There will not be a Fellowship in 2026, and we do not currently have a timeline for a future Fellowship.

However! We are working hard on a new initiative, to be announced soon. Keep an eye on our website, social media and newsletter for more information.

The Multitrack Fellowship exists to create entry level opportunities for people from particular groups that are underrepresented within the audio industry.

To be a Multitrack Fellow, you must meet one or more of the following criteria around socioeconomic background, race or ethnicity, and disability.

Socioeconomic background

The Fellowship is open to people who are from a low socioeconomic background.

Here’s how we define that:

• If you qualified for free school meals.

• If, when you were age 14, your highest earning parent or guardian was not self-employed or in senior management, and was employed in one of the following categories:

  • Technical and craft occupations such as: motor mechanic, fitter, inspector, plumber, printer, tool maker, electrician, gardener, train driver

  • Semi-routine manual and service occupations such as: postal worker, machine operative, security guard, caretaker, farm worker, catering assistant, receptionist, sales assistant

  • Routine manual and service occupations such as: HGV driver, van driver, cleaner, porter, packer, sewing machinist, messenger, labourer, waiter/waitress, bar staff

  • If, when you were age 14, your parent or guardian was long term unemployed

Note: these are broad categories that may not exactly fit your family situation – e.g. if you’re a carer or if a family divorce changed your financial position. Please use your judgment when self-identifying.

Race or ethnicity

The Fellowship is open to people who are:

• Asian/British Asian

• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British

• Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups

• From another minority ethnic group

Disability

The Fellowship is open to people who are disabled, neurodivergent or have a long term health condition (defined as a condition lasting or expected to last 12 months or more).

You can self-identify this and you won’t need to show a diagnosis

The last Fellowship in 2024 was 12 weeks long. This was an increase from previous years, when the programme lasted 8 weeks. We’re excited to have extended it for its most recent iteration, in an effort to make this the most valuable opportunity possible - a longer Fellowship means more experience, more training, more networking and a longer period of employment.

Yes, fellows are paid at the Living Wage or London Living Wage, depending on location (pro rated for any fellows who choose to do the fellowship part time). Fellows are paid directly by the companies they work for during the work placement.

Yes.

Broadly, we define entry level producers as having no, or mostly voluntary experience in the audio industry - for example volunteering for a college or community radio station, creating your own recordings or podcast just for fun, or having done a couple of days shadowing or work experience.

We consider all applications on merit, but tend to favour applicants without extensive paid experience working in the media industries, such as journalism, film or tv.

That means that if you're already earning a significant proportion of your income from working in audio, or you’ve previously worked in audio and are looking to return after a career break, this scheme probably isn't for you.

One of our aims for the future is to develop a scheme to support industry returners and those with experience wishing to grow their careers. So if that describes you, please keep following our socials for updates - we know it can be tough and we hope to build something for you soon.

Fellows have the choice to either be full or part-time. We flex the structure of the scheme to accommodate the needs of the fellows who are chosen. However, you will need to be available for the placement element and training sessions for a consistent number of days (to be agreed) during the period of fellowship.

Being an audio producer involves work like:

• Coming up with ideas for podcasts and radio programmes

• Doing research to inform content and identify contributor

• Doing the organisational and administrative aspects of audio production, including transcribing audio, organising files, creating schedules, booking guests, arranging travel, etc.

• Interviewing people

• Recording audio in studios or on location

• Using editing software to edit podcasts and radio programmes together

• Doing sound design

A producer’s role can include all or some of these things. While some producers also host or present programmes, we want to make sure you know that this fellowship is aimed at the production side of podcasting and radio. So if you’re primarily aiming to become a presenter, this fellowship may not be right for you.

As we’ve said, this is an entry level scheme aimed at people who are not currently earning a substantial proportion of their income from working in audio. However, we look for people who can demonstrate their passion for audio through things they have made or worked on.

Here are a few examples of the types of thing you might have done, which would make you a great fit for this fellowship:

• Produced a podcast of your own

• Helped someone else produce a podcast

• Worked on an oral history project

• Volunteered at a radio station

• Hosted your own podcast or radio show

• Recorded interviews with friends or family

• Made experimental soundscapes just for fun

• Done an introductory course or workshop in podcasting

Multitrack has three main elements, which you can read about below:

• Work placements

• Training and networking

• Commissioned work

Work placements

Each Fellow completes a three month work placement, split across two different production companies. The first six weeks are spent at one production company, and Fellows move to a different company for the next six weeks. Although Fellows mostly work at separate production companies, they come together regularly as a group for training and networking.

We work with our host companies to make sure Multitrack Fellows are exposed to as many different aspects of the production process as possible, and that the Fellowship offers really valuable opportunities to learn new skills. This may include sometimes shadowing producers or other staff members in their day to day work, as well as completing tasks and projects which will be assigned by managers and colleagues.

It’s important to remember that because this is an entry level Fellowship, it’s likely the role will include a range of appropriate tasks for someone starting out in the industry – things like research, booking travel, transcribing audio, admin tasks, etc.

Training and networking

Once a week, there is a training session which all Fellows attend together. The training sessions are provided by the production companies who are hosting fellows, as well as special guests such as independent producers and people from other production companies.

These sessions provide a chance to learn new skills, spend time with the other Fellows, and network with a wide range of people from across the audio industry.

Commissioned work

We aim to provide opportunities for Fellows to produce professional audio work; for real commissions with broadcasters or publishers.

The number of commissions we are able to provide directly through Multitrack varies year on year, but in previous years there have been multiple commissions available across BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4.

All Fellows on the scheme are invited to pitch an idea. If your idea is chosen, you are supported and mentored through the process of making it. You are paid for this work (as a separate fee to your work placement payment) and get a producer credit. The production of these works happens after the work placement has ended.

It has always been our ambition for Multitrack to operate in as many parts of the UK as possible. However, we can only offer places in locations where we have host companies signed up.

In 2022 and 2024, we were able to offer placements in multiple regions of the UK.

We also aim to offer the option of remote placements for candidates who cannot be matched with a company in one of the available cities (or who prefer remote working for accessibility reasons).

When you apply, you can let us know which cites you’d be able to attend an in-person Fellowship, and whether you’re interested in a remote placement.

Yes – you must be eligible to work in the UK in order to apply. Unfortunately we are not able to offer visa sponsorship.

We will be offering a minimum of 10 placements in 2024, although final numbers are still being confirmed.

The number of placements we’re able to offer depends on the number of host companies who sign up to be part of the fellowship. In 2019 we had six host companies, in 2021 we had nine, in 2022 we had 17 and in 2024 we had 14. Sometimes companies offer two placements, which allows us to create even more fellowships.

At each production company, Fellows have a line manager from the company who helps assign them work, provides professional support, monitors their progress and acts as a contact for any work related queries. Each Fellow is also assigned another colleague within the company, who is not their manager, but who they can go to with any questions, issues or other queries they’d prefer to ask a peer rather than a manager.

We also have a Fellow Coordinator who is part of the Multitrack team. They provide outside support and advice as needed during the fellowship. Fellows have a weekly check in with this person, and can also ask to speak to them as needed outside of this regular check in.