The Bloomsbury Institute’s Bloomsbury Radio reporter interviewed Aruthra Gurumurthy about her paintings and drawings influenced by her heritage and life in Tamil Nadu, India.

A Bloomsbury Festival Production supported by The Bedford Estates as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

The Bloomsbury Institute’s Bloomsbury Radio reporter interviewed Amélie Mack (Royal Academy of Music) about her exhibited artworks inspired by her classical music practice.

A Bloomsbury Festival Production supported by The Bedford Estates as part of the New Wave programme, a platform for emerging talent.

The Bloomsbury Institute’s Bloomsbury Radio reporter interviewed  Ella Mesma and Akeim Toussaint Buck about their vibrant new show, Ọkan.

The Bloomsbury Institute’s Bloomsbury Radio reporter interviewed the festival director, Rosemary Richards the programme and activities for 'The Paths We Tread', Bloomsbury Festival 2025.

The Bloomsbury Institute’s Bloomsbury Radio reporter interviewed 26 Bridges about their creative charity project.

Bloomsbury Institute’s Bloomsbury Radio reporter interviewed William Lowry about his New Wave artist talk at Holy Cross Church.

In this episode, we speak with artist Dryden Goodwin about his extraordinary project Quicken (St Giles), which uses drawing to re-animate the lives of individuals from one of London’s most notorious historic neighbourhoods.

Through a series of etched metal plates installed in the streets of contemporary St Giles, Goodwin brings to life faces and stories captured centuries ago by visual artists and ballad-mongers. From public executions and street entertainment to overcrowded housing and hidden lives, his work traces the pulse of the past in ink and shadow, reviving the characters and drama of this vibrant area.

Presented by Bloomsbury Festival as part of the Strange Doings in London heritage project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Recorded outside St Giles-in-the-Fields Church, this episode features singer and researcher Vivien Ellis, who brings to life the characters reimagined in artist Dryden Goodwin’s Quicken (St Giles) series.

Through historic ballads, Vivien explores the lives of Jack Sheppard (1724), William Cuffey (1848), Simon Eedy (1774), Sally Pridden (Sally Salisbury) (1819), the Barrow Girl (1796), and the Dudley Street “Child” as depicted by Gustave Doré - vivid figures who once inhabited one of London’s most notorious neighbourhoods. From crime and survival to street trade, prostitution, and childhood hardship, their stories reveal the drama, danger, and resilience of St Giles’ past.

Vivien shares the songs, trades, and tales that echo through these streets, from The Ballad of Sally in Our Alley to the cries of street hawkers, bringing forgotten voices vividly to life.

Presented by the Bloomsbury Festival as part of the Strange Doings in London heritage project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Rookery and Seven Dials in St Giles were once London’s most notorious neighbourhoods. The Rookery, immortalised in Hogarth’s Gin Lane (1751), was a pit of crime, poverty, and deprivation, while Seven Dials was the heart of broadside ballad production — the social media of the 18th and 19th centuries, selling stories of crime, scandal, politics, and sport to the streets of London.

In this episode, we sit in St Giles-in-the-Fields Church with artist and curator Jane Palm-Gold, who has spent years researching the area, bringing its streets, residents, and fascinating history vividly to life.

In this episode, we’re joined by Emma Harper, Curator at the Charles Dickens Museum to explore the rich musical and cultural world of Dickens’s London. We discuss her role at the museum, the power of 19th-century street ballads, and how events like the Ballad Walk of Dickens bring the archives to life during the Bloomsbury Festival. Emma also shares fascinating insights into Dickens’s relationship with music, the museum’s collaborations, and why his legacy continues to resonate today.