VENT

VENT is an award winning podcasting collaboration between VICE UK and Brent 2020, London Borough of culture. Across 1 year, 2 streams, and just under 100 podcasts in total, VENT saw VICE handing over the megaphone of its global platform to the local young people of a single London borough, who tell the stories they care about.

Listen to VENT Documentaries.

Listen to VENT Weekly.

I was the Senior Producer of VENT. I designed and I oversaw the format and content of everything we made. This was such a dream come true for me: it’s a combination of everything I love to do – work with and train young people to tell their own stories, and produce audio which says something important and sounds good.

I wanted this project to truly be a platform for young people to tell their own stories. I developed outreach and training programmes to get them involved and skilled up, then came up with new ways of co-producing to make sure the young people’s voices were at the front and centre of everything we made.

My favourite part was the audio itself. I love using sound design and music to bring words to life, and I’m really proud of how this has come out with VENT Documentaries, which I produced alongside my excellent pallaborator Arlie Adlington.

I worked with an amazing production team – for some of whom it was their first time making podcasts – so I designed and delivered production training for them too. This was successful enough that I was able to just oversee production on VENT Weekly, until the very last bits of editing and mixing, which I did.

VENT Documentaries Series One was all about Identity. Here’s a good episode to start with:

VENT Documentaries Series Two was all about LOVE. Here’s a good episode to start with:

VENT Documentaries Series Three was all about JUSTICE. Here’s a good episode to start with:

VENT Weekly was our discussion show, my current fave episode is this:

We also launched a mini series on VENT Weekly called Covid-19 Fact Checkers. You can listen here:

Miranda Sawyer wrote a review of VENT Podcasts! Here’s a fun link, and a photo is below.

We also got a write up in NME! You can read here:

We also got a shout out on the Podcast Radio Hour on BBC Radio 4 Extra in November 2020. They said that we were ‘a great new initiative for encouraging new voices in podcasting…they’re all so well produced’ and that we’re ‘a fascinating concept, that’s done really well and with heart.’ Thanks BBC!!

VENT also recently won Podcast of the Year at the British Podcast Awards! Read more about it here.