Squeaky Pedal, a leading creator of films, podcasts and content across museums, heritage and cultural attractions, is celebrating the announcement that the Gloucester History Festival’s collaboration project, Gloucester Looking Up, won the Pandemic Pivot Award at the recent Museum + Heritage Awards.
Squeaky Pedal’s involvement in creating digital content for the project played a pivotal role.
Adapting to the challenges of COVID-19
The Pandemic Pivot Award recognises organisations that have tackled pandemic related challenges, such as national lockdown restrictions, and adapted to create positive outcomes and positive change for their audiences. For the Gloucester History Festival, rising to these challenges meant transforming its project into something virtual and interactive.
The Gloucester History Festival celebrates the city’s rich history and culture by running activities, conducting interviews with members of the local community, and also by documenting the city’s architecture. In order to help the festival showcase this virtually, to both a local and a national audience, the Squeaky Pedal team recorded and filmed interactive maps of the city, 360 tours, films and transcripts.
Along with the help of illustrator Tom Woolley, and graphics designer, Dan Lusby, Squeaky Pedal also created the initial design of the interactive maps, which Gloucester History Festival will continue to use in future events. Once complete, these were uploaded to the Gloucester History Festival’s website where they became accessible to all ages and ultimately allowed the festival to continue during the pandemic.
Producing inspiring content
20 venues were filmed as part of the project, thanks to the help of local volunteers and organisations. For each site, interviews with local people explore that building’s history and its significance for the city and its people.
Reflecting on the recording process, Squeaky Pedal praises the team for their dedication and enthusiasm for the project: “Everyone was so enthusiastic about the filming and wanted to help. The attitudes were open and cooperative.”
As newcomers to the city, the Squeaky Pedal team were able to approach the project with a fresh perspective as they experienced the sites for the first time. Listening to the volunteers tell their stories of the city also allowed them to produce the best content for those who may not be local to the area. As lockdown eases, this virtual content will inspire a national audience to visit Gloucester and explore its architecture in person.
Jacqui Grange, creative director of the festival, acknowledges 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 ultimately saw how the project brought together a strong, diverse community:
“A lot of places are run by people with passion and dedication. We saw the map as a way of allowing these people to say why their venue is amazing.”
The win celebrates this dedication to promoting history and culture in a digital age, let alone in a pandemic.
“Preserving Gloucester’s history will hopefully allow people of all ages to take an interest and appreciate what Gloucester has to offer,” adds Squeaky Pedal.
