The latest Sound and Vision funding round from the BAI will fund ten radio projects at a cost of €745,300 along with 15 television projects costing €4.1m.
They include a series of 50 programmes organised by the IBI to deliver locally-produced content on 24 stations under the banner of ‘Ours to Protect’.
Over 12 months, this will result in 1,248 programmes being produced that will examine the issues of climate change and climate action using the power of local radio to work together to educate and empower behavioural changes. It has received €600,000.00 to be produced and delivered.
Round 44 of the Broadcasting Funding Scheme, co-funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, delivers on a government commitment as part of the Climate Action Plan 2021.
Forty-one applications were assessed regarding the public value they would deliver for viewers and listeners regarding climate literacy, innovation, the quality of the application and the resources proposed and the case made for funding.
Documentary and entertainment were the most popular genres funded (45% each), with the remaining projects falling under the education category. Five of the projects recommended for funding are in Irish or are bi-lingual. A quarter of the funded projects are aimed at the 15-34-year age group.
Other funded projects include:
The Science of Sense Goes Exploring our Environment: This education series brings listeners on a voyage of discovery through six key environmental elements: Ocean; Inland Waterways; Soil; Air; Forests, and Biodiversity, to understand how we are connected and reliant on them and the actions needed to protect them. Each episode includes a call to action, which, along with scientific discovery, will encourage listeners to become climate action champions. This series will be broadcast on RTÉ Junior / Chill.
We Only Want the Earth: This series looks at how Irish composers are responding to the climate crisis through their work. It asks questions such as if music can inspire personal ownership and build collective action in reducing our carbon footprint and if story, sound and music motivate us beyond the daily headlines. The series will shape a forum for collective action and hope in delivering change for our shared future. It will be broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM.
WLRfm, KCLR, Ocean FM, NEAR 90fm, and South East Radio also received funding.
Commenting, the Chief Executive of the BAI, Celene Craig, said: “I would like to thank Ministers Martin and Ryan again for securing the additional funding for this round. The BAI believes that the funded projects represent a strong mix of high-quality projects that fulfil the round criteria to raise awareness of climate change and promote action and behavioural change to combat it.
“All the funded projects will also assist in achieving relevant CAP2021 objectives. There was good engagement by producers and broadcasters in the subject matter of this round. Valuable learning has also been gained regarding climate literacy. This information will be shared with the Broadcasting Sustainability Network and Media Literacy Ireland.”
“The Sound & Vision Scheme, funded by the TV licence fee, continues to be a key source of funding for the independent production sector and a valuable source of innovative programming for public service, commercial and community TV and radio services. All the funding for TV projects will go to independent production companies while 6 of the 10 radio projects will be made by the broadcasters themselves.”
A full list of the projects being offered funding under Round 44 of the Sound & Vision Scheme is available to download here.
If you liked this story, we can email you more radio news and alerts. Just fill in the form below.