Creative Lives On Air | Recent broadcasts

Catch up on the latest stories of creativity from our Creative Lives On Air team

Our Community Producers are stationed across the country, embedded within local BBC radio stations. If your creative group has a local story to share, please contact us at [email protected].

Collage and Mixed Media

Paulette Edwards engages in a collage workshop in BBC Radio Sheffield led by artist Patty B, as part of Creativity and Wellbeing Week. (Broadcast 22 May 2026, from 2hr 13min)

Listen via BBC Sounds

The Edward Street Crafters

Paulette Edwards meets international craft enthusiasts The Edward Street Crafters from Sheffield. (Broadcast 21 May 2026, from 2hr 13min)

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Singing and joyful noise

Paulette Edwards meets some enthusiastic singers from two community choirs in a workshop led by Yo Tozer, as part of Creativity and Wellbeing Week. (Broadcast 20 May 2026, from 2hr 15min)

Listen via BBC Sounds

Concerteenies

Paulette Edwards meets South Yorkshire-based Concerteenies, providing live music for babies and their grown ups, as part of Creativity & Wellbeing Week. (Broadcast 19 May 2026, from 2hr 16min)

Listen via BBC Sounds

YWCA Rotherham

"I would never have considered making something so simple could turn into something so beautiful." Our Creative Lives Producer visited YWCA Rotherham, to find out how they provide transformative creative sessions for young mothers, in partnership with the Rotherham ROAR.

All Roads Slough

On the first Thursday of every month, Slough library comes alive with the sound of people stitching together. All Roads Slough is a community stitching group and Creative Lives wanted to know more.

BeatRoutes

Most evenings during the week, the Curve in Slough brims with youthful energy as it plays host to young people who gather to make music, art and experiment with creativity. Beat Routes is a creative collective for 13 to 25 year olds who create a safe space for all sorts of art and performance. Creative Lives joined one of their weekly sessions to see what happens when they start to jam.

Resource Productions' BFI Film Academy

For the last fourteen years, Slough-based Resource Productions has been running the BFI Film Academy. A week-long course where 16-18 year old young people are taught the basics of film making and work together to make a short film. This year, they ran the course at Bray Studios and Creative Lives went along to find out more.

In The Frame

Grace Stubbings talk to In The Frame, a Hartlepool-based filmmakers collective, supporting local and regional creatives within the screen industries. 25 March 2025

Banishing the blues with creativity

The third Monday of January has been dubbed ‘Blue Monday’ thanks to various colliding factors: the length of time since you last got paid, Christmas is a distant memory, most of us have abandoned our New Year’s resolutions, and the days are still long, dark and cold - making it a perfect storm for feeling a bit down. But the good news is things can only get better from here! If you're in Cannock or the Black Country there's an app that can help bounce your way into Spring, as our Creative Lives Producer, Rachel New, discovered. 22 January 2025

Learning Maths and English through art

South Staffordshire College is teaching Maths and English though art. Rachel New, one of our Creative Lives Producers, met a group of adults improving their reading, writing and wellbeing with this bold programme.

Pep the Poet standing at the front of an assembly hall full of children in red uniforms

BBC Radio West Midlands

Rachel New went to Press Books and Coffee in Hednesford to a workshop with Pep the Poet, a children's poet and wellbeing champion. Pep spoke about his struggle with poor mental health, and how teaching poetry to children is a powerful thing. 18 December 2024

The cast of Jack and the Beanstalk taking a curtain call

BBC Radio West Midlands

Seasons Theatre Company is a fully inclusive amateur dramatics group, focusing on musical theatre in Staffordshire. Many of the members are disabled, and are supported by volunteers to put on two fantastic shows a year. Rachel New went to see them rehearse and find out how being part of Seasons is changing lives. 18 December 2024

BBC Radio West Midlands

As part of International Men's Day, Rachel New spoke to Jason Titley, who started Stand By Me, a men's mental health group, after a life changing accident. 19 November 2024

BBC Radio West Midlands

Rachel New spoke to Clare Titley from Arts Council England and Jennifer Lees from Wolverhampton Libraries, about how important the Know Your Neighbourhood fund has been in combatting loneliness. 19 November 2024

BBC Radio West Midlands

A piece about a long-forgotten local poet, Nancy Foster, who took her own life nearly 100 years ago. The Museum of Cannock Chase has created a walking trail of her poetry, read by the Staffordshire Poet Laureate. Rachel New walked the trail with Nancy's nephew. 19 November 2024

BBC Radio West Midlands

The Hub at Pye Green Community Centre, Hednesford, is a place people can go to spend time with others, do something creative, or learn something new. Rachel New went down to see how breathing and a sound bath can help with stress and sleep issues. 22 October 2024