The BBC World Service and Sundance Institute have announced a new collaboration to produce a series of radio documentaries and podcasts for launch in 2018. 

The partnership will allow for up to six new projects exploring the theme of ‘Neighbour’, with the resulting radio programmes airing on the BBC World Service, also available as podcasts, and accompanied by visual storytelling online.

Mary Hockaday, Controller of BBC World Service English, says: “We’re very excited about collaborating with Sundance Institute, who share our passion for the very best storytelling. As radio continues to enjoy a renaissance and podcasting goes from strength to strength, we hope this collaboration might tempt documentary makers who’ve previously focused on film and TV to also explore audio. This series of creative, ambitious and thought-provoking programmes will explore the world today for the wide BBC World Service global audience.”

Tabitha Jackson, Director of Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program, says: "We believe artful storytelling can transform conversations and cultures, and this collaboration with the BBC World Service offers another medium for the global community of nonfiction artists we support to shine a light on the world around us."

The collaboration provides an opportunity for documentary makers to tell stories in the English language for radio broadcast on the BBC World Service with its global audience of 75 million. Each project will comprise a half-hour or one-hour audio documentary for radio and podcast together with an accompanying thematically-related short visual story for the BBC’s web and social channels.

The series will be commissioned by Mary Hockaday, Controller BBC World Service English and Simon Pitts, Commissioning Editor, BBC World Service in consultation with Keri Putnam, Executive Director, Sundance Institute and Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute.

For more information on the collaboration, please visit www.bbcworldservice.com/bbcsundance