Bangor graduates’ podcast gets Hollywood cameo & BBC acclaim
A Bangor graduate podcast, Culture My Arts, secures a Hollywood cameo from Welsh born star of Clint Eastwood’s Invictus & Zack Snyder's Justice League – Julian Lewis Jones.
Culture My Arts, described as a radio show, audio drama & podcast rolled into one, was made independently by 15 Bangor graduates between lockdowns, and has recently peaked at #6 in the Apple Podcast UK Comedy Fiction charts.
Culture My Arts was born in Bangor University, originally as the undergraduate dissertation project of creator Finnian Shardlow, who subsequently won the award for best practice-based dissertation in 2018.
The same year, Culture My Arts had two episodes commissioned for BBC Radio Stoke. It was written and recorded in during Finnian’s Masters’ in 2018/19 whilst many of the cast were still attending Bangor University.
After a year hiatus, Culture My Arts decided to independently release a 6-episode series in late 2020. It was recorded in its spiritual home of Bangor between, in between two major Covid-19 lockdowns.
Culture my Arts
Culture My Arts boasts a 15-person collective of Bangor alumni from a variety of places in Wales and the rest of the UK. The full line-up consists of: Finnian Shardlow, LJ Farrell, Charl Thom, Ben Cookson, Byron Dean, Jim Langford, Lewis Hall, Lowri Cêt Jones, Dafydd Pattinson, Paige Brook, Dion Davies, Beth Smith, Elliott Aboagye, Rachel Malbon & Connor Flinn.
Many of the cast met within the School of Music & Media. However, other members have also completed degrees in Health Sciences, Marine Biology, Psychology, Linguistics and English Language.
Some of the Culture My Arts cast have also crossed paths through membership of the University Students’ Union Clubs and Societies such as Seren, BEDS, FilmSoc and Storm FM.
The launch of Series 1 has seen the podcast amass thousands of listeners, with various sketches from the podcasts featured on BBC Merseyside, Sheffield, Stoke, Berkshire, Sussex Three Counties & Cambridge.
Culture My Arts calls itself a fully scripted satirical fiction podcast. It includes spoofs radio shows and takes the mickey out of TV, film, music, literature, current affairs & much more. It’s essentially fake news from another dimension.
Series 1 is comprised of 6 episodes featuring silly movie spoofs, biting political satire, humorous social commentary, crazy music parodies, deadpan surrealism, cheesy jokes, eccentric reporters & bogus news.
Alongside the podcast, Culture My Arts also posts videos and sketches on their social media platforms. Recent promotional videos have featured humorous appearances from students’ union Undeb Bangor’s President, Henry Williams.
There is also a music video for their comedy rap song, ‘Dropped My Kebab’, written about the tragedy of dropping your kebab on a night out. Filmed in multiple locations around Bangor, this song has gone on to receive features on BBC Local Radio.
Series 2 is already in production for release in 2021 after a successful Patreon campaign which saw Culture My Arts hit their break-even point.
