On Thursday 1st July, we here at Squeaky Pedal received amazing news that Gloucester History Festival had won the Pandemic Pivot Award at the Museum + Heritage Awards for their collaborative project: Gloucester Looking Up, in which Squeaky Pedal played a key role in.
Due to the Pandemic and restrictions taking a toll on the museum industry, the Museum + Heritage Awards created the Pandemic Pivot Award. The award recognises organisations who have adapted to the challenges that the pandemic has caused, and ultimately come up with a strategy that has a positive impact for their audience. Gloucester History Festival wanted to create a virtual event where those locally, and also those nationally could still participate and enjoy what the festival brings. This is where Squeaky Pedal came in.
For the project, Squeaky Pedal with the help of illustrator Tom Woolley, and graphics designer Dan Lusby, were able to create interactive maps, 360 tours of the city, films and transcriptions for the Gloucester History Festival's website, which would be accessible for all ages, and designs that the Gloucester History Festival will use in future events.
To gather content for the project, 20 venues were filmed, with the help of numerous volunteers and organisations. Interviews were conducted in which volunteers and local people discussed the venues’ history and what it ultimately means to the local people of Gloucester. When conducting the interviews and interacting with the artists and volunteers, Squeaky Pedal praised the team for their dedication and enthusiasm on the project: ‘Everyone was so enthusiastic about the filming and wanted to help. The attitudes were open and cooperative.’
Squeaky Pedal filming at the Church of St. Mary de Crypt.
As Squeaky Pedal are not local to Gloucester, this was the perfect opportunity for them to create content specifically for those outside of the city, as they could show Gloucester's rich history and culture from an outside perspective. With the future easing of lockdown and restrictions, the main goal of Gloucester Looking Up is to hopefully encourage those nationally to take the trip and visit Gloucester, and to see its stunning, rich architecture in person.
Creative director of the festival, Jacqui Grange acknowledged the participation and dedication of the team in such difficult times: ‘If by working together we can achieve this even in the face of great challenge, we can't wait to see what Gloucester and City Voices does next.'
Squeaky Pedal at St. Oswald's Priory.
Winning the Pandemic Pivot award means the world to the Squeaky Pedal team, as it demonstrates our dedication to promoting history in a digital age. The pandemic did indeed prove a challenge, but we persevered and created such amazing content for the team at the Gloucester History Festival, which they can hopefully use for years to come.
