Our Voice Not Being Heard

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‍About
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‍The idea for Burnley ViewPoint first came about as part of a Burnley Words Festival workshop in June 2023. Several enthusiastic Burnley Writers joined Mag North in the Down Town meeting room for a morning discussing Hyperlocal Journalism. The energy in the room was palpable, and it was clear that there was not only the appetite for something new (although what that something new was- was yet to be discovered) but the talent and enthusiasm to make it happen.

Fast forward to Autumn 2024 (sometimes good things take time), and with thanks to Shared Prosperity Funding from Burnley Borough Council and Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Volunteering Service, Burnley Words Festival could bring together a group of local volunteer writers, editors, and creatives to hash out those ‘something new’ ideas a little further - with expert guidance and support from MagNorth.

‍The Beginning Of Something New

‍Our first edition of Burnley View Point went live in December 2024 with a ‘Winter Warmers’ theme. We called on the talents of our local community to submit stories, poetry and images,and they did not disappoint. We are still in the early stages of running Burnley View Point and it is entirely volunteer-run. We are looking for new people to join our team to help manage and steer Burnley View Point, from uploading content to the website to social media, and helping to manage our call-out and submissions process. If you would like to get involved at the very beginning of this exciting process, please email hello@burnleyviewpoint.co.uk

‍‍About the team

‍Burnley View Point's core is a team of 4 volunteer editors, writers and creators. We meet once a week to discuss the direction in which we want to take our platform and new stories we may wish to cover, and we read over submissions. Our current team is made up of the writing, editing and creative expertise of Tommy Alfred, Ajaz Qureshi, Barbara McHallam and Holly Craig.

‍Contact Us

‍Do you have a story to tell? Or are you interested in getting involved with Burnley View Point? Contact us via email hello@burnleyviewpoint.co.uk or over on Facebook and Instagram @burnleyviewpoint Please note, that we are a volunteer-run publication and responses may take a day or two.

‍About Hyperlocal Journalism

‍A hyperlocal news publication is a news service that typically relates to a specific geographicareas such as a town, neighbourhood, village, county or even a single postcode.The defining characteristic of a successful hyperlocal publication is that it’s independent of political, commercial, and religious interests, is community-focussed, and producescontemporaneous news content for its readers/viewers.In the UK, we’ve currently got over 250 dedicated Hyperlocals run by groups and individualswith passion and knowledge for the communities they belong to. Types of publication rangefrom information hubs and arts and culture periodicals to more traditional models of newspublications and investigative news services; each one bound by a strong editorial quality ofpublic service reporting.

‍About Burnley Words Festival

‍Burnley Words Festival (previous Burnley Literary Festival) began in 2017 and has been produced by Culturapedia since 2019. The festival aims to celebrate all things wordy, with a focus on the stories that matter to Burnley communities, told in ways that are exciting, engaging and accessible to everyone. We are currently planning for the 2025 festival. You can find out more about the festival and other projects on our website www.burnleywordsfestival.co.uk Burnley ViewPoint is a Burnley Words Festival Project. While the publication and process is entirely volunteer-run, Burnley Words Festival administers and monitors the project.

‍About MagNorth

MagNorth is a platform for cultural agency which champions Northern people and place.

As a creative organisation, they passionately believe that showcasing what Northern people and places can do, they'll broaden engagement, ownership, capacity building of our communities - and at the same time make 'taking part' more accessible than ever, to anyone who might have previously felt excluded, or simply not known how to ‘break in’.