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In this episode Sophie Hope talks with Owen Kelly about the manifesto that the Shelton Trust produced for the 1986 Another Standard Sheffield conference which attempted to add ideas about cultural democracy to the practice of community arts. Mayhem ensued...   Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse EPISODE 92 | NOVEMBER 6 | 2026    PARTICIPANTS SOPHIE HOPE | OWEN KELLY   COMMENTARY In July 1986 Another Standard, the association of community artists, held a conference in Sheffield. A manifesto working group presented the manifesto they had been asked to work on for discussion. Perhaps unfortunately they had not just written but also designed and laid out a manifesto, and arranged with Comedia to have it printed and made available. This was interpreted by some, but not all, of those attending as pre-empting discussion, and this in turn caused a number of disagreements within the movement to surface in ways that made discussion of the manifesto difficult if not impossible. At the end of September this year Owen Kelly, who was one of the three co-writers of the manifesto, attended a seminar at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in central London where he and Sophie led a discussion with participation from others attending. The evening lasted longer than planned and the discussion was lively. We recorded the event intending to produce a live episode, but the sound quality ended up not being as good as we hoped. Sophie and Owen have therefore compared notes from the meeting and undertaken a conversation that reiterates and extends some of the arguments on the night. This time they achieved an audio quality that is actually audible.   REFERENCES Another Standard 1986: Culture & Democracy the manifesto https://dibdibdob.com/stuffandbobs/culture-and-democracy.pdf

In the fourth episode for 2026 we listen to an episode of Bold Venture, a radio series from the early nineteen fifties to explore storylines, economics and the development of the means of distribution in the mid-twentieth century media industries.   Friday Number 5  EPISODE 23 | OCTOBER 30, 2026   HOST OWEN KELLY   COMMENTARY On months that have a fifth Friday we break from our normal schedule. This year, as we did in 2022, we take an opportunity to delve into the history of radio to bring back some examples that let us hear unfiltered aspects of the world as it seemed to our grandparents. Today go back to July 9 1951, and the 16th episode of a 78 episode series called Bold Venture and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The series features a story that will still sound sadly familiar to listeners today, although the way it is presented and resolved may not. It also raises some interesting issues about the nature of syndication as a deliberate strategy to circumvent the influence of the major radio networks and set up alternative distribution platforms appealing to smaller more local advertisers. Finally, trying to work out how to calculate the value of Bogart and Bacall’s fees in today’s money raises questions about how this calculation is usually carried out in current media journalism. Owen Kelly introduces the episode and explains all this and more.   REFERENCES Old Time Radio on Bold Venture https://oldtime.radio/episodes/bold-venture Old Time Radio Researchers Group on Bold Venture https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Bold_Venture Wikipedia on Bold Venture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bold_Venture Wikipedia on electrical transcription https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_transcription Wikipedia on Frederic W Ziv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Ziv Wikipedia on the Frederic W Ziv Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziv_Company

This month Jo Gibson and Sophie Hope look at various roles that music therapy has played at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s to the 2020s.   Echoes and the Unsaid  EPISODE 09 | SEPTEMBER 23 | 2026   HOSTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope   COMMENTARY The Music Therapy postgraduate programme at Guildhall School of Music and Drama was founded in 1967 by Juliette Alvin.   In this episode Jo and Sophie are joined by: Leslie Bunt, who taught on the course from 1980 to 1993 Sarah Hoskyns, who taught on the course from 1982 to 2005 and was programme lead from 1990 Ann Sloboda, who has taught on the course since 1984 and is currently programme lead Donald Wetherick, who has taught on the course since 2003 and completed his PhD in Music Therapy at Guildhall Emma Kenrick, a graduate of the course (2016) who is now a tutor on it, as well as full-time Music Therapist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital The group discuss the origins of the course and the development of Music Therapy as an area of research in its own right.  They talk about the importance of students working on placements alongside staff in different sectors, such as prisons, hospices, schools and hospitals, and the role of clinical improvisation. They also explore how songwriting, listening to meaningful music, and a wider range of instruments, not just piano, have become central to therapy over the years.  Finally, they discuss the need for institutions to support and adequately resource the staff on these courses, not just the students.   REFERENCES The course and research MA Music Therapy at Guildhall School of Music and Drama Listen-In research project Our guests Leslie Bunt Sarah Hoskyns Ann Sloboda Donald Wetherick Emma Kenrick Other people mentioned in the podcast Juliette Alvin Maggie Pickett Ernest Berk Bryony Williams Jonathan Smith Peter Reason John Richer Tony Wigram Elaine Streeter Jackie Robarts Stuart Wood Irene Pujol Helen Bonny Claire Flower Daniel Stern Mercedes Pavlicevic Further reading Atkinson, J. Experience, evidence and what counts in UK music therapy: an arts-based autoethnographic study(thesis) Musgrave, G. (2023). “Music and wellbeing vs. musicians’ wellbeing: Examining the paradox of music-making positively impacting wellbeing, but musicians suffering from poor mental health.” Cultural Trends, 32(3), 280–295

In Episode 69 of A Culture of Possibility, François Matarasso and Arlene Goldbard interview Giorgio Bacchiega, Research Officer at Amateo and Director of the Milan’s Urban Peripheries Research Centre.   A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY EPISODE 69 | OCTOBER 16 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Giorgio Bacchiega | Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso   COMMENTARY Amateo is the only European Network to promote and advocate for active participation in arts and culture. Founded in 2008, it includes 45 national and regional umbrellas and associations from 24 EU member states. In this episode we’ll talk with Giorgio Bacchiega about current developments in European cultural policy; about how they relate to community-based arts, cultural democracy, and co-creation; and about how they could be strengthened in this regard. Giorgio Bacchiega is a lecturer at the Catholic University of Milan, Director of the Milan’s Urban Peripheries Research Centre for Consulta Periferie Milano and member of the Research and documentation team for Amateo.   References Amateo https://amateo.org

In this month’s episode of Parallel Streams we listen to an episode of a wildly popular podcast called No Agenda, published under a Creative Commons licence. The podcast is hosted as always by Adam Curry, and this episode features Rob Dew as co-host. PARALLEL STREAMS EPISODE 10 | OCTOBER 9 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Adam Curry | Rob Dew | Owen Kelly   COMMENTARY Wikipedia says that “No Agenda is a podcast co-created by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak. Since its launch, the show has been recorded twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and is primarily focused on deconstructing and critiquing mainstream news media. Following Dvorak's death in July 2026, Curry announced that the podcast would continue, beginning with a memorial episode featuring stories and anecdotes from Dvorak's family and friends”. The show has no advertisers and instead relies entirely on donations. There are no guidelines for the amount and frequency of contributions; instead, these are left to the discretion of the listener, a model called “value for value" by the show's hosts. The show also relies on its listeners—dubbed "producers"—to provide artwork and audio clips. They have over 1,400,000 listeners per episode and - WARNING - the episodes can last up to three hours in length. The episode we have chosen to rebroadcast is episode 1904 titled Junkie Communism and first broadcast on September 17, 2026. It lasts approximately two hours and forty five minutes. REFERENCES The No Agenda website https://noagendashow.net The Tribute to John C Dvorak episode https://noagendashow.net/listen/1889 About Value for Value https://noagendashow.net/about/value4value About the No Agenda community https://noagendashow.net/producers  Adam Curry's microblog http://adam.curry.com/linkblog.html  

In this episode Owen Kelly joins Sophie Hope for a detailed examination of the commons, and its possible relationship to ideas of cultural democracy.   Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse EPISODE 91 | October 2 | 2026    PARTICIPANTS Sophie Hope, Owen Kelly COMMENTARY In episodes 40 and 41, in 2020, Owen Kelly looked at cultural commons from a geographical and then an historical perspective. He attempted to demonstrate the breadth of contemporary musics available under a creative commons banner, as well as the richness of the cultural productions from previous eras made available to us through falling out of copyright. In this episode, originally broadcast as episode 42 on May 8 2020, he joins Sophie Hope for a detailed examination of the commons, and its possible relationship to ideas of cultural democracy. They base their discussion on a reading of Guy Standing’s book Plunder of the Commons, which locates the beginning of the commons in the signing of the Charter of the Forest on November 6, 1217. They examine Standing’s arguments and the manifesto he proposes for re-establishing the idea of commons in 21st century society. They also borrow ideas from David Bollier’s book Think Like a Commoner as they examine how all this intertwines with ideas of cultural democracy.

In this episode Jo Gibson and Sophie Hope continue their thread about the Performance and Communication Skills course at Guildhall. Echoes and the Unsaid  EPISODE 08 | SEPTEMBER 25 | 2026   HOSTS Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope   COMMENTARY  Jo and Sophie talk to Saville Kushner, who evaluated the course in the 1980s, Peter Weigold the artistic director and Sean Gregory as a former student on the programme (and now Vice Principal and Director of Innovation, Engagement & Lifelong Learning at Guildhall), about their reflections on PCS. We learn more about Peter Weigold’s methodology and his approach to cross genre improvising and how he operates in the space between directive and collective approaches. Saville Kushner gives us examples of his experience of visiting sessions and of talking to students on the course in the 1980s and how formative that was to his understanding of process and improvisation in education and training programmes. Sean brings in his memories of studying on the course, working as an ensemble and the legacy of the PCS programme on Guildhall today.

In this episode of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso discuss some books that have inspired or delighted them and that listeners may enjoy.  A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY EPISODE 68 | SEPTEMBER 18 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso   COMMENTARY On episode 68 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk about books that have inspired or delighted them and that they think listeners will enjoy. What books are unforgettable for you? Some of these might wind up on your list.   REFERENCES Martha Nussbaum: Creating Capabilities https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Capabilities-Human-Development-Approach/dp/0674072359/ John Berger https://www.johnbergerhome.com Lukas Pairon: The Art of Positive Fatalism https://www.ederneditions.com/page-produit/the-art-of-positive-fatalism-ebook In The Camp of Angels of Freedom: What Does It Mean to be Educated (sign up for the newsletter and receive a 30% discount) https://nyupress.org/9781613321980/in-the-camp-of-angels-of-freedom/ The Raymond Williams Reader https://ebay.io/m/m4fNaC (Used copies are available, but you need to search for a good price.)

In this month’s episode of Parallel Streams we listen to an episode of a podcast from 2022. The series was called Open Minds and it ran for 21 episodes. It originated from the Creative Commons organisation and was therefore published under a Creative Commons licence.   PARALLEL STREAMS EPISODE 09 | SEPTEMBER 11 | 2026   PARTICIPANTS Owen Kelly | Brigitte Vézina   COMMENTARY At the time of this podcast Brigitte Vézina worked as Creative Commons’ Director of Policy, Open Culture, and GLAM. Brigitte said she felt “passionate about all things spanning culture, arts, handicraft, traditions, fashion and, of course, copyright law and policy”.   GLAM, in this context, stands for galleries, libraries, archives and museums. In her LinkedIn profile Brigitte describes her aim as “driving copyright policy change in the face of technological, social, and economic disruptions”.  Her current work involves “leading a multi-million dollar program for policy reform and capacity building to disrupt the system in which information, knowledge and culture are accessed, used, shared, and recreated digitally across the web. My mission is to influence those that make laws, policies, and norms at the international, regional (EU), and national levels to make those rules fairer, more balanced, and more supportive of the public interest”. In this episode of Open Minds she talks about her journey to Creative Commons.   REFERENCES Open Minds podcasts on Podbay https://podbay.fm/p/open-minds-from-creative-commons Open Minds on Creative Commons own website https://creativecommons.org/tag/open-minds/ OpenGLAM https://openglam.pubpub.org Wikipedia: history of Creative Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons Current Creative Commons licenses https://creativecommons.org/licenses/list.en There are more links available on the page for the original podcast https://podbay.fm/p/open-minds-from-creative-commons/e/1643758172  

Owen Kelly looks at a number of current events and relates them to the arguments that Sarah Wilson puts forward in her new book I Eat the Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World.    Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse EPISODE 90 | September 5 | 2026    PARTICIPANT Owen Kelly   COMMENTARY Wendell Berry died this week at the age of 92, and so what I had planned for this episode changed to focus more on the contrast between his world view and the world view of the tech bros leading us into an irreversible climate catastrophe. The episode still draws from my reading of Sarah Wilson’s book I Eat The Stars although it no longer attempts a proper review. Perhaps that will come later. It draws together a number of different news stories: a corporate court case; a social media company selling early access to a president's posts; betting markets hiding in plain sight; a clear pattern behind online pile-ons; and a theory about disconnection and climate change. The conclusion remains the same: in the final analysis ideas of community and communal culture are all we have and we need to keep regenerating and rewilding them.   REFERENCES I Eat The Stars by Sarah Wilson https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/808096/i-eat-the-stars-by-sarah-wilson/ Your worst fears about cultural collapse might be true – here’s what you can do about it (an interview with Sarah Wilson) https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2026/jul/29/sarah-wilson-book-interview Spirituality+Health interview with Sarah Wilson https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/articles/2020/12/29/this-one-wild-and-precious-life-sarah-wilson NPR: Beloved writer and environmentalist Wendell Berry has died at age 92 https://www.npr.org/2026/09/01/1139228585/wendell-berry-obituary PBS NewsHour: Paid early access to Trump's posts raises insider trading questions https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/paid-early-access-to-trumps-posts-raises-insider-trading-questions MetaMask News: Top prediction market categories to watch in 2026 https://metamask.io/news/top-prediction-market-categories-2026 NPR: Judge sides with Meta in antitrust trial, will not spin off WhatsApp and Instagram https://www.npr.org/2025/11/18/nx-s1-5495626/meta-ftc-instagram-whatsapp-antitrust-ruling HHS Surgeon General: Social Media and Youth Mental Health https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/youth-mental-health/social-media/index.html New Statesman: The dangers of public shaming, mob justice and scolding on the internet https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2014/01/dangers-public-shaming-mob-justice-and-scolding-internet Axios: New book 'Commander in Cheat' goes long on Trump's golf game https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-golf-book-rick-reilly-21b439c1-2de5-4e34-9370-37d666fa9b86.html Kentucky Lantern: Kentucky writer, farmer and advocate Wendell Berry dies at 92 https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/08/31/kentucky-writer-farmer-and-advocate-wendell-berry-dies-at-92/ QuoteFancy: Top 450 Wendell Berry Quotes https://quotefancy.com/wendell-berry-quotes