The full programme is out for next month’s British and Irish Sound Archives conference at the M Shed in Bristol! It is two packed days of sound archive goodness, and believe it or not it’s the twentieth anniversary edition.
A lot has changed in 20 years of archiving sound archives. Bookings are open now so get your ticket on Eventbrite! (2 day, 1 day and reduced rates available)
BISA 20th Anniversary Conference programme
The programme features on day one, 14 May 2026:
- Update on Sounds of the South West project – Katie Scaife and Heather Millward (Sounds of the South West Project Managers, Bristol City Council)
- Adam Tovell (British Library) on planning a sound digitisation project
- Marcus Smith (BCfm Radio) on podcasting
- John Merion Rea on his installation Atgyfodi (vb revive vb resurrect)
- Ethical approaches to field recording and archiving oral histories, Riah Naief (Listen Gallery)
- Challenges in crowdsourced sound heritage archives: perspectives of
organisers and contributors, Dr Pinar Yelmi (Lecturer in Digital and Interactive Design, University of Leeds) - Roundtable: Balancing rights and online access
- Tour of Bristol Archives
- Reflection: 20 years of BISA
- BISA Confidential (The sound archives stories that are told in the licensed premises stay in the licensed premises!)
And day two, 15 May 2026:
- Materiality and embodiment: a phenomenological reappraisal of digital
sound archiving, Zhuolin Li (School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester) - A manual for the restoration of the sound of amateur films, Jean-Baptiste Masson
- Panel discussion: AI, ethics and sustainability (Carl Davies, Senior Curator, BBC; David Govier, Sound Archivist, Manchester Central Library; Dr Hannah James Louwerse, Newcastle University Oral History Collective)
- BISA Annual General Meeting
I’m really looking forward to seeing all my sound archives buddies again. If you ever have anything to do with sound archives then it really is worth getting a ticket even just for the networking. Hope to see you there!
