people carry out in their daily lives. The discussion unfolds with Miffy, James Chantry, and Paul Conneally exploring how culture is shaped not only by formal institutions but by gestures, rituals, memories and expressions that rarely make it into official accounts.

How do we recognise the creative work that never gets written down or formally valued? This week’s Spotlight on Art asks what “intangible labour” means for culture, identity and everyday expression. What forms of creativity do we overlook, and why?

Spotlight on Arts – Conversations on Creative Journeys This episode of Spotlight on Arts features a reflective conversation with artists Paul Caper Dexter, Laura Dalton, and Miffy Ryan, recorded at Fearon Hall. The discussion explores how artists develop their practice outside traditional art-school pathways, drawing on personal determination, place-based inspiration, and everyday environments. Paul reflects on landscapes, street scenes, and colour-led portraiture shaped by years of self-directed work, while Laura describes an intuitive, expressive approach influenced by travel, community connections, and creative spontaneity. Together, the conversation highlights Loughborough’s re-emerging creative energy and the importance of making space for art that grows from lived experience rather than commercial expectations.

What helps artists sustain their practice when they work outside traditional routes into the art world? This week’s Spotlight on Arts podcast asks how place, confidence, and lived experience shape creative work. What stands out to you from stories like these?

Spotlight on Heritage – Stories, Connections, and the Future of Local Media This episode of Spotlight on Heritage features John Coster and Rob Watson reflecting on the Leicester Saturday Heritage Fair and the wider role of storytelling, participation, and local media in community life. Recorded in the basement gallery of Leicester Adult Education Centre, the discussion explores how informal heritage events foster connection, trust, and collaboration across diverse groups. The conversation also considers the future of community reporting, the need for authentic and independent media, and the importance of sustainable local funding models that strengthen civic and cultural life in Leicester. In this week’s…

How can local heritage events help us reconnect with each other and with the stories that shape our city? John Coster and Rob Watson reflect on the Leicester Heritage Fair and what it tells us about community, trust, and the future of local media

Saturday Heritage Fair – Creativity, Community, and Leicester’s Living Past The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education Centre celebrates creativity, community, and living history. Produced by Soar Sound Radio, this podcast features songwriter Meg McNeill on Leicester music pioneer Lawrence Wright, Bert McNeal from the Leicester Civic Society on civic heritage, re-enactor Rose on medieval storytelling, volunteers from Satsang Radio on cultural connection, and poet Tim Grayson on creative heritage at Belvoir Castle. Together, they show how Leicester’s people are keeping history alive through music, architecture, performance, radio, and poetry, linking the city’s past with its future. The latest recordings from the Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education Centre capture how creativity and memory intertwine in the city’s living heritage.

How does creativity keep local history alive? The latest reports from the Saturday Heritage Fair shares stories of Leicester’s living heritage — from music and re-enactment to poetry, architecture, and community radio — showing how the past continues to inspire the present.

Saturday Heritage Fair – Voices of Leicester’s Living History The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education College celebrates Leicester’s diverse history through storytelling, oral history, and community collaboration. Produced by Soar Sound Radio, this podcast features interviews with local historian Ned Newitt, the Media Archive for Central England (MACE), Leicester Civic Society, St. Philip’s Centre, the Silk Road Project, and Gro Social Capital. Together, they explore how art, archives, and civic action connect past and present, highlighting Leicester’s heritage as a living, shared experience. Listen to the podcast to hear the voices shaping the city’s story today. The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education College once again proved how rich and varied Leicester’s cultural story is.

How does Leicester’s past shape the city we share today? The latest Soar Sound Radio podcast from the Saturday Heritage Fair features voices from across Leicester’s cultural, civic, and creative life, exploring how stories, archives, and art keep our shared heritage alive

Saturday Heritage Fair – Bringing Leicester’s Past to Life The Saturday Heritage Fair at Leicester Adult Education Centre (11 October 2025) showcased local history, storytelling, and community heritage. Produced by Soar Sound Radio, the event featured interviews with the East Midlands Oral History Archive, Vikings of Middle England, The Elizabeth Heyrick Society, the Literary and Philosophical Society, and Satsang Radio. Organiser John Coster highlighted how heritage connects people through creativity, conversation, and shared memory. The accompanying podcast captures Leicester’s diverse voices, exploring how oral history, re-enactment, and local media bring the city’s past to life and inspire future generations.

How do we keep Leicester’s stories alive? The Saturday Heritage Fair brought together collectors, storytellers, and re-enactors exploring how shared memories shape who we are today. Listen to the Soar Sound Radio podcast to hear voices from across the city’s living heritage.

Spotlight on Heritage – Scrapbooking with Tina Barton In this episode of Spotlight on Heritage, John Coster and Rob Watson meet artist and creative educator Tina Barton to talk about the value of scrapbooking as a way of preserving personal and family memories. Recorded in the Basement Gallery at the Leicester Adult Education Centre, the discussion looks ahead to the Saturday Heritage Fair, where Tina will be running a hands-on scrapbooking drop-in session alongside other creative workshops and displays. Tina describes scrapbooking as more than just a craft activity. It’s a way for people to explore their own stories, reconnect with the past, and record moments that might otherwise be lost.

How do we turn everyday memories into part of our shared heritage? In this week’s Spotlight on Heritage, Tina Barton talks with John Coster and Rob Watson about scrapbooking as a creative way to preserve personal stories. Listen now on Soar Sound Radio.

Heritage Fair next Saturday (11th). We will be there, if local, why not pop along !

Final measure up in Hansom Hall .... our 9th FREE heritage event since 2015 hosted at the Leicester Adult Education Centre takes place this weekend on 11th October 10am-3pm .... join us at the Saturday Heritage Fair doc-media-centre.org/2025/09/07/s...

Leicester Emergent Arts Radio – A Platform for Metamodern Sound and Experimentation Radio Lear, Leicester Emergent Arts Radio, is a metamodern sound platform broadcasting on the Leicester and Loughborough multiplexes. Combining AI-generated audio with artist-created soundscapes, it offers an experimental, PRS/PPL-free space for creative exploration. Supported via Decentered Media’s Patreon, it invites artists to collaborate, contribute, and expand the possibilities of artistic radio. The launch of Radio Lear marks a milestone in developing…

Radio Lear is now live on the Leicester and Loughborough multiplexes, sharing AI-generated and artist-made soundscapes. How might artists reimagine radio as a space for creative transformation? Follow and support through Decentered Media’s Patreon to get involved.

Welcoming a Timely Intervention on Local Media – and Setting the Bar Higher The Challenges and Opportunities for UK Local Media report offers a vital assessment of declining local journalism and fragmented media policy. Its call for coordination and innovation aligns with Decentered Media’s advocacy for social value communication. However, it underplays issues like social cohesion, corporate extraction, and Foundational Economy innovation. The next step is developing transformational, hybrid models of civic communication—linking information, deliberation, and learning—to build sustainable, community-rooted media ecosystems.

The new Challenges and Opportunities for UK Local Media report calls for joined-up policy and innovation. But does it go far enough on social cohesion, extractive media models, and Foundational Economy renewal? How can we create hybrid, socially rooted systems of communication?

In Leicester on DAB, and online...