SMALL TOWN BIG DREAMS
Christine James, Graeme Watson & Karishma Kusurkar joined forces in 2018 to create the Small Town Big Dreams podcast. Having worked in industry across business, comedy and design, they recognised a gap in the market for creative industry podcasts in Northern Ireland that were authentic, accessible and shared the real lived experiences of those working in the sector - early stage or established, freelancers or companies. The Small Town Big Dreams podcasts champion entrepreneurship, innovation and great ideas.
The first series of the podcast was in an interview-style format and launched during Belfast’s Creativity Month in 2018 with a live event at The Black Box. Since then, the team has created a second series, co-created a remote podcast with Startacus and has just created a brand new audio documentary series as part of Future Screens NI’s Rewriting The Narrative fund. Two years on, Small Town Big Dreams has developed into a network of creative industry podcasts and will host Belfast Design Week’s podcasts including Great Creators.
“Small Town Big Dreams is telling the stories of the great local creatives/businesspeople in Northern Ireland – a community which can be hard to unearth if you’re not sure where to look. It is making visible the independents, which many of us could have missed in the city or elsewhere, and giving us their history too! It’s inspiring to hear the journeys and successes of people who are passionate about their craft, whatever it may be.”
THE “DREAM” TEAM
CHRISTINE JAMES
Christine James is founder and CEO of Blick Shared Studios - a network of social enterprise creative workspaces in Belfast Northern Ireland providing workspace for more than 60 creative businesses and business support for more than 1000 creatives in Northern Ireland. Christine has also founded Flock NI - a creative consulting company and Womenfolk - a community for Northern Irish women designers. Christine has also co-founded Belfast Design Week.
Christine has a background in design and is passionate about supporting the creative industries through building creative communities, encouraging diversity within entrepreneurship and supporting and championing creative entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland.
GRAEME WATSON
Graeme Watson works in communications, marketing and events. A producer, promoter and programmer of live comedy and spoken word events in Belfast for over a decade, Graeme spent much of his 20s researching happiness (to no avail), and spent his teenage years as a very polite punk rocker. As well as being the co-creator, co-producer and co-host of the Small Town Big Dreams podcast, Graeme is also the producer and editor of the short fiction podcast, Inside John Patrick Higgins. His favourite YouTube show is ‘What’s for Tea?’.
KARISHMA KUSURKAR
Karishma Kusurkar is a multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur working across design, podcasts and events. Karishma is Co-Director of Belfast Design Week, an annual design festival which she co-founded in 2015. She is co-everything of Small Town Big Dreams Podcast alongside Graeme and recently hosted and produced The Great Creators Podcast with The Graduate School at Queen’s. Karishma is a regular contributor to BBC Radio Ulster’s The Ticket with Kathy Clugston researching and reviewing podcasts from all around the world.
RESEARCH PARTNER
DR. BRIAN DIXON
Accompanying research for the new audio documentary by Small Town Big Dreams is being conducted by Dr. Brian Dixon.
Dr Brian Dixon is Course Director for the MFA Design and a lecturer for graphics at the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University. He is also co-investigator for ‘Design Innovation and Land Assets', a UK Government funded research project which explores how design might support community design-making in relation to the landscape and environment. Broadly, his research focuses on the relationship between design – in particular, practical, experimental design research – and philosophy, considering how each might productively inform the other. His first book, Dewey and Design (2020), highlights ways in which the work of the pragmatist philosopher John Dewey might inform design. He has previously held appointments at Glasgow School of Art and Central Saint Martins. From prior research, he has extensive experience working with rural SMEs and public-sector organisations to explore how design techniques can help frame specific challenge responses.
BELFAST SCHOOL OF ART at Ulster University
Creative and inspiring, the Belfast School of Art is a world leading art school that makes a significant contribution to contemporary art and design both at home and abroad.
FUNDERS
FutureScreens NI is supporting “STBD presents: The World Turned Upside Down” - a new audio documentary by Small Town Big Dreams through their “Rewriting The Narrative” fund.
FUTURESCREENS NORTHERN IRELAND
Responding to industry needs, Future Screens NI will deliver expert technical skills, opportunity and growth across film and broadcast, animation, games and immersive technologies and industries in Northern Ireland. Through the partnership, Northern Ireland's creative companies will develop strategies to collaborative, grow productivity and maximise their global potential, delivering new jobs and a £400 million increase in GVA to boost the local economy.
Future Screens NI comprises the two higher education institutions (Ulster University and QUB) and a number of key industrial partners central to the creative economy in the region, including NI Screen, BBC, Belfast City Council, Belfast Harbour, Causeway Enterprise Agency, Digital Catapult, Catalyst Inc., RTE, Games NI, Kainos, Invest NI, Techstart NI, Matrix and Tourism NI. The Partnership has, from this, developed a definition of, and a working model for, the creative industries in NI which is focused on participation, cultural and economic growth, and social and economic regeneration placing the Partnership as a leading developmental catalyst in this NI sector.
BLICK SHARED STUDIOS
Blick was formed in 2007 by a group of creative entrepreneurs who wanted to create a great workspace in Belfast. Somewhere creative, inspiring and affordable. Somewhere to meet like-minded creatives and share resources, ideas and inspiration, to build a sense of community and encourage, support and inspire people to start up and grow their creative industry business.
Blick provides fully serviced shared workspace and private office space to more than 65 creative and digital small and start up businesses across 3 different locations within Belfast in Northern Ireland. We also provide virtual services, hire our meeting rooms and event spaces and run different events, workshops and courses to help build community and provide support for small and start up creative and digital businesses.
Blick is a non-profit social enterprise that uses any profits generated from its workspace and business services to help build community and provide events and support for start-up creative and digital businesses. Blick is involved with business support events and activities such as Blick Academy for creative start-ups, Share 6, Late Night Design, 25 Design pop-up, Faculty workshops, Womenfolk, Nest creative incubation, Grad residency programme and Belfast Design Week.