BBH event puts the spotlight on UNSIGNED talent
Ahead of the second UNSIGNED event, at which new and diverse talents are showcased, BBH London's Head of Production, Stephen Ledger-Lomas, discusses the thinking behind the show and why talent is everything.
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Today sees the opening of the 2019 UNSIGNED event, held at - and organised by - BBH London.
The invite-only evening is the second annual programme of curated work from the worlds of art, music and photography will shine a light on upcoming talent and aims to give a platform to them and their work.
Below, Stephen Ledger-Lomas, BBH's Head of Production and one of the masterminds behind UNSIGNED, talks about the reasons for its existence and why talent is everything.
Above: Images from this year's UNSIGNED.
Can you tell us a bit about how UNSIGNED came to exist, and about your role in that?
When I arrived at BBH in January 2018 I wanted to make sure that the production team felt empowered to bring in and collaborate with as diverse a range of emerging talent as possible. We set up UP at BBH as the cultural heart of the agency.
UP presents a highly curated programme of art, music, film, talks and events. It is a place for us to demonstrate our passion for art, music, food, technology, sport and film; a place for BBH to play, collaborate and extend our creative network.
I wanted to make sure that the production team felt empowered to bring in and collaborate with as diverse a range of emerging talent as possible.
[Assistant Producer] Tom Burns dreamt up the UNSIGNED annual showcase as a new platform to shine a light on unrepresented talent within photography, film and illustration and has worked incredibly hard with his team to put it together for two years running.
The inaugural event in 2018 was a huge success. We invited in a broad network of production companies, photography agencies, fellow creative agencies and our wider family of creative collaborators and the conversations were astounding. Featured artists from last year went on to be commissioned by BBH, signed by Black Sheep Photo, Trayler and Trayler, East Photographic and Academy Photography amongst others.
As Sir John Hegarty himself said: “(BBH) didn't hire the most famous directors. We hired talented directors and made them famous".
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Above: Stephen Ledger-Lomas, BBH's Head of Production
What's the process you go through to find the people you're shining a light on at UNSIGNED?
The only criteria for selection in UNSIGNED is that the artists featured are emerging and unrepresented, but we also have a strong lens on diversity and inclusion as part of the selection process. This year the exhibition will feature 50 new artists who have been discovered by the UNSIGNED team via our extensive scouting programme across editorial, social media, our own creative network and, for the first time, Free Range.
Talent always has a way of standing out.
Free Range is the UK's largest graduate showcase for photography, illustration and fine art and this year the UNSIGNED team have selected five winners to be part of the final showcase.
Technological democratisation has allowed more people access to filmmaking and photography but do you think that's made it harder for people to stand out?
Talent always has a way of standing out. There may be more individuals with access to platforms to promote their work than ever before but the really unique individuals, those that follow their own voice and are consistent with that, will always surface.
The UNSIGNED exhibition is designed to try and bring some of the democratisation of talent into the agency itself.
Technological democratisation has broken down some of the barriers that stood in the way for some, but the difficulties of surviving as a young creative professional, and making ends meet with commercial briefs, are as prevalent as ever. There are still channels and relationships which exist to enable some and restrict others. The UNSIGNED exhibition is designed to try and bring some of the democratisation of talent into the agency itself.
Above: More images taken from work on show at tomorrow's UNSIGNED.
What do you hope UNSIGNED achieves and will there be another next year?
My hopes for UNSIGNED and the exhibitors, and the hopes of Tom and the team, are the same as they were for last year; to give a voice and a platform to diverse new talent. To give confidence and support to new artists and bring the wider creative industry into that conversation. We are not alone in doing this but we are really committed to this cause.
[We want] to give a voice and a platform to diverse new talent.
We want the next generation of photographers, directors, illustrators and BBH collaborators to be as diverse in terms of their points of view on the world as possible. We owe it to our clients to represent the audience they advertise to with the people we collaborate with to make the work.
And yes, the UNSIGNED event will be back next year, bigger and better than 2019.
