Ray Charman: vcashpoint

"Freelancing after uni isn’t the nightmare I thought it would be. I am my own boss. I choose my hours, my clients, and my rates. The other advantage is the variety it brings. You start realising, once you have a few regular contracts, just what you can do with your time, rather than waiting around for things to happen to you.

My latest project is, even if I do say so myself, awesome. It all started with a discussion in the pub, as the best ideas often do. We were all discussing the gay press and how there is so little of it outside London, especially for young people. Several beers later, the QueerPod Tour was born.

 
Using a grant supplied by the generous people at vinspired, through their vcashpoint scheme, I secured £2,500 to create a tour of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth groups around the country. In each session, the young people volunteering will have the chance to learn how to create podcasts; right from brainstorming to scripting to the technical production. That way, they get the skills and the voice they need to be part of the gay press too

Of course, I don’t know how to do all of that myself. So I enlisted the services of queer alternative youth radio station FYI Radio to produce the podcasts and to put them onto their website as a sort of online resource of current, informative and fun podcasts about the issues affecting young LGBT people.

It’s perfect: I coordinate and start to get more press for LGBT people outside of London, FYI handles the technical, and the young people learn skills and gain coverage for their own groups. Everyone’s a winner."

To find out more about the QueerPod Tour, email Rachel@fyiradio.net or call 07792143020 to request an information pack or discuss opportunities.

For more information about FYI Radio, go to www.fyiradio.net. To find out how you could apply for funding from vinspired, head to www.vinspired.com/vcashpoint. You never know; your big idea could lead to a fantastic project!