Ms Jo Loosemore

Radio maker. History finder. Theatre lover. Jo is a broadcaster, curator and actor. 

For the BBC, she has created radio dramas, documentaries and live programmes. This has included World War One at Home (in partnership with the Imperial War Museums) for network and local radio, regional tv and online. From Brazil to the Battlefield, the story of Exeter fighting footballers was broadcast on BBC 5 Live, and a series of features appeared on BBC Radio 4 and 4Extra. She also produced the Listening Project’s national tour for BBC Radio 4, BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC local radio in partnership with the British Library, contributing the 1000th conversation to the national collection. 

Having created the city’s oral history archive and co-curated Plymouth’s largest social history exhibition (Tales from the City), she was also the curator of Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy – the national commemorative exhibition for 2020/21 in The Box, Plymouth, and co-curator of Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America (national tour). Both exhibitions were curated in partnership with members scholars and educators of the Wampanoag Nation. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the University of Plymouth. 

https://www.joloosemore.co.uk/

Qualifications

MA Museum Studies (University of Leicester) 

BA (Hons) Politics, Philosophy and Economics (University of Oxford) 

Professional membership

Museums Association

Association of Heritage Interpretation

SW Fed

Roles on external bodies

British Museum - Museum Futures Mentor

Teaching interests

MA Heritage Theory and Practice

MA Archival Practice

BA History 

Research interests

Exhibition development and interpretation.

Oral history collection and curation.

Museum and theatre education, participation and fundraising.

Project management, marketing and audience development.

Radio production and presentation. 

Online and social media content creation.

Research and outreach.

Other research

Mayflower 400 in partnership with the Wampanoag Nation and museums, libraries and archives in the US, UK and The Netherlands

Curation of two international museum exhibitions 

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/about-us/mayflower-400/legacies-and-futures

Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy for The Box, Plymouth and Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America for national tour

Partnership management, community engagement and learning resource development

The Listening Project in partnership with the British Library and BBC Radio 4

Research, recording and editing of conversations for radio and online

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0165nkb #listeningproject

Content creation for BBC Radio 4 and BBC local radio

Liberation series (conversations about occupation, evacuation and liberation) for BBC Radio 4, BBC Jersey, BBC Guernsey

World War One At Home in partnership with Imperial War Museums

Discovery, development and delivery of 38 stories for radio, tv and online

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01p3416  #WW1AtHome

Live and recorded content for 5Live, Radio 4, 4Extra, Inside Out, BBC Spotlight and BBC local radio

Documentary – From Brazil to the Battlefield: the story of Exeter’s fighting footballers

Grants & contracts

National Marine Park Interpretation Plan, 2023

Shackleton Foundation, 2023

Creative practice & artistic projects

Direction and script development of over 25 radio plays for the BBC based on historical stories.

The Day Will Come (a radio musical about the abolition of slavery), Borderline and Darwin by Nick Stimson, Hallsands (a 12-part dramatised series about the collapse of a South Devon village into the sea) by Richard Clark, The Witches of Bideford by Heidi Stephenson and Eleanor Fossey’s A Shadow of Doubt (about ‘the man they couldn’t hang’) and The White Lady (the ghosts of Berry Pomeroy) commissioned as part of Made in England (ACE).

Liberation and Liberation 70: Remembering (two 55-minute radio plays written and performed by the Guernsey History in Action group)

Haunted cinema – for Plymouth Arts Centre and British Film Institute

Exhibitions

This Land (2023), Theatre Royal, Plymouth

Mayflower (2022), Mayflower Museum, Plymouth

Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy (2020/21), The Box Plymouth (Highly Commended - European Museum of the Year 2021)

Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America (2020/21), national tour to SeaCity Southampton, The Box Plymouth and Guildhall Art Gallery London

Hidden City (2008), Royal William Yard

Visibly Proud (2003), Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

Tales From The City (2000/01), Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

The Beautiful Game (2001), Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

Books

Visibly Proud: Celebrating diversity in women’s lives today (2003), Plymouth Race Equality Council Plymouth College of Art and Design and Plymouth City Museum, ISBN 0 904788 21 0

A Naval Tradition: Jobs for the Boys – stories of local men at work, (2001), PCMAG, ISBN 0 904788 18 0

A Naval Tradition: Jobs for the Girls – stories of local women at work, (2001) PCMAG, ISBN 0 904788 17 2

Journals

Including Museums: Perspectives on Museums, Galleries and Social Inclusion, (2001), University of Leicester, ISBN 1 898489 19 X

Polish Ground; the history and development of Ilford Park, (2001), Plymouth City Museum, ISBN 0904788164

Internet Publications

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/institutes/arts-institute/legacies-and-futures

https://pocketsights.com/tours/tour/-Beyond-the-Spectacle%3A-Indigenous-Plymouth-2827

https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/bts/2022/03/25/mapping-indigenous-presence-in-plymouth-england/

https://writingeastmidlands.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Radical_Roots_Issue_Spring.pdf

https://www.migrationmuseum.org/mayflower-400-passengers-people-and-perceptions/

Other Publications

https://www.theboxplymouth.com/blog/press-release/refreshed-mayflower-museum-is-ready-to-open

Reports & invited lectures

The National Archives (Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities) 

University of Oxford (Rothermere American Institute)

Transatlantic Studies Association

University of the Highlands and Islands

The Migration Museum

Museum Ethnographers' Group

The Hydrographic Society UK and Ireland

SW Museums Federation

Hampshire Archaeological Society

Devon Family History Society

Devon History Society 

Other academic activities

Spillover - https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/spillover-2022