At the end of the 2024 Charles Parker Day, Tony Macaluso (Director, Chapel FM Arts Centre) introduced the breakout session on the Creative Use of Archives, and displayed this slide to provoke discussion:

He then played a short video of Studs Terkel in his own archive of reel-to-reel tapes, talking about what it meant to him.  The hope is that young audio makers will use archive material in their programmes. Thirty people attended the session, and some contributed their experiences, hopes and challenges for the future.

Simon Ruding (artistic director, Theatre in Prisons and Probation) started as a techie in the BBC Sound Archive, which at that time was on reel-to-reel tapes but is now in digital storage.  The material was used as a basis for new programmes that went out every Monday at 8:45 pm, and still is for programmes like The Reunion.  It’s a goldmine for the future – today’s recordings are tomorrow’s resource.  However, currently charges are being introduced for archive material, including the National Sound Archive.

Ken Hall (Radio Archivist/ Researcher) came to Charles Parker via his interest in folk music, and worked at the Triangle Arts Centre in Birmingham from 1980.  The BBC Genome project contains the BBC’s listings information from 1922 to the present day – at the very least a programme title, broadcast channel and transmission time, but most listings also contain programme synopses and contributor details.  Ken lives near Wetherby, the northern site of the National Sound Archive, also close to Teeside University, where sudents are encouraged to listen to how the Radio Ballds were put together, and to learn from that.

Siobhan Stevenson (Oral History Participation Curator) underlined the importance of engaging new audiences.  The Birmingham Museum Trust has four digitised sound archives – these can’t be used commercially because of copyright issues.  The Radio Preservation Task Force – a group that seeks to support the collaborations between faculty researchers and archivists toward the preservation of radio history – wants also to make it available.

Sam Coley (Birmingham City University) had been inspired by Lisa Smith’s enthusiasm for giving travelling people their own voice in the film industry.  However, she had been quoted £3000 per minute for using clips of her own grandmother.  We must make sure such people can have access to their own material – quoting Hugh Levinson’s statement that “if a programme idea is good enough the money will be found to fund it.”  There is a geneology thread – it’s important to contact relatives of people who were recorded, and the “Fair Use Policy” may be helpful here.

Danny Callaghan from Stoke-on-Trent is a ceramic artist working with the New Vic Theatre, Peter Cheeseman’s wife Romy and Philip Donnellan’s daughter Ippy.  The theatre archive has masses of sound, film and documentary material, and has found the Library of Birmingham archivists helpful.  Staffordshire also has a film archive developed by Ray Johnson.

Summing up, Tony pointed out that archives also contain practical information about their use and value.