#INSP2018 Day One: Content, community and being a part of the network

The UN climate conference COP26 has been ongoing in Glasgow. On Saturday, members of the public and activists alike took to the streets to make their voices heard for climate justice for all.

After working with inmates at Glasgow’s Barlinnie prison for some years, musician Jill Brown sought to establish a way for exceptional talent uncovered behind bars to release their music. The result is Conviction Records, a record label and social enterprise for ex-offenders. With backing from major music A&R Eric MacLellan, Brown hopes the outreach to former prison inmates and the songs created with them will help bring convicted criminals back from the fringes of society.

INSP recently moved office, and now shares a space with The Big Issue. During #VendorWeek, we chatted to Anabel – who has been selling The Big Issue only as long as INSP has been office neighbours with the Glasgow-based street paper – about getting involved and what the magazine means for her.

After attending the 2019 Global Street Paper Summit, INSP board member, and Real Change founding director, Tim Harris offered some reflections on the state of the street paper movement and what we have to look forward to in the future.

The final day of #INSP2019 saw social media analyst Ray Serrato address delegates about social issues in countries such as Germany, Pakistan and Myanmar and how extremist and inflammatory sentiment is being spread using social media channels like Facebook and YouTube.

The #INSP2019 day two speaker was social entrepreneur Orit Kopel, a freedom of expression advocate and co-founder of Wiki-based news platform WikiTribune. She spoke to attending street paper delegates about the prevalence of fake news, community-sourced journalism and her new project, Glass Voices, a social enterprise looking to train women in public speaking to ensure a new generation of women who are given the opportunity to be heard in business.

All of us experience some degree of stress in our everyday lives. For those who are homeless, however, stress can be a debilitating and chronic issue. Street Roots talked to a number of individuals about their experiences of life on the streets and about the impact that stress has had on their lives. This is especially pertinent as delegates at this year’s ongoing Global Street Paper Summit talk about dealing with conflict and vendor welfare.

To mark the 2019 INSP Awards, we are diving into the INSP Archive to bring you the pieces crowned with editorial honours. Oklahoma City’s The Curbside Chronicle published its ‘Ghost Bikes’ photo essay last year during National Bike Month and is now the recipient of this year’s Special News Service Award.

When Trondheim street paper Sorgenfri unveiled its new design at the start of 2019, it made in-depth, longform investigative pieces the focal point. The magazine’s editor Vanja S. Holst spoke to INSP about the reasons behind focusing on investigative journalism, how it informed their redesign and the process the Sorgenfri team undertake with each new issue. Sorgenfri is a finalist in the Best Design category at this year’s INSP Awards.

Asphalt vendor Sascha talks about his struggles with his mental health, his childhood, his love of movies and his penchant for creating movie themed podcasts. Asphalt is based in Hannover, the city hosting this year’s Global Street Paper Summit.

A jam-packed first day of the 2019 Global Street Paper Summit saw three generations of street paper network figures take to the stage in Hannover as INSP chair Fay Selvan and co-founder of INSP Mel Young joined in conversation, facilitated by Hannele Huhtala, editor-in-chief of Finnish street paper Iso Numero.

A group of street paper delegates attending the 2019 Global Street Paper Summit in Hannover were given the opportunity to take a tour of three of the city’s most innovative social projects. INSP tagged along on the visit, and spoke to delegates.

At the end of January, when there was still snow in Cologne, Draussenseiter vendor Lothar was equipped with an analogue camera and asked to record a day in his life. He liked the idea and started documenting straight away. Here you can see the selection of photos Lothar captured, along with his comments.

2019 marks INSP’s 25th anniversary, as well as equally remarkable milestones for a number of street papers across the world. Michaela Gründler, the editor-in-chief of Apropos, is also celebrating a landmark: she started working at the Salzburg street paper on 1 February 1999. In this interview, she looks back on the last 20 years and talks about how the image of Apropos has changed, the work that she and her team do behind the scenes and why she loves fairy tales so much.

INSP launched the 2019 Global Street Paper Summit in Hannover by focusing on the value of being a member of its global network, with help from student-led consultancy agency FreshSight.

Originally from Romania, Reghina (55) is now an Asphalt vendor in Hannover, the host of this year’s Global Street Paper Summit. Here she speaks about being the subject of discrimination in her home country, moving with her kids to the Czech Republic, and then herself to Germany, and finding a kind of friendship with her customers.