We’re hosting 4 themed writing workshops during our 2015 festival, Live’n’Local, as part of the BBC’s Get Creative campaign – a year-long celebration of British arts, culture and creativity.

Get Creative aims to boost creativity in the UK, as well as celebrating the millions of people already doing something artistic and creative everyday. The campaign was launched 19 February 2015, by BBC Arts in partnership with cultural movement What Next? and leading arts and cultural organisations across the country.

The RLF is joining hundreds of organisations nationwide in becoming a Get Creative Champion.

This year’s festival will run across the weekend 10/11 October and features a sense of people and place, mixing workshops and talks inspired by landscape and cultural heritage.

Our workshops on Saturday at the Guildhall Museum feature The History Magpie, Rachael Hale, who – inspired by the museum’s wonderful collection of artefacts – will guide you in finding hidden treasures whose stories are waiting to be told. Festival partner Sam Hall will teach you how to use news stories to inspire your own writing, leading the creative writing workshop Safe and Sound which is linked to our Sunday evening play, My Mind is Free, exploring the issues around human trafficking in the UK (over 14s).

On Sunday at Sun Pier House, we’re delighted to have Nature Girl, Carol Donaldson with us, who’ll be taking participants out to explore the local environment before committing their discoveries to paper, while Melanie Benn will help you in Unlocking your Memories with discussion and thoughtful writing exercises, encouraging you think about writing from personal experiences.

We’re excited to be part of the BBC’s Get Creative Campaign this year, and pleased to be able to offer such a wide variety of workshops for both aspiring and experienced writers in the community. Whether you’re into history, the environment, memoir or playwriting, we’ve got something for you.

Get Creative will also have its digital home on BBC Arts online and through the use of #bbcgetcreative on social media sites.

The campaign is a celebration of the world-class arts, culture and creativity across the UK and sets out to encourage a broad audience to engage more meaningfully with the arts.

Get Creative came about as a result of the Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Value and collaboration with Voluntary Arts, Culture at King’s, 64 Million Artists, Fun Palaces, Cultural Learning Alliance and Arts Council England.

What Next? is a movement bringing together arts and cultural organisations from across the UK, to articulate and strengthen the role of culture in our society. The aim is to engage the public in new and different conversations about how and why the arts are important, and become a catalyst for fresh thinking and new policy ideas.