On the Record is recognised nationally and internationally for co-producing oral history arts & community archives with groups who are otherwise under-represented in culture. We are a not-for-profit organisation guided by co-operative principles, co-fonded by Rosa Schling & Laura Khan Mitchison. Our current workers are Laura Khan Mitchison & Tania Aubeelack.
Our approach to oral history
Oral history is a shared process of recording and archiving people's lived experiences. Before anything else we listen. We ask “what was it like to be a stay-at-home dad then?” “What is it like to be a hospital cleaner now?” Each person’s account is in its own way unique.
Our work explores places, communities and movements from multiple perspectives: at Speakers’ Corner we imagined past moments of London’s famous site of open air oratory from the speaker’s soapbox, the heckler’s hide-out and the gathered crowd. We weave together subjective accounts of lived experience to tell complicated and rich stories.
We collaborate with the people we record, and whose stories we tell. Our projects often bring together different generations or groups of people who have something to learn from each other, to connect ‘what has happened’ with ‘what could be’. Working together to co-produce archives and creative media we share authority and build new connections. We explore past experiences to help people re-imagine what is possible in the present and future.
In addition to the projects we run ourselves, On the Record contributes significantly towards nurturing growth, creativity, collaboration and diversity in many sectors by providing specialist advice and training to a range of different organisations and groups. Read more about working with us here.
Awards
Silver in the Grassroots Production Category at the Audio Production Awards 2024. Rosa Schling & Hannah Kemp-Welch.
International Women's Podcast Awards 2024: winner of the "Moment of Compelling Storytelling" category. We were shortlisted in 3 other categories - "Moment of Touching Honesty," "Moment of Raw Emotion" and "Moment of Behind the Scenes Brilliance". Laura Khan Mitchison & Nicole Robson.
BIG South London's Healthcare Collaboration of the Year (2024).
Winner of the international locative media award, Sound Walk September in 2020 and 2022.
A London Community Story Award (2021) from the GLA.
Doing it Ourselves: the First Neighbourhood Co-operative Nursery won the Women’s History Network's Community Prize in 2020.
