Celebrating ten years of BBC support: the power of a lasting creative partnership
![BBC Creative Media Camp in progress [photograph]](https://www.ideasfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/BBC-Creative-Media-Camp-2025-3-1.webp)
Ten years of support is something to celebrate.
In 2026, Ideas Foundation marks a decade of BBC funding for our Creative Media Camps, providing a sustained commitment to giving young people opportunities to experience the creative working world.
The significance goes beyond the anniversary itself. Long-term partnerships create space for organisations to build relationships, carry learning forward and open up opportunities to successive groups of young people.
For the BBC, this partnership provides a continuing connection with young people exploring their creative potential. For Ideas Foundation, it brings together funding, professional expertise and access around which we can design meaningful learning experiences. For students, it makes an unfamiliar industry something they can experience for themselves.
Last week’s camp at The Manchester College brought that commitment to life once again.
Making the BBC’s creative work accessible:
-
100%
of students reported a better understanding of the creative and media world of work.
-
100%
said they were more likely to consider a job in that world.
-
96%
felt more positive about their potential.
The students’ brief was to develop a campaign encouraging “Working Families” aged 25–45 to watch BBC drama Wild Cherry on BBC iPlayer.
For BBC Creative, this opened up its work to a new group of young people. Students encountered the thinking behind promoting a programme: understanding an audience, finding a compelling idea and developing a campaign across different media.
For the students, the BBC became more than an organisation whose programmes they might watch. It became a place where people research audiences, develop ideas, produce campaigns and collaborate across creative roles.
That is an important contribution to building a broader future talent pipeline. Young people cannot explore opportunities they do not know exist; experiences like this give them a more informed starting point.
Turning access into meaningful participation
A professional brief alone does not create a learning experience.
Ideas Foundation designed and delivered the programme that enabled students to engage with BBC Creative’s challenge. We structured the journey from audience understanding and idea generation through to campaign development, feedback and final pitches.
Students were supported to move beyond their own viewing preferences and consider what would persuade the intended audience. Working as creative agencies, they developed a campaign idea, a promotional trailer, an outdoor advertising concept and an experiential activation.
As one student reflected:
“It was a fantastic way to identify our strengths whilst building a campaign. The aspect I enjoyed most was brainstorming ideas for our campaign as it allowed us to think on our feet and contribute ideas to the project.”
Student, The Manchester College
This is IF’s value within the partnership: translating professional expertise into an accessible creative experience, with the educational support young people need to participate meaningfully. It gives the BBC a structured way to share its work with young people, while students practise communication, collaboration and creative problem-solving.
A meaningful role for BBC employees
BBC professionals contributed as mentors and judges, helping students develop their thinking and responding to their final campaigns. Their expertise had a direct application. Teams could discuss an idea, receive feedback and use it to refine their work.
For participating colleagues, the camp offered an opportunity to use their professional skills in support of young people’s development. Several mentors and judges told us how much they enjoyed taking part and that they would love to return next year.
Kate Dinsdale’s commitment was central to making that involvement possible. Her coordination of logistics, mentors and BBC participation helped turn the partnership into a rich experience for students.
Bringing the wider industry to life
The programme also connected students with Home Post Production, where they explored post-production and sound, spoke with professionals and witnessed a live voiceover recording. Many students had not realised the range of roles available. Seeing people doing the work made those possibilities tangible.
Home also hosted the final pitches in its viewing room, where teams presented to BBC Creative professionals connected to the brief.
The winning team and runners-up will extend that exposure through a day at the BBC, meeting different teams and seeing their work in action.
Together, these experiences help young people understand the range of expertise behind creative output, and consider where their own interests might fit.
The value of sustained partnership
The BBC’s contribution combines funding with people, expertise and access. Ideas Foundation connects those resources through programme design, facilitation and educational partnerships.
The result is a practical expression of the BBC’s investment in young people: opportunities to encounter its creative work, contribute ideas and explore possible futures.
The camp’s immediate value is visible in participation, creative work and professional encounters. Its contribution to future talent begins with widening awareness and access, rather than guaranteeing a particular employment destination.
Our thanks go to Mandy Combes and Justin Bairamian for their support; Kate Dinsdale for her exceptional commitment; the BBC mentors and judges; Home Post Production; and The Manchester College.
Ten years of support deserves recognition for what it makes possible: a connection between an organisation’s expertise and young people who might otherwise have little opportunity to experience it.
