This just in – your local radio station has been awarded a £9,950 grant from The National Lottery!
At the beginning of the year, our management team applied for a grant from The National Lottery Community Fund. These grants are used to fund community-focused project around the UK, and are an invaluable source of allowing projects to thrive without commercial backing.
The grant is to be used to allow us to build a brand new state-of-the-art multimedia studio. This studio will be available not just for producing Insanity content, but for our volunteers to use for personal projects, for internal training, and will be accessible to anyone in the local community. We’ll be working with our sister media groups rhubarbTV and Orbital Magazine to further advance this exciting project.
Our goal as a community-focused radio station is not just to produce great content for our audiences, but to act as a training ground for everyone, regardless of background, to get industry experience and state-of-the-art training.
Through the use of new digital technology, we’ll be able to provide higher quality training that has for a while been industry-standard. We’ll also be able to use this space to work more closely with local schools and youth groups, who continue have access to our studios .
Jamie Woods, project-lead and Station Manager-Elect said:
“This is a fantastic achievement. It goes to show that the impact of Insanity’s work over the last 21 years is massive, and has been recognised by a grant-awarding body. It’s really exciting to see one of our biggest projects in recent years receive funding, as this really lifts the limit on what we can achieve as a station.
“Our aim is to make a space that is accessible to everyone. Insanity doesn’t just provide media training to Royal Holloway students, but to local students and young people who have a passion for music, entertainment and media in general. By introducing a digital studio, which aligns much more closely with studios used by bigger radio groups, we can provide better training and employment prospects to those who want to pursue broadcasting as a career, but who do not have the privilege of otherwise doing so.
“We’re aiming to start work on constructing this space over the University’s summer break, potentially with broadcasts beginning from the new space in September 2019.
“I must say a massive thank-you to the team who worked on the project proposal – I know they are relieved that their hard work has paid off! Fantastic things happen when we work together with Royal Holloway Students’ Union and the College, and we’ll be continuing to work closely to bring this dream to life.”
Holly Hughes, Insanity’s supervising trustee, said:
“Our media outlets constantly produce some of the highest quality student media across the UK, with all three outlets shortlisted for, and oftentimes winning, national awards in their respective fields. It has been a pleasure working alongside Jamie and the current heads of each outlet to flesh out this idea, understanding how much of a difference this will make to the breadth and quality of content that they continue to deliver.
“This year, our media outlets have expanded their reach into the local community, working with schools, charities and youth groups to create workshops and training sessions, showing the ins and outs of getting involved in the industry. With the new technology they will be able to purchase during the renovation of this space, all three of the media outlets will be able to provide higher quality training and workshops for these groups. This is great news, as not only will we better our engagement with the local community, but we will also provide greater opportunities for them, our students and the media outlets.
“I am so proud of all the hard work, consideration and passion that has gone into this project so far, and I’m very excited to see it progress. We wouldn’t be able to execute this project without the funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, for which we are extremely grateful, and we can’t wait to see the impact this will make in future years.”
We’re grateful to Royal Holloway Students’ Union for their support with this project. When the project begins, we’ll be sharing regular updates on what’s happening next, what’s happening with the grant money and how we’re spending it, and detailing the support our parent organisation are providing.
If you’re interested in helping us develop the studio, or getting involved in radio in general – we’re always looking for new people to join our expanding team! You can find out how to get involved here.