News / Heritage
Bristol Archives awarded £1m to preserve audio heritage
Bristol Archives has been awarded a grant of over one million pounds for a new project to digitise and preserve the region’s rare and at-risk audio recordings.
Over the next three years, the archivists will be running their project ‘Sounds of the South West’, creating access to audio footage held in 24 different heritage organisations around the region.
The grant, which was given by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will enable Bristol Archives to protect more than 8,000 unique recordings.
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Bristol Archives is a part of the Bristol Culture service at Bristol City Council. They will lead the project alongside Archives South West, which is the regional network of local authority archives.
Phillip Walker, the head of culture and creative industries at Bristol City Council, said: “We’re thrilled that The National Lottery Heritage Fund has chosen to support Sounds of the South West.
“Preserving audio heritage creates a brilliant opportunity for our communities to engage with their own social history.
“We are grateful to all National Lottery players, as the funding for this project means we can safeguard voices from the past and make them accessible for future generations, ensuring these stories and sounds are never lost.”
Bristol Archives say that the footage needs to be digitised as soon as possible before the original formats deteriorate
According to Bristol Archives, there are fewer than ten years left to preserve these audio recordings, which are stored on decaying formats like reel-to-reel tapes.
Katie Scaife, the project manager of Sounds of the South West, said: “Thanks to this incredible funding we can work in partnership with the regions’ archives to collectively address this urgent need, a need that we can’t tackle alone.
“The Sounds of the South West project will include ways for communities around the region to engage with their audio heritage, such as volunteering opportunities and community engagement activities.
“We’re so excited to share this project with everybody, not just in the region but around the world.”
All photos: Bristol Archives
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