Thank you and Merry Christmas!

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past year. 2013 has been a big year for INSP, working to support over 120 street papers and their 28,000 homeless vendors in the UK and around the world. Here are some of our highlights from the year:

Irvine Welsh exclusive Christmas Story

Our ambassador Irvine Welsh (Scottish author of Trainspotting) has written an exclusive story for our street papers to publish during this festive period. The story features Welsh's infamous character Francis Begbie (portrayed by actor Robert Carlyle in Danny Boyle's film adaptation of Trainspotting). The news of the exclusive recently attracted extensive media coverage and featured in most major UK newspapers, on television and online. Read more here. This worldwide exclusive is currently helping our vendors to increase sales at a particularly difficult time of year. 

International Street Paper Awards

The 2013 International Street Paper Awards was held on the final night of the conference in Munich. Awards were presented to the winners of ten categories (pictured above). Read more about the winners here.

INSP conference in Munich

In the summer we held our 17th annual conference in Munich in partnership with local street paper and INSP founding member BISS. The focus of this year's event was on sustainability to ensure our street papers continue to best serve their vendors' needs. A record number of people participated in the event, which was attended by over 100 delegates from 50 street papers in 30 countries! Our conference programme and coverage of our conference can all be viewed on our blog.

New INSP Ambassadors

In 2013, Scottish author Irvine Welsh and French journalist Mariane Pearl joined our high-profile supporters. Both were invited to support INSP following exclusive interviews for our news service. Read more here.

Our online news service

Our news service continued to provide street papers with high-quality international content worth over £500,000! Content included exclusive interviews with high-profile individuals, such as Richard Branson and Usain Bolt; a worldwide exclusive short story from Irvine Welsh (more below); content from external media partners, such as Reuters and IPS; and content from within the network adapted by INSP and translated by over 150 volunteer translators.

We would like to thank all our members, external content partners, interviewees, contributors and translators for their support of our news service! 

Digital Innovation

Our work supporting street papers to adapt to the digital age made it to the finals of the European Social Innovation Competition, where we were one of ten finalists out of 605 entries! We were also invited to present our digital work at Brand Perfect's Adventures in Publishing event where delegates, all publishing experts, spent the afternoon coming up with ideas on "How we can take the street paper network into the digital age".

Following the pilot of our digital street paper, we have continued to support street papers to trial digital innovations, helping them adapt to the digital age. Some examples include:

• Megaphone (Vancouver): Vendor Finder app
• Faktum (Sweden): Cashless payment app
• StreetWise (Chicago, USA): Cashless payments via PayPal
• The Big Issue South Africa: Digital subscriptions

Street paper launches in Greece

Shedia (Σχεδία) launched in Athens in February 2013 providing much-needed employment opportunities and support to the recession-struck capital. It will soon expand to Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Read more here.

INSP provides advice, support, resources and editorial content to help groups start new street papers. Speaking about INSP's support, Chris Alefantis (Co-founder of Shedia) said:

"INSP's support has been invaluable to us. Being able to draw from the network's knowledge and experience has truly helped us in preparing as well as possible for the challenges we have faced so far and for the challenges that lie ahead...Together we can make a difference. INSP and its members prove just that."

International Street Paper Vendor Week

In February, we launched our first-ever annual International Street Paper Vendor Week, an international programme of events and activities celebrating street paper vendors and raising awareness of issues related to homelessness and unemployment. The event was a great success with around 8,000 vendors from 46 street papers in 20 countries benefiting from this year's activities!

In Scotland, we organised a series of local events, including a photography exhibition and local vendor parties for 250 Big Issue vendors in Scotland. The Scottish activities were launched by Glasgow MSP Humza Yousaf (pictured right) who spent the afternoon with Big Issue Vendor Peter to find out what it's really like to sell a street paper. In the space of an afternoon, the pair was met by sun, rain, hail and even snow!

You can view coverage of the event on our blog, our Google map of activity and a selection of media coverage.

2014 - our 20th anniversary

Next year we will celebrate INSP's 20th anniversary, as well as our tenth year being based in Scotland! We have many exciting plans, including our second International Street Paper Vendor Week, featuring the first-ever Big Sell-Off; a follow-up to our 2012 independence conversation series; our 18th annual conference in Glasgow in the summer following the Commonwealth Games; our 20th anniversary showcase and lots more...

We need your help!

Please help us to ensure we are able continue supporting our 120 street papers to provide over 28,000 homeless vendors with a means to earn an income and improve their lives. Click here to donate to INSP today!




Keep in touch:

‘Reaching Out: The theatre of dreams’ republished

Professor Jimmie Earl Perry seeks to change attitudes about HIV/AIDS in South Africa through theatre. The director of The Africa Centre for HIV and AIDS Management’s Educational Theatre and Creative Arts programme is using local actors to put on plays that ‘break the silence’ surrounding the taboo subject of HIV/AIDS.

Earl Perry wants to get the message of HIV/AIDS management out to the Afrikaans community and to the country’s farm workers, hoping he can reach them through entertainment. His plays, Lucky the Hero and Lucky Fish, involve characters whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS and are staged by young people from the local theatre group in both English and Afrikaans.

The article, by Tarryn Brien of The Big Issue South Africa, was republished in Greek street paper Shedia.

It can still be downloaded here.


„Das Theater der Träume“ erscheint in Griechenland

Professor Jimmie Earl Perry will die Einstellung zu HIV/AIDS in Südafrika mit Hilfe des Theaters ändern. Der Direktor des „Africa Centre for HIV and AIDS Management’s Educational Theatre and Creative Arts“-Programm („Programm für Bildungstheater und kreative Künste des Afrikanischen Zentrums für HIV und AIDS“) stellt örtliche Schauspieler für Stücke ein, die das Schweigen um das Tabuthema HIV/AIDS brechen sollen.

Earl Perry will seine Botschaft zur Gemeinde der Afrikaaner und den Farmarbeitern des Landes bringen. Er hofft, sie durch Entertainment erreichen zu können. Seine Stücke „Lucky the Hero“ und „Lucky Fish“ handeln von Charakteren, deren Leben von der Immunschwächekrankheit betroffen ist. Die Darsteller sind junge Menschen aus lokalen Theatergruppen, die das Stück auf Englisch und Afrikaans spielen.
  
Der Artikel von Tarryn Brien vom Big Issue South Africa erschien auch in der griechischen Straßenzeitung Shedia.


Sie können ihn immer noch hier herunterladen.

‘Dutch self-image shaken by “Black Pete” debate’ republished

According to folklore, when Saint Nicholas arrives in the Netherlands at the Christmas season, he is accompanied by his servant, Black Pete. At parades and pageants, the part of Black Pete is usually played by a white person in a “blackface” wearing a curly wig and a red-painted mouth.

But the tradition has recently come under fire for being racist, stirring an emotional debate amongst the Dutch, who see themselves as tolerant, cool-headed and committed to social harmony. Many now agree the Black Pete character is offensive but others say banning it would mean the loss of a revered tradition that dates back to the 17th century.

This controversial Reuters article was republished by street paper The Big Issue in the North, based in the north of England.

It can still be downloaded here.

‘Die Debatte um den „Zwarte Piet“ erschüttert das Selbstbild der Niederländer’ erscheint in UK
Wenn „Sinterklaas“ (Nikolaus) in der Vorweihnachtszeit in den Niederlanden ankommt, wird er von seinem Diener begleitet, dem „Zwarte Piet“ („Schwarzer Peter“). Auf Paraden und anderen öffentlichen Auftritten wird der „Zwarte Piet“ normalerweise von einem Weißen in schwarzer Schminke dargestellt.

Dazu trägt er eine Afro Perücke und hat einen breiten, rot geschminkten Mund. Seit kurzem wird diese Tradition als rassistisch kritisiert. Diese Kritik hat in den Niederlanden zu einer emotionalen Debatte geführt – denn die Holländer sehen sich selbst eigentlich als tolerant, cool und um den sozialen Frieden bemüht.

Dieser kontroverse Reuters-Artikel erschien in der Straßenzeitung The Big Issue in the North, die in Nord-England beheimatet ist.

Hier steht er immer noch zum Download bereit.

Moby: sounding sensitive’ republished in Greece

Shedia (Greece)

It’s fitting that the album which made Moby a household name at the turn of the millennium was called Play, because the artist approaches his work with a tinker-happy, playfulness that gives his songs an undeniable purity.

His latest album, Innocents, sees him bring together his unique brand of dance music with broken and out-dated equipment, along with some big name cameos providing lyrics and vocals.

Moby spoke to Doug Wallen of The Big Issue Australia about the grind of touring for the best part of two decades and his love for new sounds. The article was republished by Greek street paper Shedia.

The article can still be downloaded here.

„Moby: Klingt vernünftig“ erscheint in Griechenland

Das Album, das Moby zur Jahrtausendwende berühmt machte, hieß „Play“ – ein passender Name, denn der Musiker begegnet seiner Kunst mit einer Spielfreude, die seinen Songs eine unleugbare Reinheit verleiht. In seinem neuen Album „Innocents“ zeigt er wieder seinen einzigartigen Musikstil. Andere berühmte Namen steuern Gastauftritte bei. Er sprach mit Doug Wallen von The Big Issue Australia über den Stress, den größten Teil von zwei Jahrzehnten zu touren, und seine Liebe für neue Sounds.

Der Artikel erschien auch in der griechischen Straßenzeitung Shedia. Hier können Sie ihn immer noch herunterladen.