A BRAND new podcast dedicated to celebrating arts and culture in Cumbria has been launched.
Behind the Scenery produced by Tom Speight, of Cumbria Arts and Culture Network, will cover all aspects of the arts from poetry to painting, live performance to festivals, film, music and museums.
Tom, 53, from Cockermouth, draws on his background as a BBC broadcast journalist and former Radio Cumbria news editor, said: "Cumbria is full of creativity and talent and this new monthly podcast will explore and showcase every aspect of that.
"It will champion events and exhibitions and everything that is going on across the whole county and talk to creative people doing interesting work whether they are well known or not.
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"I aim to surprise. And to introduce people to lots of things they didn’t know about. There is such a lot going on in the arts and culture scene in Cumbria but not everyone realises," he said.
The second episode of Behind the Scenery has just been released this week, in which Tom takes listeners on a tour of Wordsworth Grasmere interspersed with features including the modern art gallery Cross Lane Projects in Kendal, the micro festival Esk Fest, and a soundscape feature of a working artist, Chris Dennett, from Ulverston.
The first podcast, which was released in July, visits Rosehill theatre in Whitehaven and includes a look behind the scenes at Sound Waves, the Workington music studio project for young Cumbrians. Writer Carmen Nasr gives the inside story on Theatre by the Lake show The Climbers and Dove Cottage young poet Elizabeth Reid performs her poem The Smell of Rain.
"I will be including west Cumbria and highlighting young people in the arts and culture sector because they sometimes get less attention,” he said.
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"The sector here is vibrant and has a lot of talent but it has taken a big hit over the last couple of years with venues closing and people struggling to survive as artists.
"Now more than ever we need to help and promote the arts. Arts and cultural experiences including museums work wonderfully well to help people’s wellbeing and pick people up who are post pandemic still struggling with life and the cost of living," he said.
Behind the Scenery is available at www.tinyurl.com/cacnpodcast and the podcasted can be contacted via hello@cacn.co.uk with any ideas you may have for content.
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