Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

One of the most important parts of community radio for me is to give a voice to those parts of our community that otherwise get overlooked – and our local arts scene is a prime example of that.

Commercial radio isn’t interested in the vibrant arts scene present all over the country at a local level – but it’s an important part of what we do and we’ve been featuring this heavily over the last couple of years, with our Sunday afternoon Arts Programme with Rob West and Claire Gevaux.

Rob has now left the show – although still presenting shows on Phoenix FM – and we are delighted to welcome Natalie Bays as the new co-host of our weekly show which brings arts and culture to everyone in Essex.

Natalie joins Claire on The Arts Programme, bringing a passion for local creativity and events. She is a cultural mover and shaker – particularly in Havering, where she runs The NO [artists] Collective, and sits on the consortium of the ACE creative people and places programme ‘Havering Changing’. She is also the UK representative of the Eurasian Creative Guild, which aims to get people talking about post-soviet art, music and literature.

She is most excited about bringing lots of new and exciting guests on the show – including more film insight from the Romford Horror and Independent Film festivals.

Over the next month Claire and Natalie will be talking to artists and experts about wellbeing, sharing tips and tools to get your creative juices flowing and inviting artists to tell their stories and share how they practice self-care. From resilience and artists retreats to mindfulness and meditation we hope our listeners will be inspired with our positive start to 2022.

You can hear The Arts Programme every Sunday at 4pm on 98.0FM – and if you miss it, all the shows are archived on phoenixfm.com.