From friends to co-hosts: Bath Spa duo present The Arts Show on Radio Bath

From friends to co-hosts: Bath Spa duo present The Arts Show on Radio Bath (@BathSpaUni)

For Bath Spa University friends Nigel Fryatt and Niklas Aarre, what started as an idea that was trialled one Sunday morning has translated into The Arts Show, a weekly slot they now co-host as colleagues on Radio Bath.

Nigel, who is currently studying for a Master’s in Arts Management, and Niklas who graduated with a Master’s in Directing, were both in agreement that the city of Bath needed a show about the arts. The show, which began as just a conversation between Nigel and Niklas has evolved into a regular weekly slot that is broadcast to Bath, North East Somerset and West Wiltshire audiences, with listeners in London and even the USA.

The show airs on Radio Bath – a volunteer based radio station which aims to engage with local communities, bring a voice to what is going on in Bath and the region, and promote local causes and projects.

Discussing the very first airing of The Arts Show, Niklas said:

“Nigel was covering a show that was on a Sunday morning. We toyed with the idea that Radio Bath needs to have an art show, as it’s so important. So Nigel asked me if I wanted to come on the show and trial it. We did a show based on the theatre director and actor relationship. It had a good response and good feedback, so we were offered that slot, essentially for the foreseeable future.”

Nigel and Niklas began working on their vision for the show with an emphasis on regular interviews with local creatives. Niklas said: “We started to develop more of what The Arts Show is going to be through my network with EMERGE, as I’m one of the residents. We had a good cohort of artists that we wanted to voice and give a platform to. Every week, we’ve been doing a lot of theatre companies, because that’s the most amount of contacts that I have. And they’re all graduates of Bath Spa.

In addition to these regular interviews, Niklas and Nigel feature a ‘What’s On and What’s Happening’ section and have recently introduced a new feature called an ‘Unrequested Creative Shout Out’ where they feature guests that do not know they are going to be voiced on the show and share their work. Along with these features, The Arts Show now broadcasts performances, creative discussions, music and weekly rundowns of events happening around the region.

As they look forward, the pair now hope to develop closer ties with organisations across the region, in particular Bath Spa University, and raise the profile of the South West so that it is recognised as the leading creative region in Britain. Using performance, training and knowledge they also hope to make the arts accessible to members of the local community from underrepresented backgrounds.

As well as growing the audience of the show, Nigel feels that The Arts Show can support Bath Spa University through championing students and their work in the local area. He said:

“We’re looking at working closely together to bring real change to people in the community and students at large. My perspective is that art is incredibly important to the world. But I don’t think some of our population recognise that. So that’s why we want to go behind the scenes and show what goes into doing these things.”

Both Nigel and Niklas acknowledge the impact Bath Spa has had on their careers. Niklas said:

“We’ve ended up at the same point where we’re doing a show together, about the arts, which is what we trained in and the reason we met in 2014, and it’s all because of Bath Spa that we eventually got to this point.”

Overall, the pair aim to use The Arts Show to inspire creativity in everyone they work with or broadcast to every day.