Peterborough residents to become YouTube voices thanks to £25,000 grant to celebrate city's 900 years

The Vivacity Peterborough Museum and City Gallery has been awarded £25,000 Innovaton Fund Grant from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and Google.org for an exciting new initiative called  '˜StoryTheCity: Peterborough vlogs 900!'
Residents of Peterborough have the opportunity to become the city's YouTube stars in 900th anniversary schemeResidents of Peterborough have the opportunity to become the city's YouTube stars in 900th anniversary scheme
Residents of Peterborough have the opportunity to become the city's YouTube stars in 900th anniversary scheme

Peterborough residents, armed with digital content creation skills, will generate up to 300 personal stories from around the city.

The dedicated YouTube channel expects to become a rainbow of voices showcasing a city both steeped in English tradition and rich in cultural diversity and languages. The team behind the project hope it will mark the significant 900 year anniversary of Peterborough for generations to come.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Initially, the fund will train a 30 person ‘elite’ team of trainers composed of people who are active in community work, education, arts or doing good in Peterborough communities.

This cohort of trainers will be taught theatre techniques and video storytelling with their stories captured on camera. The trainers will then share those skills with others in their own communities, capturing yet more stories.

The best stories and storytellers will be celebrated at the Google.org and ISD supported StoryTheCity Festival in December.

Anita Nayyar, freelance artist at Peterborough Museum and StoryTheCity's project manager said, "This is an awesome opportunity not just to show off our city but to benefit from the amazing storytelling and dialogue skills offered by our program partners. And to amplify the people and history that makes Peterborough unique on a platform like YouTube . Participants will have an opportunity to meet influential content creators and get exclusive access to Google experts as well."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Peterborough Museum is partnering with seasoned cultural organizers Stephen Shashoua (former Director of the Three Faiths Forum) and Abdul-Rehman Malik (BBC journalist and Programmes Manager of the Radical Middle Way) who designed and implemented the innovative Google.org funded CERITA initiative, that uses storytelling, high-impact dialogue and theatre to bridge inter-religious and inter-cultural fault-lines.