United We Stream
United We Stream Greater Manchester (UWS) was a trailblazing live-streaming, fundraising platform, showcasing diverse Manchester-centric music, arts and culture.
The innovative project was instigated in swift response to the first UK Lockdown in March 2020 by Greater Manchester Night Time Economy Adviser Sacha Lord, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) Culture and Night Time Economy (NTE) team, L.G. Publicity, and Badger & Combes digital.
The first stream was on April 3rd, 2020, the last on New Years’ Eve.
The multi award winning project was free to watch, but donations were encouraged through all media and communications managed by L.G. Publicity, including: social media management and engagement, press features, artist interviews, graphics, assets, partners, sponsors and the live broadcasts.
UWS created and delivered original 48 mass engagement events online in nine months. The core team were a formidable collective, with significant influence and reach within the UK digital arts, music, culture and entertainment sectors.
UWS co-produced with diverse organisations, for example: Young Identity, The Hacienda, Head for the Hills, Brighter Sounds, New Order, Night and Day, Manchester Pride, Moovin and Homoelectric.
UWS produced over 300 hours of live content, including club nights with Homoelectric, La Discotheque and Funkademia, cooking with chefs Simon Wood and Gary Usher, a live ‘Art Battle’ with artists competing in countdown rounds from their own homes, and a star studded comedy night with renowned comedian, Jon Richardson.
The team even persuaded The Mayor of Greater Manchester to get behind the decks!
UWS’s Headstock Festival was a music and mental wellbeing event to raise awareness of male suicide. The livestream was held on the 30th anniversary of the death of Joy Division's lead singer - Ian Curtis.
The team also produced a special commemorative show to mark the third anniversary of the Manchester Arena attack, with socially distant performance from the Manchester Survivors Choir, and rousing DJ set from Spice Girl, Melanie C.
UWS amassed more than 20 million views, provided a platform for more than 400 artists and cultural organisations, raised £583k and supported 30 charities including Nordoff Robbins, Manchester Mind, St Johns Hospice, Save the Children UK, Manchester Cladiators, and the Greater Manchester Mayors Charity, supporting rough sleepers.
The Hacienda show on New Year’s Eve amassed the biggest audience of the entire nine-month project: an extraordinary global audience of four million people enjoyed non-stop DJ sets from all over the world, and watched Hacienda Classical with the (socially distant) Manchester Camerata orchestra.
On New Year’s Eve, UWS was the second biggest talked about topic in the U.K. on Twitter - trending for hours at number two. This online event alone raised £115,000 - split between four different charities.
Live streaming has often been considered as poor substitute for the 'real thing', but United We Stream cracked the code of creating memorable, interactive, live-streamed shared experiences.