Ten paid opportunities. £500 each. No experience needed.

Who gets to tell the story of a place? Tell it yourself, in your own words, in your own way.

If you have never been paid to be creative, if you would never call yourself an artist, if you have ever looked at something like this and thought it was not meant for someone like you, you are exactly who we made this for. What you have lived matters more here than anything you have done or made.

What is it?

Ten paid opportunities for 18-to-30-year-olds from Luton. £500 each, plus a lot of support, to choose, explore and tell a real story from Luton that excites you and that you think people should hear.

Your work will be part of Revoluton’s Undercurrent project, dedicated to researching stories of different cultures, activism and the movement and gatherings of people near the River Lea, both past and present, connecting people all the way from Luton to Newham. We’ll share our research and connections with you – if something or someone grabs you, you might make it part of your story – or you might decide to explore a completely new story. You’ll be able to record it in your own time and will end up with a short audio piece that becomes part of a podcast series, released in 2027.

When is it?

The six workshops will take place on the following dates:

Thursday 22 October: 16:00 – 19:00

Friday 23 October: 10:00 – 13:00

Thursday 19 November: 16:00 – 19:00

Friday 20 November: 10:00 – 13:00

Workshop 5: TBC in agreement with participants

Workshop 6: TBC in agreement with participants

All workshop sessions will take place at Marsh House, Bramingham Road, Luton, LU3 2SR. Participants will also be researching and recording their stories in their own time as well.

What do you get?

• £500 for your time (£300 commission + £200 fee for workshops).

• Six workshops at Marsh House with an audio creative + three guest facilitators (September – December. One evening every two weeks. Exact dates TBC).

• Support with storytelling, interviewing and recording, when you want it.

• Technical support to finish your piece.

• Travel costs covered.

• One-to-one and group support.

• Time alongside nine other people from across Luton doing the same thing.

Who is it for?

You need to be aged 18 to 30, living in Luton and able to get to the workshops at Marsh House Community Centre in Luton. That’s it!

What it isn’t

It isn’t a competition for the best writer. It isn’t a chance for us to teach you how to talk ‘properly’. It isn’t a place where expertise wins. The more people try to sound like a journalist, a historian or a “proper” artist, the less true the work gets. The unguarded, curious, slightly nervous version of you is exactly who we want to make this with.

You don’t need to be an artist, a historian, a journalist or a podcaster. You don’t need any recording experience. Most of it can be done on your phone. If you want to try proper mics and recording gear, we’ve got them and we’ll show you how. You don’t need a big story either. The ordinary stuff, the things you would never think to mention, is usually what is worth hearing most.

What you might make

As part of the Undercurrent project, there are some key story areas in Luton we’re interested in exploring:

• Being Connected: Being part of a community and feeling connected to each other.

• Creative Expression: How making or experiencing creative things like music, radio, carnival, writing, photography, etc. shape us, our communities, and the things we think are important.

• Independence & Power: Feeling seen and having the power to tell our stories in the way we want.

• Migration: The movement of different communities and cultures to new places.

• Activism: Campaigning for what we think is right and to make our communities and the world a better place.

• Ceremonies & Gatherings: The many different types of ceremonies and gatherings people, communities and religions use to connect with each other and feel spiritual.

There is no single right way to explore any of these. You might make something built from interviews, or a walk with someone through a place, or a piece of music. Some of what people make could be experimental. Three minutes that sound like nothing else. You might make a mystery. You might make something funny. We will help you find your thing.

What you are owed

If you are going to put something of yourself into a public piece of work, you should know what is on the table for you before you start. We hold ourselves to six things:

• Consent: You will know exactly where and how your work will be used, and you can pull it at any point.

• Care: Someone is looking out for how you are doing, before, during and after.

• Fair pay: £500 for your time. It is not tied to whether we like what you make.

• Safe conditions: You can take breaks. You can refuse a topic. You can change your mind about anything.

• Agency: You will have a real say over how your story is framed and used.

• Post Project: Once the piece is out, we do not disappear. There is a follow-up if you want one.

How to apply?

Send us one of these:

• A voice note, up to 3 minutes.

• A short video, up to 3 minutes.

• Something written, up to 500 words.

Tell us about something from your life in the Luton area which has caught your attention and why you cannot stop thinking about it. It could be from Luton’s present or its past. Using the key story areas we described above (i.e. being connected, creative expression, independence & power) is a great place to start. Is there a moment you keep coming back to? A conversation, an object, something somebody said, a place, an event, a person, a group of people? Tell us about that. You do not need a finished idea. Anything else you want us to know that we did not ask? Add it.

The deadline for applications is midnight on Sunday 20 September. You can apply here.