Salford Voices

Episode 1: The Salford Way

Artists Matt Concannon and Jody Findley look back on their journey to writing The Salford Way, a poem that explores what it means to be a Salfordian, written using the words of local residents. The episode includes interviews with Salfordians recorded in libraries, schools, community centres and foodbanks.

Episode 1: Contributors

Driven by lived experience and shaped by the stories of those closest to her, Jody Findley is the founder of Mindseta – an organisation with a clear purpose: to challenge systems that limit human potential and to create environments where people can truly thrive.

Her work is fuelled by a deep commitment to dismantling unnecessary barriers in the workplace and beyond. With a career spanning the creative industries, senior leadership roles in higher education, and community arts practice, Jody brings a rare blend of strategic vision and creative insight.

She has led the design and curation of inclusive, forward-thinking training programmes that centre diversity, creativity, and real-world impact. Drawing on her expertise in performing and community arts, Jody delivers an innovative, human-centred approach to education one that empowers individuals to step fully into their strengths and realise their potential.

Episode 2: Salford’s Got the Good Stuff

What could Salford look like if we chose to centre the health and happiness of residents above all else? Taking inspiration from the city’s motto, which translates to ‘The welfare of the people is the highest law’, Art with Heart partnered writers Ben Mellor and Izzy Coward with men’s mental health group Talk About It Mate to create a poem and imaginary news broadcast from Salford in 2126.

Episode 2: Contributors

Ben Mellor is a writer, performer, facilitator and creative project manager with over twenty years of experience in socially-engaged arts and education. He has created seven full-length shows which have toured nationally and internationally and won multiple poetry slams, including the BBC Radio 4 National Poetry Slam.

He has published two poetry collections with accompanying audio recordings, and delivered workshops and projects for organisations including The British Library, First Story, and Apples & Snakes. Ben has a double BA (Hons) in English and Drama from the University of Manchester and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing from Cambridge University.

Episode 2: Contributors

Izzy Coward is a Manchester based director, dramaturg and facilitator. Izzy has worked with a number of leading organisations in various roles; as a facilitator / Mentor Director for NT Connections (The National Theatre) / The Lowry, as Creative Writing Facilitator and Dramaturg with Northern Broadsides, as a Lead Facilitator with Royal Exchange Theatre working with both the Collective Young Company and The Elders. 

Izzy regularly works with the Learning and Education department at The Lowry working with young people from low-engagement backgrounds, SEMH, SEND and those with additional learning needs. Izzy has written and performed at spoken word and poetry events for a number of years and is currently working on their first full length theatre show: Hooligan, hopefully due to premier next year. 

Episode 2: Contributors

Talk About It Mate is a Salford-based social enterprise and proud winner of Salford Community Group of the Year 2024. We create safe, supportive spaces where men can connect, share, and grow through weekly peer-led groups. We use creative approaches and have a growing appreciation for the power of art to support wellbeing. As well as our core groups, we’re now building connections through events beyond the room – like volunteer-led walk and talks – helping men find community, purpose, and a place to belong. 

Episode 3: In a City Where There’s Love

Exploring a youth perspective on the future of Salford, hear what Youth Unity, CommUNITY Little Hulton’s youth group want for their city over the next 100 years. The episode includes the performance of a new poem created by the group with support from writers Jae Bradley and Louis Glazzard.

Episode 3: Contributors

Jae is an award-winning queer, working class writer, performer and mental health practitioner, based in Northern England. She writes fiction, essays and performance poetry and is the winner of the Northern Debut Award and the Northern Writers Award for Fiction.

Jae is the author of a novel, two chapbooks and a free newsletter sharing stories, short films and creative resources for or writers, rebels and multi-hyphen misfits.  

Episode 3: Contributors

Louis Glazzard is a working class writer, born in Yorkshire. His poems have been published nationally by Pan Macmillan, Untitled Voices, Polari Press and more, and broadcasted on BBC Arts and BBC Radio 6. 

Louis released his debut poetry collection Human Men in 2021 and he facilitates writing workshops for new and emerging writers. He was recently Writer in residence for Melbourne City of Literature and Geelong Regional Libraries. 

He is currently working on his debut novel and runs  Coffee and Poems club in Manchester. 

Episode 3: Contributors

CommUNITY Little Hulton was set up by local Little Hulton residents as a legacy organisation of Little Hulton Big Local. Their mission is to inspire today’s youth and bring the community together to enhance everybody’s wellbeing. 

They have over 1000 members, run a regular food clubs, forest school and gardening sessions for the local community.

Episode 4: Building, Connecting, Growing

A behind-the-scenes peek at Art with Heart’s community banner project, including interviews with artists Chris Alton, Emily Simpson and Ada Eravama and the residents who made the Salford Voices exhibition. The Banner exhibition is a visual celebration of Salford’s renowned community spirit and reimagining of the coat of arms of the City of Salford.

Episode 4: Contributors

Chris Alton and Emily Simpson have been working collaboratively since 2020. They host dinners, facilitate workshops, publish writings, and create textile-based artworks. Their shared practice centres sincere care, active listening, and gentle tending.

Chris Alton’s practice spans a range of media and approaches, including; socially engaged projects, artist films, textile banners, and publications. 

Emily Simpson is an artist whose socially engaged practice invites people to share experiences of grief through communal activities like sewing, cooking, pickling and grief karaoke. 

Discover more about Chris’s work
Discover more about Emily’s work

Episode 4: Contributors

Ada Eravama is a visually impaired writer, performer, and access consultant working at the intersection of story, community, and creative access. Her work transforms the personal into the universal, shaped by lived experience, rooted in truth, and offering audiences moments of recognition in themselves or in the people they love.

She is drawn to the messy, tender complexity of belonging. Exploring how communities hold us, how they fail us, and what grows in the spaces where community is missing. Much of her practice asks what it means to gather, and how shared rituals, humour, memory, and joy can knit people together, even if only for a moment.

As a specialist in integrated audio description, Ada reimagines access not as an add-on, but as part of a story’s creative dramaturgy. Access shapes how she builds work, how she collaborates, and how audiences experience the world she is inviting them into. Whether she is consulting with organisations such as Leeds PlayHouse, developing new creative access tools with LIPA, or shaping her own performances with CRIPtic Arts, she treat access as an act of care, culture, and imagination.

Episode 4: Contributors

Broughton Community Centre has been serving the Broughton and Salford Communities for 100 Years. Broughton Community Centre and Broughton Community Church (known locally as ‘The Naz’ or ‘The Naz Community Hall’) is a bustling ministry hub in the Lower Broughton area of East Salford.

It specifically focuses its ministry and community work on the relief of poverty, food deprivation, and social isolation, signposting to specialist agencies and providing facilities for a range of community groups. It values inclusion, justice, sustainability, learning, seeing lives transformed, human dignity and wellbeing.

Salfordians: The people make the city

Art with Heart spoke to members of Salford’s diverse community at various lively local fairs – Fair on the Green (Worsley), Irlam & Cadishead Community Festival, Swinton Gift and Craft fair, and Tudor Day at Ordsall Hall with Salford Museum. 

From 11-year-old chip-loving showman Alfie to the Salford Mayor Paul Dennett, this series highlights 10 people who have provided a fascinating snapshot into their lives, detailing Salford’s past, present and hopes for the future, capturing a unique audio archive for future generations. 

Episode 1: Salford ’til I die!

Matt Smith, 47, Higher Broughton

Matt is the proud secretary for the Salford Red Devils Supporters Trust. In this episode, the rugby fanatic and community member talks about discovering his love of rugby in a family of football fans, the importance of the Rugby League to Salford’s working class communities, and the shift in young people’s aspirations in his local community.

Episode 2: “It feels like coming home”

Lorraine Giddings, 49, South Swinton

When Lorraine came to Salford from Devon at the age of 18, she was warned against it. But in reality, Lorraine was welcomed with open arms and the move felt like coming home. In this episode, Lorraine, who works for a social housing provider, talks about the enduring community spirit of Salford and highlights some of the opportunities available to young people which she hopes to see continue. 

Episode 3: Graveyard surprises

Paul Sherlock, 78, Swinton

Although Paul’s origins are on the other side of the ship canal in Urmston, he’s lived in Swinton since 1970. From scientist to local historian: Paul made it his mission to delve into the area’s controversial urban spaces. But only after a surprise encounter with a long-lost relative did he find real belonging. Paul is passionate about sharing the stories of Swinton and the importance of passing down his knowledge to the next generation.

Episode 4: Civic pride through creativity

Skäi Townsend, 29, Walkden South

Skäi’s Irish grandfather moved to Salford when he was 16, and for the dancer turned actor turned local cultural producer, strong Salfordian pride has run in her family’s blood ever since. In this episode, Skäi recalls memories of her mother’s stall at the local flea market and reveals some of Salford’s fascinating hidden heritage.

Episode 5: A Mayor reflects

Paul Dennett, 46, Pendleton

Paul Dennett says he has always had a “fire” in his belly for social justice, fairness and equality, with Sunday school developing his moral compass. In this special episode, the Salford Mayor takes listeners on a journey from his family background, to his political awakening at university in Salford, to becoming the proud voice for Salfordians on a national stage. Paul details why he’s proud of the city’s advancements and the historic importance of this 100 year anniversary.

Episode 6: Chips, chips and more chips

Alfie, 11, Irlam

As the youngest contributor to this series, 11 year old Alfie works as a showman helping his dad with rides at the fairground, a job he takes very seriously. Lover of a chippy, curry, football and the local shops, Alfie couldn’t be prouder of his local area, calling it “ten out of ten”.

Episode 7: Lost in Singapore

Linda Taylor, Worsley

Linda’s family history spans continents, world wars, meetings with mayors and missing parents… In this episode, Linda talks about the incredible life of her father, who served in the Second World War before he disappeared, as well as the changing opportunities for her grandchildren today and the importance of ‘neighbouring’ in the local community. 

Episode 8: Royal visits and famous footballers

Bill McLoughlin, 60, Irlam

Bill McLoughlin’s role as a photographer for the Salford Reporter and Advertiser has given him center stage at some of Salford’s most historic events. From meeting royal visitors, famous footballers and film stars, to national news stories, he’s seen it all. Working for years to change the stigma connected to his area, Bill continues to champion local projects and ignite community spirit.

Episode 9: Two-up, two-down

Stephen Jones, 79, Ordsall

Stephen has fond memories of the street he was born on; one where everyone knew each other and he and his friends used to play out until the sun went down. His childhood was one of mischief, pubs, and winding up the local bobbies. Fast forward 50 years, and Stephen thinks the local area and its young people have changed a lot since he was a child.

Episode 10: Football is life

Geoff Hall, 76, Worsley

Geoff Hall’s childhood was full of fun and games, from swimming in the docks to finding crafty ways to raise a few shillings to see United play at their home stadium on the weekend. For Geoff and his friends, football was everything. In this episode, Geoff talks about inspiring school teachers and his determination to get young people off their phones and out and about.