by | February 28, 2012

PVM awarded Social Enterprise Mark

We are pleased to announce that People’s Voice Media has been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark. This means that we have  been recognised for our  work in improving society and protecting the environment.

Gary Copitch Chief Executive of People’s Voice Media commented:

“Our passion is being in business to bring benefits to society and the environment by increasing  local voice through the use of social media in order to improve neighbourhoods and communities; develop dialogue between communities and agencies to support community cohesion; raise aspirations of individuals; work with the whole community to develop their own solutions and undertake ‘authentic’ engagement. That’s why receiving the Social Enterprise Mark is a great honour for us.  It is an independent certification of why we’re in business and a testament for our future direction.”

The Government defines social enterprises as, ‘businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.’

Anne Mountjoy, Marketing Manager from the Social Enterprise Mark said, “As the only certification for genuine social enterprises, the Mark guarantees businesses which meet defined criteria, proving they trade for people and planet. The Mark helps those businesses promote their business ethics and values. We are delighted to welcome People’s Voice Media  as an award winner  and have no doubt they will inspire others to follow this great example of social enterprise.”

 

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by | February 23, 2012

The three main features of social licensing…leaflet now available to download

People have been asking us for more information about our new Social Licence opportunity so we’ve created a leaflet that explains the three main features in a little more detail.

In brief, we feel that the licence comprises:

1. Ready Made Materials:
We provide you with a full training pack of materials and a Train the Trainer programme so that you can deliver your training ‘off the peg’.

2. Income Generation Plan:
We work with you on devising an income generation strategy that is a ‘best fit’ for your organisation and explores how you can make the licence work for you financially.

3. Networking Across Europe:
We host biannual Editorial Board meetings for partners across the network creating opportunities for sharing ideas and business across the European wide network.

Download the leaflet now to find out much more about what comes as part of the licence package.

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by | February 2, 2012

PVM agrees that voluntary arts are important to local communities as was highlighted at the Epic Awards

 The 2011 Epic Awards were presented at a prestigious reception at the Royal Over-Seas League in London on Monday 30th January. The Epic Awards are designed to highlight excellence and innovation in amateur arts groups across the UK and Republic of Ireland and are an initiative of Voluntary Arts. The awards were presented by Lord Luce, president of Voluntary Arts, who praised the winning groups for their inspirational projects and the benefit they bring to social wellbeing. People’s Voice Media sees voluntray arts as a great way for people to have a voice and express themselves as well as supporting local communites to  highlight great communty activity which is why we sponser this event.

Government Ministers representing each of the countries sent special messages of congratulations to the winning groups.  Collecting the award on behalf of the Peterborough Male Voice Choir, Musical Director Will Prideaux, shared the stories of two men who have benefitted from belonging to the group. He said:

“Voluntary arts organisations transform lives and build stronger communities. I love the stories of friendships created and enthusiasm rediscovered or of depression beaten, horizons broadened or prejudices cast aside; of hope, of trust, of a sense of belonging or simply giving people something to look forward to – the list is endless and endlessly amazing.”

As well as their awards, winners also received a stash of prizes including cash, vouchers for arts and craft supplies  membership of Arts Development UK and vouchers to attend training courses.

Case studies featuring the winners, runners up and other entrants can be found here: www.epicawards.co.uk

Winners
Peterborough Male Voice Choir – www.peterboroughmvchoir.org.uk

Phizzfest – www.phizzfest.ie/phizzpress

Buddy Beat – www.buddybeat.co.uk

Third Floor Gallery – www.thirdfloorgallery.com

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by | February 2, 2012

PVM in partnership with 3 Valley TV (3VTV) in South Wales

I attended the launch of 3VTV on the 31st January in Blaenau Gwent. The project is a local TV channel, broadcast over the Internet and on-demand, meaning there’s no schedule, but people  watch what they want, when  they want.

Gemma Collins talks more about the channel and the launch

They aim of the channel is to show films which the people of Blaenau Gwent will want to watch about their local community. The name 3VTV stands for Three Valleys, because the channel is for everyone in the three valleys which make up Blaenau Gwent.

3VTV is is part of the  Micro-Broadcasting Centre, wich is part of the University of Wales, Newport, and is part-funded by the Welsh Government. People’s Voice Media will be working in partnership with the project to develop community Reporters. Gemma talks about how she see  People’s Voice Media and 3VTV working together.

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by | January 25, 2012

Social Licensee holder in York shares training resource…and the shared network is born!

Like many of the best ‘decisions’ that we make at PVM, when we decided to offer our Community Reporter programme under social licence we started in one place and then got to enjoy the wonderful creative process that happens as the idea evolves and grows. This is one of the best parts of the job and one of the best things about working for an autonomous social enterprise: there’s always space to let the ideas think themselves, to throw up links and connections that alter the path slightly. And then, ultimately, you reach that point where the original idea is still there…but better, more robust, more interesting.

And so it was with the social licence. We knew that we had a programme that worked. We knew we wanted other people to deliver the programme, to increase the reach of the Community Reporter network and offer a more fruitful experience to all of our reporters. We knew that we could support other organisations to find income generating opportunities on the back of the programme. But one of the ideas that ‘thought itself’ was the evolution of a ‘wikinomics’ model of trade and exchange between partners.

MRS Consultancy logoWe have the pleasure of working with some wonderful partners, really passionate and creative and committed individuals and organisations who are doing great work on the ground. So, using the social licensee network as a way of bridging and linking partners together is really exciting for us. Most of us are under resourced and over stretched so being able to access tools that mean you don’t have to constantly reinvent the wheel each time is a real asset for anyone. So we are thrilled that MRS in York have begun the knowledge exchange by sharing some simple page design tools that were developed for a European Leonardo programme. The PageDesigner programme is free, available in a range of different languages and aimed to be simple enough for the absolute beginner – a perfect complement to the resources currently available within the Community Reporter programme.

As the network of licensee holders grows we look forward to being able to help organisations share and trade across the partnership – an idea that we hope to explore further in our first trans-national Editorial Board meeting which will take place in April …but more about that another time!

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