BBC Radio & Music Indie Development expands support for recipients

The BBC Radio Indie Development Fund is offering more support for this year’s successful indies, which have now been selected.

Now in its third year, the Fund supports indies based across the UK and for the first time the 11 successful companies will be able to work with commissioning teams across BBC Music or Speech, receiving support and insights from the entire audio division, not just one radio station.

All the recipients of the Radio Indie Development Fund, worth £250k in total, are based outside of London and more than half (55%) are run by a diverse leadership team.

The BBC will also be providing a series of monthly online insight sessions aimed at all smaller producers. These will include business and editorial sessions accessible to everyone to engage with the BBC’s strategy and resources.

In total, 50 indies will receive support across three schemes: the BBC Radio & Music Indie Development Fund along with the TV Small Indie Fund and the Hot House co-commissioning scheme. This will result in over £1.7m in investment over the next year.

David Pembrey, Chief Operating Officer, BBC Content, said: “In a global market which continues to see production consolidation, we remain committed to investing in new and smaller independent businesses and the UK’s creative industries.

“We want to ensure our audiences get to enjoy the very best homegrown storytelling, for which investment in the roots of production across the UK is vital.”

Companies selected for the BBC Radio & Music Indie Development Fund:

Scotland:

  • Feral Inc
  • Dabster Productions
  • The Big Light

Wales:

  • Bengo Media
  • Songbird

Northern Ireland:

  • Walk on Air Films

England:

  • Voxwave – West Midlands
  • Peanut & Crumb – South East
  • Silver Music Entertainment – East
  • Candle & Bell Ltd – North East
  • Zandland – North West