Picturing High Streets: celebrating Bus Stop Stories in England-wide outdoor exhibition
06 Jun 2023 / News, Platform for Good, Campaigns
Clear Channel joins forces with Historic England and Photoworks to launch a nationwide photography call-out to celebrate the humble bus shelter.
Clear Channel, one of the UK’s leading Out of Home media and infrastructure companies, today announced a new photography competition in partnership with Historic England and Photoworks: ‘Picturing High Streets – Bus Stop Stories’.
Part of Historic England’s ongoing ‘Picturing High Streets’ photography exhibition that celebrates and documents UK high streets, this call-out aims to put the humble bus shelter in the spotlight. Often overlooked, bus stops can be the starting point of a lot of stories. From taking people to the high street for that special day out to striking a conversation with someone while waiting for a bus, the public are encouraged to capture what makes bus stops part of their lives and communities.
Over the next two weeks, everyone is invited to submit their bus stop story by posting their own photographs on Instagram using #PicturingHighStreets.
10 winning photographs will be showcased on Clear Channel’s digital Out of Home screens across England as part of a summer outdoor exhibition, seen by millions of people. The photographs will also enter the Historic England Archive, the nation’s archive for England’s historic buildings, archaeology and social history. A selection of submitted photographs will feature on the @PicturingHighStreets and @clearchanneluk Instagram channels.
Photographs will be judged by a panel of experts, including Jonathan May, Director at Photoworks, Shoair Mavlian, Director at The Photographers’ Gallery, and Kelly Grist, Head of Design at Clear Channel UK. The winners will be revealed in late June, with the outdoor exhibition set to launch on 17 July 2023.
Clear Channel’s Chief Marketing Officer, Martin Corke, said: “Clear Channel proudly operates more than 20,000 bus shelters in the UK. In many ways bus shelters are the unsung heroes of our towns and cities yet they are the backdrop to many of our daily journeys and experiences. We believe that there are many positive and fascinating bus stops stories to be told and we are launching this competition to help uncover and celebrate them.”
Duncan Wilson, Historic England Chief Executive, said: “The bus stop is an integral part of every high street, and a major connection point for communities. It’s been amazing to see the vast array of images of our high streets that have been submitted by the public so far. I am excited to see what viewpoints will be revealed by this new compelling and universal theme.”
Clear Channel has been supporting Historic England’s ‘Picturing High Streets’ outdoor exhibition since March 2023, additionally displaying 60 photographs crowdsourced from over a thousand public entries.
‘Picturing High Streets’ combines portraiture and street photography, inviting the public to reflect on the changing role of high streets, charting and celebrating the history and experiences of the people and places that make up an often-overlooked fixture in all our lives.
The exhibition is part of a three-year project by Historic England and Photoworks to create a contemporary portrait of England’s high streets, and part of Historic England’s £95 million government-funded High Streets Heritage Action Zone scheme.
Follow @PicturingHighStreets on Instagram and post your pictures using #PicturingHighStreets.
Entries close at 23.59 on 20 June 2023. T&Cs apply.
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