SUMMER 2025 ON VOICE
Tom Beasley, Voice Editor
It has been a delight to welcome two excellent Guest Editors – Elisha Pearce and George Straw – over the summer months, exploring LGBTQIA+ identity in a pair of insightful and heartfelt editorial series. Moving forward, we’re taking a look at the complex art around masculinity in our next series: ‘Man Down’.
We have also welcomed seven new Voice Contributors to the programme in September, who will spend the rest of 2025 working on their journalism skills and producing blogs, reviews, interviews, and in-depth features for Voice.
Look out for their work because it’s an absolutely fabulous group!
Judy McFall – Creative Pathways Manager & Participation Lead
We’ve had a fantastic year of working with 58 new local reviewers across 3 different localities including Mansfield, Shropshire & Stoke who collectively produced 123 reviews & features with many continuing to access events and create reviews as they join our next pathway as a national Voice reviewer.
We’ve developed strong partnerships with various local venues who are really supportive of offering access to events and opportunities for young people within their locality. Recently, we collaborated with Mansfield Town Film Festival (MTFF) and delivered a one-off online training session to support local reviewers in attending the festival. Each reviewer was offered press passes to access and review over 40 short films in one weekend! We’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with MTFF year on year.
We’re looking forward to supporting New Vic Theatre in continuing to develop their own theatre reviewer groups. Due to the success of our collaboration the theatre is continuing to invest in this activity and provide valuable opportunities for young people to share their voice.
Following a successful action research project with Dudley Virtual School, we’ve been awarded funding to deliver a local reviewer programme with care experienced young people across Dudley. We’ll be working with them throughout October & November, helping develop their reviewing skills and accessing various events, plus they’ll be developing podcast and voxpop skills with a creative practitioner.
Dayna Hewitt – Voice Coordinator
We are so pleased to announce that we now have over 100 Voice Reviewers signed up to review creative events and experiences in their area and we have surpassed 200 reviews in 2025 so far! The growth of the Voice Reviewers programme this year has been very special and we love seeing our new reviewers go from strength to strength.
Between now and the end of the year, we’ll be covering events such as BFI London 2025 and Birmingham Film Festival as well as launching our own 2026 Voice Winter Film Festival… more details to come soon!
Emrys Green – Associate for Training and Services
We have loved working with many Arts Award centres over the summer to explore the future of Silver & Gold Arts Award, catching up with alumni from professional performing arts diplomas and preparing for the new term with our youth board in Nottingham and our work on the Creative Alternative Education Provision in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Just a selection of where we’re bringing our experience and expertise to great projects that have so much backing to ensure young people can grow and excel in creative opportunities!