The UK’s only national publication and platform for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities is embarking on a brand new evolution. Rural Media’s CEO Nic Millington shares more. This article is part of the People-Powered Storytelling collaborative series.
“Travellers’ Times gives us a seat at the table, a platform to speak that we don’t get in the mainstream media. When it comes from Travellers’ Times, people listen.” Davie Donaldson, Dec 2019
Founded more than twenty years ago by Rural Media Charity, Travellers’ Times is the only national magazine, website and support platform for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities in the UK. Travellers’ Times celebrates GRT culture and challenges stereotypes and negative media representation whilst providing GRT communities with the support, tools, skills, and confidence to improve the quality of their lives and effectively oppose discrimination and exclusion.
In 2021 and with support of Lankelly Chase Foundation and National Lottery Community Fund, Rural Media proposed a bold and ambitious evolution of Travellers’ Times, which included:
Increased video and audio content, region-specific online representation and reporting, and wider engagement and participation
Paid training and work placements for Gypsy, Roma & Travellers with Rural Media and both independent and mainstream media partners
Full GRT community ownership and operation by mid-2025
In 2022, Rural Media began working with community members, consultants and stakeholders to develop a three-year paid training programme to transition Travellers’ Times into an independent community-led entity through work-based training and continuing professional development. In September 2022, a national cohort of Gypsy, Roma and Travellers commenced training and building a new Traveller-led organisation to be called TT Vision.
To date, Rural Media has designed and implemented an innovative training and career development model, which by mid-2025 will ensure a responsibly managed community handover. This model will have invested business, organisational and leadership skills, training and empowerment of an upcoming generation to take on the running and growth of Travellers’ Times as a sustainable 100% community-led project. It will engage and partner with mainstream media organisations to develop and embed Gypsy and Traveller trainees into their work and reporting. By mid-2025, TT Vision will have offered a unique opportunity for young Gypsy, Roma & Travellers to profoundly address future needs by laying strong, aspirational foundations for leadership, representation and advocacy.
Our sincerest thanks go to all those supporters, volunteers, and funders over the last quarter century to the founding and impact of Travellers’ Times especially Comic Relief, TNLCF, and Lankelly Chase Foundation.
For further details about the TT Vision resource and work of Rural Media, contact: Nic Millington, CEO of Rural Media at: nicm@ruralmedia.co.uk 07710 941 077
Nic Millington FRSA is founder and CEO of Rural Media Charity, founder and Director of Rural Media’s sister film & TV company, Rural Studios, and is Chair of Herefordshire Cultural Partnership. Nic is a Fellow of University of Worcester, holds the BFI Paddy Whannel Award for innovation in film education, and the Herefordshire Diamond Day 2012 Award for excellence in business.
This article is part of People-Powered Storytelling, a new collaborative series showcasing the transformative impact of community-centred media initiatives in the UK. Read more about the series, and the other contributions that are part of it, here.
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