The Young Ones: Future Talent on Birmingham's Doorstep

The last few weeks have seen a real spotlight on young people and talent at BBC Birmingham.

On Saturday night I, along with 10,000 people, attended the electrifying 1Xtra Live in Birmingham– a world class lineup of  music talent headlined by global superstar Mary J Blige (pictured).

I might have been one of the oldies there but you couldn’t help but notice the young and diverse crowd who packed out the arena – it shouldn’t be a surprise really – Birmingham being one of the youngest and most diverse cities in Europe. Here they were, out in force, rubbing shoulders with one another. Loving every moment of a memorable evening.

It was a reminder of the magic that can happen when the BBC goes out to meet its audience – whether it’s the BBC Proms at he Royal Albert Hall, Strictly in Blackpool or 1Xtra in Birmingham – our audiences value being up close and personal with the parts of the BBC they love.

The concert was more than just a one off. The Radio 1Xtra Live team spent a month in the run up to the event running a programme of events, workshops and activities across the city aimed at engaging the young and diverse audiences on our doorstep.

Ranging from street-dance, poetry, master-classes, to careers workshops and broadcasts from the BBC’s radio studios at The Mailbox, we’ve seen new audiences engage with the BBC in Birmingham.

We’ve reached out far and wide - from Aston, Digbeth, Nechells, to Handsworth and Longbridge. We have linked up with partners here in the city – Beatfreeks, MAIA Creatives, Punch Records, BCU, Bournville College and Blastbeat to name just a few. We were able to showcase the tremendous work they do supporting young people in Birmingham and hope that this is just the beginning of us working together as we build and develop BBC Birmingham as a centre of excellence for skills, talent and people.

It’s the kind of partnership work we can expect more of when our Outreach teams move to BBC Birmingham alongside the 200 plus roles coming into the Mailbox in 2015, including the BBC Academy.

1Xtra wasn’t the only show in town last week.  The Skills Show at the NEC - the biggest of its kind in the country - saw some 80,000 young people attend this three day extravaganza.

BBC West Midlands and the BBC Academy hosted the main stage to showcase an assortment of BBC treats and experiences. Strictly, Citizen Khan, BBC News, BBC Sport, 5 Live, Midlands Today, Newsround, 1Xtra, Learning and Asian Network were all there along with performance artists from across the Midlands.

Peter Salmon, BBC Director of England, and I hosted the BBC Experience – an exhibition giving the public an insight into innovative new broadcasting techniques and a chance to see some of the new technology that audiences will have at their fingertips in the not too distant future.

It was an incredible few days and a reminder of how the work of the BBC Academy can really make a difference when it moves to The Mailbox next year. Their entry-level talent teams are already with us in the Mailbox and leading work with apprentices and new talent.

Director-General, Tony Hall, has made it his mission to increase the number of apprentices, with Birmingham as their base. The numbers are swelling: 177 of them have begun their training in anything from production and journalism to technology and business.

Tony Hall visited the Mailbox last month to meet the first batch of technology apprentices and saw at first-hand how their energy and enthusiasm is beginning to make a real difference to our operation here in Birmingham. There’s plenty more to come.

Joe Godwin has also recently been appointed to lead the BBC Academy from Birmingham. Joe’s appointment is a real coup - he is leaving his position as Director of BBC Children’s and joining us in January to kick start the BBC Academy’s operation in Brum.

I know Joe well from our time at MediaCity in Salford and his track record in developing new talent, training and diversity is exemplary. Salford’s loss is most certainly Birmingham’s gain as he returns to his native Midlands and joins our quest to put BBC Birmingham back on the map.

Last week also saw the launch of Future Talent - a terrific collaboration between The Space and the BBC Writersroom who have put on a series of events to encourage people to create online content. We have also appointed a new creative lead for the Digital Innovation Unit, Stefan Shaw, who will be based at Fazeley Studios in Digbeth. We look forward to embedding his team within our new BBC Birmingham operation.

We’ve made good and strong progress over the last six months. There remains a lot to do but I’m heartened by the partners who have embraced the opportunity to work with us as we build and nurture a stronger presence in the city and region. New talent will play a big part of our future operation and I believe that if we can capture the unique demographic of this city – we really have a chance to make Birmingham an exciting place to build a career.

Tommy Nagra is Head of Business Development, BBC Birmingham