Shaping Tomorrow, Today
It’s been so important to us to work with Hear Art, a UK social enterprise, co-founded by Cindy Sasha and Academy Award winner Rachel Shenton, over the last few months.
Today we announced the launch of Shaping Tomorrow, the brand-new, trail-blazing deaf-led video podcast created with a 90% deaf production team to amplify the voices of the deaf community.
The Shaping Tomorrow series embraces British Sign Language and is the very first deaf video podcast to focus on the careers of deaf professionals in the creative, sports and entertainment industries while unearthing the challenges they have faced along the way and how things have changed over time.
The first instalment of the four-episode series is now live on Hear Art’s YouTube channel, and sees designer and entrepreneur Wayne Hemingway MBE have an open and honest conversation with deaf architect Christopher Laing discussing their comparative experiences and journeys through the same industry.
Christopher speaks of the limitations faced by deaf architects and founding the DAF (Deaf Architecture Front) and its support for young people looking to follow in his footsteps:
“When I’m fighting and advocating for people, I’m just imagining a deaf person needing that support from someone that has the knowledge to help them so they can switch off and focus on what they need to do for their education.”
Episode two sees make-up artist Caroline Barnes sit down with deaf make-up artist Nicky Weir, in episode three, deaf mountaineer Michael Woods chats to adventurer and solo expeditionist James Aiken, and episode four sees actress Maxine Peake speak to deaf actress Sophie Stone.
The episodes are to be released exclusively on YouTube every two weeks, while the series will launch on Spotify, Audible and Apple Podcasts at the start of November.
Viva La Festa Italiana 2024
There’s no party like an Italian festa!
For seven years now, Festa Italiana, the UK’s biggest Italian festival, has been growing from strength to strength and we’re proud to have been delivering the press and socials for four of them. This was my third year on the ground and it might have been the best one yet!
Created by the family behind Manchester-favourite Salvi’s, Festa Italiana is the UK’s biggest annual celebration of all the best things Italian, taking in authentic food, drink and culture.
Championing Manchester’s vibrant communities and telling their stories has always been essential to our work and Festa Italiana is just another heartwarming reminder that we all speak the same language. It’s been an absolute pleasure telling the stories of the hard-working people of Italy, who bring a slice of their culture year upon year.
Working with the Festa team, festival partners and participants, we delivered a fun, community-centred campaign, building on the success from previous years. The incredible ethos of the festival and its colourful characters secured a series of features on BBC Radio Manchester and London One Radio.
Insanely fun, and absolutely bonkers – that’s how the Festa goes, and our dedicated social media team smashed the challenge of delivering outstanding live content.
We had it all – from a cheeky lemonade stand which caused a furore, to the ultimate (chaotic) Festa tour, delivered by the iconic Gennaro Contaldo and festival creator Maurizio Cecco, to breaking down language barriers and navigating the crowds to ask the vendors the most pressing of questions – does pineapple go on pizza.
Viva La Cucina!
When I tell you this one is going down in history – I mean it.
Inspired by the hugely popular Amalfi Coast extravaganza, Salvi’s introduced Manchester’s craziest Italian cooking class, right in the heart of the festival. Making pasta, catching a flying pizza dough disk, dancing, piping cannoli, and, of course, the return of the viral big pan, all made for a truly unforgettable night.
Guess who was there to keep you updated via live stories? All while dodging flying dough balls, crashing the dancefloor with the stunning pastaia Carmela Sereno Hayes, and singing along to Napoli anthems.
If, ‘the harder the work, the sweeter the reward’, then the campaign we created must have been absolutely scrumptious, but the proof is in the pudding!
We also generated 35 pieces of targeted coverage, across key titles like the Manchester Evening News, Manchester’s Finest, Secret Manchester, Manchester Wire, The Manc, About Manchester, Creative Tourist, Taste of Manchester, and Yahoo! News UK, alongside a hugely successful social media partnership with Eat MCR.
The social media strategy was aimed at raising awareness, maximising engagement and capitalising on the skyrocketing exposure during the festival. We created multiple social media collaborations with key Festa figures like Gennaro Contaldo, various performers and partners.
So if you’re as passionate about Italian culture as we are, have a taste of this year’s Festa Italiana.
As the Italians say, ci vediamo alla Festa Italiana 2025!
Evelina x
📸 by Simone Ronconi
Swansea Arena House Party: The Fight to Save Grassroots Venues
Grassroots music venues are the lifeblood of our music industry. Without them, would we have our favourite bands, or core memories? Would the UK have its international renown?
The GMV crisis is worsening, and we are losing venues at an unprecedented rate, so it’s vital that we come together to support change.
We’ve had the honour of supporting The Swansea Music Venues Working Group, chaired by Swansea Arena’s Lisa Mart. This is a new collaboration that has enabled the city’s rich music scene to face the industry’s challenges and create opportunities together.
In February, the group which is made up of Swansea Arena, Sin City, The Bunkhouse, Elysium, Hangar 18 and Hippos, held the hugely successful Swansea Arena House Party which fulfilled its aim of raising £10,000 for the Music Venues Trust (MVT) and injected £10,000 back into the region’s creative sector, whilst putting on a banging gig event headlined by Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard with support from fromKikker, The Fiends, PseudoCool, Mojo Jnr., Monet, Grey FLX, and Rainyday Rainbow.
In addition, throughout the day there were creative workshops to support grassroots artists in the city taking in developing a live show, creating pop art album covers, noise makers taster DJ sessions, graffiti lettering, and drumming, as well as an array of stalls from local grassroots music venues, funders and support organisations, creatives including photographers and videographers, plus much, much more.
Now, the organisation is now petitioning the Senedd (Welsh Government) to improve the late-night transport into and out of the city.
Transport is a huge priority as currently, in Swansea and South West Wales, most transport links East currently finish before 23:00, meaning that music fans attending events closing any later have to make the difficult choice to either drive, or miss the last hour of the event and the music venues across the city have joined forces to address the critical situation that the Music Venue Trust (MVT) warns could result in 10% of grassroots music venues closing in the near future.
Currently on just over 5,300 signatures, the Group has until 7th May 2024 to get the petition’s figure to 10,000 and qualify for consideration for debate. Swansea Arena, with support from the local grassroots music venues, has penned this open letter to the government to state their case and is encouraging people from Swansea and beyond to sign.
The Group has put in a lot of hard work to generate momentum and has had media support from music press, music trade outlets and regional titles including Total Production International, Access All Areas, Access All Areas (again), Mixmag, BBC 6 Music, BBC Wales, Wales Online, South Wales Chronicle and Buzz Magazine
You can sign the petition here.
The Irish Nation: Delivered by Irish Mancunian and supported by Wild in Art
Not to be missed! The Irish Nation, a collection of Irish iconography by renowned mosaic artist Mark Kennedy including works featuring George Best, Oscar Wilde, Sinead O’Connor and Shane McGowan, is being exhibited now in cultural and creative venues throughout Manchester City Centre and will be on display ’til 31st March 2024.
Commissioned by Irish Mancunian, an organisation that curates cultural events of Irish interest for Manchester audiences, The Irish Nation has been transformed into a free-to-view art trail with the support of, our good friends at global art producer, Wild in Art (Bee in the City, Gratitude), with each piece placed in a venue carefully selected to provide context to the piece.
Ten years in the making, the project began in 2015, when Mark Kennedy spontaneously created a piece of Samuel Beckett, a piece of work that awakened something within him, reaffirming his deep Irish roots. The stunning collection of original and previously unseen mosaics now portrays seventeen personalities from the worlds of literature, music, sport and history.
To name a few, singer Luke Kelly can be found at Hallé St Peter’s, Manchester United legend George Best at the National Football Museum, music icons Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan at New Century, poet, playwright and wit Oscar Wilde at QueerLit, playwright Samuel Beckett at 53Two, and. John F. Kennedy at the Science and Industry Museum in a nod to the part he played in the moon landings
Sitting alongside the exhibition are QR codes to take you straight to the website to learn more about the fascinating stories behind the art. Ground-breaking architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray, whose mosaic can be seen at Manchester Craft and Design Centre, was overlooked for a long time, as she worked in the male dominated Modernist movement, and boxing phenomenon Katie Taylor, whose portrait can be found at Koffee Pot, broke through the barriers to entry in boxing that meant she had start her career boxing as a boy and is now double World Champion.
We were delighted to share the news, and facilitate a walking press tour, all of which generated huge interest across the city and some lovely pieces on BBC News Online, MEN, I Love Manchester, Creative Tourist, Manchester Wire, About Manchester, Manchester World and Secret Manchester, in addition to an interview with Irish Mancunian’s Ray Boyle and a full feature on BBC Radio Manchester.
Check it out if you have the chance, you’ll see some incredible artwork in some of Manchester’s best venues 🙂
Find out the locations of each mosaic here.
Sundae x
📸: David Oates
Happy 50th Anniversary to our Friend and Yours, Bagpuss!
On the 12th February, our lovely friend Bagpuss, the most important, the most beautiful, the most magical saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world, celebrated his 50th anniversary.
We were honoured to mark the day, working with our long-standing client, international media group and rights owner, Coolabi, working to place interviews with Emily Firmin, who played Emily in the show and Daniel Postgate, both children of the late Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, who created the show 50 years ago.
The anniversary was a huge success, with 47 pieces of targeted high- quality coverage via a range of key national, regional, consumer, business and broadcast titles with potential reach of over 430 million.
Highlights included the Radio Times, the Guardian How We Made It, The Times Relative Values, BBC News, ITV News, Channel 5 News, and BBC Radio 6’s Radcliffe and Maconie dedicated an entire show to celebrate.
Just thirteen episodes of the iconic Smallfilms animation were created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, which live on in the hearts of the British public, and to this day Bagpuss is considered one of the greatest ever TV shows. The remastered show was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2023 by Fabulous Films, a long standing UK/US distributor specialising in classic and cult television and is available to stream on Britbox and ITVX, plus iTunes, Amazon and more.
To mark the moment, leading distributors of collectable coins and stamps, The Westminster Collection, released a brand new collection of five 50p coins in base metal and sterling silver with quotes from the show.
Guernsey Post will issue a set of four commemorative stamps, on the 25th July, including souvenir sheets, first day covers and a presentation pack. Rainbow Designs, creators of high quality, forever toys, inspired by the beloved characters from children’s literature, has launched a new range of Bagpuss plush toys
Bagpuss – The 50th Anniversary Edition, is a special edition Bagpuss from Steiff, the inventors of the teddy bear, exclusive to Danbury Mint. And Practical Publishing will be releasing a Bagpuss collection available at CraftStash, featuring cutting dies, beautiful printed papers and toppers.
Dedicated news about the products created to commemorate the moment were placed in Skwigly, Total Licensing, Licensing.biz, Animation For Adults, Animation Magazine, License Global and Planet Radio.
The celebrations continue as The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge is hosting The Smallfilms Gallery, renamed in honour of the studio, a family gallery showcasing work by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, who created their iconic children’s programmes from their studio near Canterbury. The exhibition, created in close conjunction with the Firmin and Postgate families and Dr Chris Pallant, Canterbury Christ Church University features the original Bagpuss, and many of the original film props.
As he enters his 50th year, Bagpuss continues his role as mascot to Hospices of Hope, the only UK charity dedicated to supporting hospice care in South and East Europe.
On The Wings of Mystery Bird
As dusk fell over Eccles, a flock of bright birds swept through the streets and onto the buildings.
Residents of over 50 streets throughout the historic market town welcomed Mystery Bird to their neighbourhood, as the stunning art installation made its way through a five-night outdoors display.
Created for the community by the community, Mystery Bird was part of Salford City Council’s regeneration of Eccles. It featured a striking illuminated bird cage, housing a flock of birds, designed by paper artist Helen Musselwhite, alongside a magical soundscape by vocal artist Jason Singh, video projection artists Illumnios, and more.
Following a hugely popular tour across Peel Green, Barton, Winton and Patricroft, we watched on as the installation created a beautiful pop-up moment at the town’s flagship Saint Mary’s church.
As the birds were released from the cage and fluttered their luminous wings onto the cityscape, Salford City Council brought a symbol of hope and freedom to people of all ages and abilities.
Born and bred in Eccles, the town holds a special place in our hearts, so taking on the communications campaign for Mystery Bird was a no-brainer.
Our campaign placed broadcast features on ITV Granada News, BBC Radio Manchester, and Unity Radio, alongside key pieces by Manchester Evening News, Manchester’s Finest, The Manc, Secret Manchester, About Manchester, and Manchester Wire.
Helping our local communities is at the core of what we do. Last year we worked alongside our friends at Wild in Art to deliver the communications campaign for We Live Here in Eccles, which saw a series of 23 phenomenal murals dotted around our hometown, encouraging its discovery.
Yet another reason to visit, right?
-Sundae x
📸: Chris Payne
CHANEL Metiers d’Art
If you’d asked me last year who my dream client would be, I probably wouldn’t have said CHANEL, because working with the iconic fashion house was beyond my wildest dreams. So, being invited to work on the CHANEL Metiers d’art show in Manchester was my wake up call to dream bigger, because sometimes they do come true.
Being part of bringing CHANEL to Manchester will forever be a career highlight, and witnessing first hand the meticulous care, consideration and attention to detail the house puts into its work was inspirational. It’s something we’ll take forward into all of our future projects – nothing is ever too much.
After four months of working on the show, and with the excitement in the city reaching fever pitch, being part of such a historic moment felt incredible, but the legacy of the event is as important as the moment itself. People across the globe were learning more about our city, its history, its culture and its vibe, and for the first time for some, seeing past the Madchester stereotype that has perpetuated for decades.
We couldn’t escape the rain, but would we want to? The storm brought an atmosphere to the show that even CHANEL can’t buy, and the rain bouncing on the tarmac catwalk added drama to an already high octane show.
The CHANEL Metiers d’Art delivered in excess of 2000 pieces of coverage across the world, with a value of £100m + and untold social media reach. It will be talked about for years to come and that is a conversation I’ll always be delighted to be part of.
Read more in: AnOther, Vogue, Guardian, Elle, Telegraph, BBC and Harper’s
Fiona x
Women on Screen
Looking back on 2023, it was an honour to have been trusted with the stories of such strong, creative and talented women, all at different stages of their journey on screen.
We’ve worked with Sally Lindsay and Caroline Roberts-Cherry for a number of years now, from their first project together, Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant, back in 2018, to where they are now. They have just celebrated the 5th anniversary of their company Saffron Cherry, and the third season of The Madame Blanc Mysteries, created, co-written and starring Sally, is currently airing on Channel 5 to over 2m viewers each week.
Their dedication to improving representation on screen and behind the scenes, for women of all backgrounds, is incredibly refreshing in an industry that just doesn’t need to be as difficult as it sometimes is. It’s been inspiring to share the changes they are making, and there was a huge outpouring of gratitude from women across the industry when Sally spoke about this in her recent The One Show appearance.
Sally already has a brilliant profile, but this year we’ve contributed to campaigns that have seen some huge successes including a cover shoot for Prima, the cover of TV Times and also a blog in Televisual to celebrate 5 years of Saffron Cherry.
Jackie Adedeji is a true force of nature; a whirlwind of positivity who is truly making things happen for herself and other women. We supported her during the release of her first documentary, Untold: My Big Boobs for Channel 4 which resonated with thousands of women across the country, and as a result we were able to place her on Steph’s Packed Lunch, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Naga Munchetty on BBC Radio 5 Live and a BBC Newsbeat interview aired across BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra and BBC Asian Network.
We also had the pleasure of working with sex educator Ruby Rare as she made her first foray into presenting, straight in at the deep end as co-host of Sex Rated alongside Rylan Clark on E4. This was a high profile show that garnered a huge amount of attention and we supported Ruby throughout, ensuring she was able to tell her own story and retain her voice in all of the noise. Ruby had features in iNews, The Times and on BBC Newsbeat, plus appeared on podcasts including It Can’t Just Be Me, Sex Talks, Wednesday We Drink Wine, Dirty Mother Pukka, Should I Delete That and The Secret To.
As we head into 2024 we are inspired to continue this journey, helping interesting, creative and talented people tell their stories in their own way.
📸: Scott Kershaw, Katie Silvester
Walking in the Air With Carrot Productions
Christmas really did come early for us here at Sundae when our good friends at Carrot Productions, the world leading performer of The Snowman, asked us to work on the communications campaign for their latest national tour.
The show featured screenings of the family-favourite accompanied by an elite live orchestra in 10 locations from 30 Nov – 23 Dec, 2023, giving all who attended a festive experience for the memory banks. Our brief was to support some of the regions with media opportunities to maximise awareness.
The award-winning show took to stages in Derby, St Albans, Oldham, Bristol, London, Buxton, Guildford, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham and also featured a screening of Aardman’s hit ‘Wallace & Gromit’ by multi–Academy Award-winning animation studio Aardman. The performance marks 30 years since the iconic animation was first screened, alongside a collaboration with the Southbank Sinfonia, and a life-changing opportunity for young soloists.
The striking performance of BAFTA-winning hit ‘The Snowman’ was accompanied by a selection of Britain’s top music talent, a magical whistle-stop Christmas guide to the orchestra and a visit from the Snowman himself, providing Christmas based fun for all the fam.
After each performance, the audiences, young and adult alike, were invited to meet the world-acclaimed musicians in their outstanding costumes, and learn all about their musical instruments.
Carrot Productions also gave young vocalists local to the venues the life-changing opportunity to join the performance and sing Peter Auty’s timeless song ‘Walking in the Air’ from ‘The Snowman’ soundtrack. Prior to this tour, the orchestra had already hosted over 300 soloists with many testifying that the experience altered the direction of their life.
The tour visited some of the country’s most grandiose historic venues like St Albans Cathedral, Guildford Cathedral, and Chester Cathedral, as well as being one of the first shows at the newly renovated Bristol Beacon. The Snowman also made a very special return visit to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, performing for patients and their families for the first time since the pandemic struck.
As soon as we received the brief, the Sundae troops were mobilised and got straight to work. Christmas is one of our favourite things and having such a beautiful excuse to talk about it early played right into our hands.
We told the story to all who would listen and we landed brilliant interviews on BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Three Counties, BBC Radio Surrey, BBC Radio Sussex, BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Radio Somerset, and BBC Radio Merseyside, as well as features and listings in the Bristol Post, Bristol 24/7, Bristol World, Bristol Life, Secret Bristol, the Chester Standard, Chester.com, the St Albans Times and Muddy Stilettos.
One of our most enjoyable campaigns of the year, for a show that could make even the biggest Grinch grin with nostalgic cheer… now, pass us the mince pies!
Sundae x
Cat/Person… The purrfect project furr us
You know, sometimes things just work out, don’t they? I’m not sure if we’ve ever mentioned it, but those who know us well, know we are cat people, and earlier this year we did some work with award-winning writer and producer, Chris Heath (The World According to Grandpa) as he announced his new audio sitcom Cat/Person.
A series of overheard conversations between a broken man Matthew (Chris Heath) and Hobson (Sue Vincent), his sarcastic, selfish, sociopathic rescue cat… the podcast is bang on the money in terms of accuracy, properly funny, and we, of course, loved it.
So, you can imagine our pure joy at getting a call from our very good friends at Saffron Cherry Productions, creator of the international hit show The Madame Blanc Mysteries, telling us that they have secured the TV rights for it and that they’d love for us to announce it to the media… it went right off in the office, trust me!
The announcement comes as brand-new episodes of the audio sitcom were set to be released weekly on all major podcast platforms, while plans for a Cat/Person live show are also well and truly underway (we’ll see you down the front!).
Cat/Person accurately and hilariously encapsulates the kind of relentless emotional hazing that cats love to lavish on their eager-to-please ‘owners’. Matthew is doing his best to keep himself from falling into a black hole following an unhappy divorce. To get him through the dark days, his friends recommend that he gets himself an emotional support animal.
Unfortunately, after a trip to the local Animal Shelter, he chose Hobson, a rescue cat played by Sue Vincent (The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Alma’s Not Normal, Blindspot). Matthew is sentimental, messy and lonely. Hobson is hungry and is insisting on a treat. Immediately.
In each episode, we’re privy to a selection of conversations between human and cat, as Matthew tries his best to navigate his new life as a near shut-in, with Hobson conveniently on-hand to point out just how badly he’s doing at this. We listen in as Matthew tackles the biggest obstacles in life as he now knows it: social media, insomnia, love, death, sex, comfort eating and drinking.
In announcing this incredible news for humans and felines alike we racked up coverage aplenty with an interview feature with the simply iconic Sue Vincent and news piece in British Comedy Guide, as well as features in Broadcast Now, Televisual, C21, World Screen, TBI Vision, The Knowledge, and Prolific North.
This is just the beginning of Cat/Person’s tail, we can’t wait to see what’s next, and don’t worry we’ll tell you as soon as we find out!
Tom x