To inaugurate the 2012 series of talks, and celebrate Campfire’s second anniversary, it is with great fanfare that we confirm David Rowan, the UK editor of Wired Magazine, as our January storyteller.

If you go down to the woods today… you’ll find yourself in The Lighthouse. Bring along your tents, sleeping bags and sense of wonder, as we’re transforming our studio into an urban idyll, an island of canvas in the concrete jungle, and a celebration of our December Campfire speaker, Matthew De Abaitua. It’s an odd Christmas party, but looking at the inspirational 23 Campfire’s that have gone before, what would expect from ditto?

Amongst a host of other achievements and enthusiasms, Matthew is the author of The Art of Camping: The History and Practise of Sleeping Under the Stars. A gorgeous book that takes the reader on a personal, social and historical excursion through our obsession with sleeping in the great out doors. What exactly is it about a campfire experience that connects us so?

Matthew’s CV places him as editor-at-large for the Idler, writer for The Guardian, novelist with a work in development with Warp films and Shynola, lecturer of Creative Writing at Brunel University, and a great deal more. But whatever the task, Matthew brings two key bits of kit in his knapsack: a profound love of the written word, and the ability to inspire others with his boundless enthusiasm. Bring your marshmallows, and settle back for a proper story, told with love.

The ditto doors will be right on theme, featuring the astonishing work of celebrated wildlife photographer, Iain Green. With an amazing body of work capturing the power and beauty the tiger, and a menagerie of distant animals, Green has gone greener. Concerned over the environmental damage done by long-haul flights, Iain has turned his gaze closer to home, with a breath-taking collection of the undomesticated denizens of Wild London.

It is a Christmas party after all though, and a celebration of Campfire reaching the grand old age of 2, so Michael Wilson and Phillip Long will be going late and loud on the 1’s and 2’s. You can also expect an extra special present to take away with you: for ditto the pleasure is in the giving, and Campfire is about sharing.

You can try before you buy (it’s all free really) with Matthew De Abaitua, by checking out his story of warmth, wisdom and wit on Radio ditto’s Fireside Favourites with Really O’Reilly. Give it five minutes, and we guarantee you’ll be hooked, and champing at the bit for his Campfire.

Join us at 7pm, Thursday 15th December, at ditto’s studio: The Lighthouse, Canonbury Yard, 190 New North Road, N17BJ.  RSVP: campfire@ditto.tv

This month’s Campfire saw Hamish Jenkison, creative director of the Old Vic Tunnels come to share his story. Hamish has had an eclectic career, working for four and a half years for Madonna and Guy Ritchie, before becoming executive assistant to Kevin Spacey who was just beginning his new role as creative director of the Old Vic Theatre.

It was an amazing sequence of events that saw Hamish discover the Old Vic Tunnels. Despite Hamish’s best efforts, Kevin Spacey had passed on a prior opportunity to meet agent provocateur of the art world, Banksy. Fortunately, Hamish gave him a second chance and organised for Kevin to be taken down to a disused taxi rank at Waterloo train station where the artist was embarking on a new project.

Banksy had boarded up the road on either side, deployed security guards at both ends and had flown in 29 different graffiti artists from around the world who were busy spraying the walls, carving out brick walls with a jack hammer, using burnt out cars as sculpture, and installing a tree with CCTV cameras instead of leaves.

“It was this incredible world that Kevin and I walked into, but because of all the spray paint, the air was unbreathable. So they had to open the side doors, which led to these archways and I went to use the toilet just inside the entrance to one of these archways.”

But rather than going back to where all the graffiti was being sprayed, Hamish decided to explore inside. “I found this door which, with a well-timed kick, opened onto somewhere I shouldn’t have been. What I found was 29,000 sq. ft. of abandoned Victorian tunnels that hadn’t been used for 20 years. I ran out, grabbed Kevin, and knew straight away that we had to do something with the space.”

That was 2008. By 2011, the Old Vic Tunnels, as it is now known, had hosted events ranging from Michelin-starred pop-up restaurants to hit-shows from the likes of immersive theatre company Punchdrunk. That event sold 20,000 tickets in the space of six hours and gleaned no shortage of media coverage. Banksy too wanted a piece of the action, and turned the space into London’s darkest and dirtiest cinema, Lambeth Palace, which for a week screened previews of his street art documentary, ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’.

If it weren’t for that fateful kick, the Old Vic Tunnels would never have come into existence. Like so much in Hamish’s life, it’s been about being in the right place at the right time with the right attitude. Hamish is a consummate networker, even if the word ‘networking’ sounds a little squalid to his ears. But how else would you explain the fact he’s smoked cigars in Cuba with Raoul Castro, had dinner with Hugo Chavez eating his fine Venezuelan chocolates, or played poker in the Ritz with Bill Clinton.

These days, he is also busy as Chairman of Free the Children UK, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children across the world. Hamish met the founder Craig Kielburger in Toronto and on their next meeting pledged to become a global ambassador for Free the Children. Hamish’s humanitarian streak is also apparent in his choice of artist whose work was displayed on the ditto doors, War Boutique.

War Boutique is the pseudonym of Kevin Leahy, a Scotsman who studied textiles at university. Although his lifelong ambition was to design clothes for Action Men figures, after his degree Kevin found work with a defence constructor designing body armour.

Haunted by the fact that he work was being ordered by rogue states and Middle Eastern governments, Kevin wanted to change what he was contributing to society. He gave up his job and enrolled at Goldsmiths University. After three years, he put together his first collection using ballistic military materials to make his artwork.

Both Kevin and Hamish demonstrated how art can be used for beneficial ends, not only entertaining audiences but providing a vision of a better world. It’s something that ditto is proud to support, as we share their vision that art opens hearts, minds and doors.

The clouds lay heavy across the rooftops; there was a hush, a rustle, and then the heavens opened, turning Canonbury into a boating pond. As we pressed our noses against the windows and cursed this inclement barrage, it dawned on us we’d rather brought it on ourselves. Announcing that August’s Campfire, our Summer Cookout, would be festival themed… what had we been thinking?

Downstairs on the ditto doors we hosted a selection from photographer Liam Bailey’s extraordinary book documenting his twenty year relationship with Glastonbury Festival. Upstairs, as the clock ticked closer to 7, the ditto girls (chivalry lives) waded into the tempest to wrangle a gazebo upright and provide cover for Brian and his BBQ. Life imitating art?

Robert Castellani, virtuoso guitarist, and returning ditto performer, began to tune up – the rain thundering on the Lighthouse roof forming an interesting percussive addition. It was beginning to look like The Summer Cookout might be a Washout.

Then the strangest moment – as the first guests began to appear, the deluge ceased, and something remarkably like the sun began to poke through. Fortune smiles on the brave, and the sun shines on the righteous. Or we just got lucky. Anyway you look at it, it was an omen that kicked off an epic night. The winners of our inaugural online independent music festival, Sunset, were announced to great applause. With a total of almost 50,000 votes cast, the competition was fierce, but the winners deserving. Ori Pliner won the public vote with his delicately crafted Dark Light, while Raz Olsher scooped the critics’ choice for his darkly mesmerising Prelude with Attitude. You can listen to their music and the other entrants here – and it’s definitely worth a visit. Real music from real people, and not a Svengali in sight.

As drinks were drunk, and BBQ munched, the evening began to spiral. It began to really feel like a festival. A spellbound crowd watched Robert transfixed – the only motion that on camera phones being trained on him. In the calm that followed the obedient throng were then whisked outside to witness fire poi, and the unusual spectacle of woman take an angle grinder to her metallic undercrackers. ditto’s queen of culture even took to the stage (ok, car park) to hurl some fire about.

Throughout the evening, guests tried their hands at juggling, plate spinning, diablo and balloon animals, with some interesting results. Suffice to say it was all fun, AND nobody lost an eye.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along – from the performers and contributors who made the evening so special, to the guests who braved the rain and then threw themselves into the proceedings. As the evening wore on it became progressively tougher to tell the two groups apart. What a perfect celebration of festivals in all their forms; how they throw people together, and how they can bring out the best in us.

Campfire is about many things. On the surface, it’s about promoting originality in whatever form it may take.  Usually, that’s our excuse to invite our own personal heroes and various national icons as guest speakers, be they from the business world or the creative sector, individuals whose stories we’re certain will inspire and entertain. It’s also, obviously, a chance for ditto to forge links across the various industries we work in. But, just as importantly, possibly even more so, Campfire is about the people who attend – the regulars and the uninitiated, the spontaneous and the eternally curious.

Whichever way you look at it, audience matters. You could watch the greatest band in the world play a secret gig, but if they’re playing to a group of dental hygienists from Maidstone, the show is unlikely to go down in history. Conversely, you could be invited to the dreariest art exhibition since Mr. Brainwash’s debut show, but be surrounded by the most exuberant, intriguing people and end up having a ball. Sometimes I suspect that people go to events not to see a show but to be surrounded by other people. I don’t know. It’s just a hunch I get.

The audience for each edition of Campfire is always different and reflects the distinct tenor and tone of the event. Last week’s event was slightly unusual in the sense that there was no guest speaker. Instead, we converted the Lighthouse into a pop-up cinema where we screened a selection of the best entrants to the 2011 Sunrise festival and crowned the winners of the competition, as well as launching Sunset, our online music festival.

People were stuffing their faces with popcorn and nachos, the Jeremiah Weed Root Brew and Sour Mash Brew were beginning to take effect. And when people weren’t glued to the screens watching the work of the immensely talented graduates from Norwich University of the Creative Arts, or listening to the tracks made by the Sunset entrants, they were deep in conversation – huddled together on the front steps, splayed out on the bean bags, perched at the bar, or ensconced in the black pleather armchairs.

There were intense conversations about Oscar-winning female directors, about the difficulty of securing funds for festivals, about product placement, about Fang Floss and Zombie Mints, about sponsored Everest climbs, about a night called Glug, about Localytics, about a film about lobsters, about David Bowie and about the manufacture of nacho cheese sauce, about Chinese tea, about lutes and sheep guts, about ATP, about flooding, about Breton stripes and how much popcorn you can fit in your mouth.

In every corner there were exchanges, glances and sympathies, debate, disagreement, curled lips, smiles, frowns, and the peal of laughter. Without the people, without that energy, Campfire is nothing more than a great idea. So thanks to each and every one of you that attended and made it another memorable night. And never underestimate the power of the crowd. Whether it’s large gatherings in Tahrir Square or small swirls of activity in a business unit in Canonbury, you never know where it might take you and how it might grow.

You get the sense that Ruth Mackenzie rarely suffers from stage fright, possibly as a result of early stage performances with the London Schools Choir as a singing snowflake in The Nutcracker. Or maybe  it was her time after university with an experimental feminist theatre group in Lincolnshire where she performed for the benefit of a not-always fully receptive local community.

So addressing a captive audience at ditto HQ was a walk in the park for this artistic director, curator and spokesperson for the arts. Ruth advised five successive culture ministers under New Labour and now has the daunting task of programming the London 2012 Festival – 10 weeks of events across Britain to coincide with the 2012 Olympic Games.

The audience for May’s Campfire, a cross-section of people working in the creative industries from curators to festival programmers, from record label managers to graphic designers, hardly let their attention drop for one second as Ruth regaled them, in her practised laissez-faire manner, with stories from her trajectory through some of Britain’s best arts institutions, from the Nottingham Playhouse to the Scottish Opera, via the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Manchester International Festival.

But this was as much an exercise in self-deprecation as anything, with Ruth explaining how her own limitations as a performer in an experimental theatre group drew her into arts programming, and how as soon as she had a large enough budget to hire acts superior to her own, she did just that. Ruth has always been open to other people’s ideas, and she told the audience how after one belligerent punter at the Nottingham Playhouse laid out a furious critique of her programming, she hired him to the team. That punter, as it so happens, was ditto’s very own Andrew Chetty.

Ruth is a brilliant and convincing spokesperson for the arts – she’s someone who, after many decades working in the industry, still believes strongly in the rewards that the best art can bring to audiences. Having worked at the highest levels and dealt with entrenched bureaucracy, Ruth somehow manages to be not even the slightest bit jaded, but possibly more inspiring than ever.

Her artistic credo – one that forms the basis for the 2012 London Festival, and her career as a whole  – is that world-class art should be accessible to everyone (something she’s carried with her ever since her radical, feminist experimental theatre groups). Ruth explained that these world-class works are important because they are transformative, either in conjuring a better world or describing complex emotional experiences; and finally that the best work always takes risks or challenges the status quo. When she commissioned a contemporary opera in Mandarin to be performed in Manchester as the centrepiece of the Manchester International Festival, there were questions whether they could fill the 30,000 seats required. It helped, of course, that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett of the Gorillaz were involved, but still, it was a risk – but one that paid off with dividends.

Ruth’s biggest challenge of her career, however, will be to deliver a 70-day calendar of events– the London 2012 Festival. She’s been busy commissioning work from headline-grabbing British talent, and we were privileged to hear about and see some of the material in its early stages of development. Ruth spoke at length about Peter Sellars, Toni Morrison and Rokia Traore’s interpretation of Desdemona’s story from Shakespeare’s Othello showing at the Barbican; she waxed lyrical about the

production of Dr Dee directed by Rufus Norris with music by Damon Albarn that will be taking place at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. She whet our appetite for the Big Dance, the world’s largest dance programme, as well as a number of Pina Bausch pieces in development, and work from David Hockney, Rachel Whiteread and Olafur Eliasson.

With more acts to be confirmed nearer the time, the programme is already shaping up to be something that is not just risk-taking and world-class, but also inclusive and aiming to place the cultural agenda firmly at the heart of the 2012 Olympics, just like it was in Ancient Greece.In the Q&A session, Ruth managed to deal with questions hurled at her like a prize fighter parrying punches: ‘Isn’t her cultural programme elitist, appealing to the highly educated elite rather than the general public?’ asked one audience member. ‘How can she justify spending this huge budget at a time when arts budgets and social programmes are being scrapped across the country?’ wondered another. Unfazed, she emphasised that the 2012 Festival was designed to be inclusive and if she hadn’t achieve that goal, then she would have failed in her job. She added that while she wasn’t going to condone the government’s cuts, the value that the 2012 Festival would bring to the country’s cultural industries, with the eyes of the world watching, could provide the kick-start to the economy that this country is so desperately looking for.

It was on that rallying call that Ruth’s Campfire came to an end, and as audience members rose from their seats, careful to avoid knocking over their empty wine glasses, the murmur around the room was of people expressing to each other, almost with surprise, just how inspiring Ruth’s talk had been. Some tried to corner Ruth to pitch their own ideas for the 2012 Festival, others needed a refill at the bar, and as the evening wore on, and the sun went down, Ruth was still sat in the studio, drinking a glass of white wine and talking animatedly to a smaller but still captivated audience of admirers.

To celebrate the third edition of Sunrise festival –ditto’s online film festival for film and animation graduates from Norwich University College of the Arts (NUCA) –  we’re very excited to announce that Campfire will be decamping to the provinces for one night only, so ready yourself for what will be a celebration of the moving image and the infinite possibilities of film.

Leaving the Lighthouse behind us, this June Campfire will take place at the Curve Auditorium in Norwich. In this fantastic space we’ll be showcasing the entrants for the 2011 Sunrise competition as well as holding a retrospective of Sunrise 2009 and 2010. On hand will be NUCA course director Liam Wells and Professor Suzie Hanna who will introduce the work of the university’s aspiring David Finchers and Sofia Coppolas.

There will also be talks from revered Scottish film director and producer Don Boyd, as well as from Steve Smith, an animator and director with London-based production company Beakus.

Sunrise will be hosted online, with the 20 best graduate student films and animations subject to a public vote during the course of one month. Make sure you have your say – maybe you can pick out the stars of tomorrow.

Don and Steve’s Campfire will take place on: Thursday 16th June

Time: 2-5pm with drinks after

Location: The Curve Auditorium at the Forum

Address: Millennium Plain, Bethel Street, Norwich – NR2 1TF

Drop us a line at campfire@ditto.tv for free tickets, and we’ll see you there.

Everyone is a Campfire virgin at one time in their life, and until last week, that could have been said about me. But with this April edition featuring Ashely Beedle, it was my turn to be introduced to Campfire’s indefinable charms and drink from its cup of knowledge. Suffice to say my life has been irredeemably changed by the experience.

In the afternoon the piles of burgundy chairs arrived and were laid out in five rows across the studio; the guestlist was closed with over 200 names on it; the boxes of wine were delivered from Waitrose; Brian the chef brought 120 pieces of jerk chicken; and the star of the show, Ashley Beedle, pitched up at the ditto Lighthouse for 6pm. Even though he’s regularly played to crowds of over 100,000 mad-for-it clubbers, he was nervous at the prospect of talking to Campfire. He needn’t have been. On stage Ashley was every bit the charismatic good guy that he is in person, but more of that later.

Downstairs in the exhibition, Ashley had assembled a collection of the records he’s made – from his early material with the Ballistic Brothers to compilations for Strut and Azuli as well as his album with Horace Andy, his Mavis Staples project and his remix of Bob Marley. For the exhibition, Ashley also revisited some of the places around London that provided him with his musical education. Revisiting those places was something of a bittersweet experience for Ashley as only a few places had survived the intervening decades. Nevertheless they provide a fascinating back story to the life of this Ivor Novello-winning record producer.

The exhibition chronicles Ashley’s early years in chapters including:

• Two Abodes In Harrow (1966-1977) – when Ashley bought his first records right opposite his house from out the back of a greengrocers called Jacks. These were Sparks ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us,’  Aswad ‘Three Babylon’  and Abba ‘Waterloo.’  Another enduring memory is of his dad’s music room, filled with records from Brass Construction to Bruce Springsteen, The Stranglers to Gil Scott-Heron.

• Harrow-On-The-Hill Tube Station (1978-79) – from here Ashley and his mates would bunk of school and head to Crackers in Soho on a Friday afternoon, to dance to the likes of Mass Production–Welcome To Or World and Slave–You and Me.  “We had to bunk school, which meant going in to the school toilets at lunchtime and changing in to our soulboy threads – granddad shirts, pegged trousers with the triple pleats and plastic sandals.”

• Wembley & Brent Town Hall (Early 80s) – “I was hanging out with a sound system from the area called Stateside, who played a mixture of reggae, soul and original two-step,” says Ashley. “This is where I got baptised in to the sound system scene, even though I’d been checking out sound systems and going to dances from a young age. A couple of the most memorable tracks from this period are Johnny Osbourne – In The Area and Natalie Cole – This Will Be, which I loved dancing to at the blues dances.”

• Soho Record Shopping (Late 80s/Early 90s) – acid house was beginning to boom and Ashley was working at Blackmarket Records in Soho where numerous other big DJs began their careers, including Noel Watson, Frankie Foncett, Mickey D, Nicky Blackmarket and Ray Keith.

By 8pm, the smell of jerk chicken wafted from the pan and drew a long queue of salivating guests while the bar was flowing with rum punch (thanks to Mount Gay). It was an elegant and mixed crowd in attendance, and we spotted a few stars including Phil Cheeseman (Strictly Rhythm), record producer Yam Who, and even Ashley’s two sons. When the last piece of jerk chicken had be eaten, Ashley took centre stage for what would be one of the most memorable Campfires to date.
Retracing his life from his childhood in west London, Ashley told us about getting sent home from school for wearing plastic sandals that were popular at soulboy clubs like Crackers. (“What are those?” asked the headmaster. “They’re plastic sandals,” replied a disingenuous young Ashley. “I know very well what they are young man. You can come back when you’re not wearing them.”)

The acid house chapter drew cheers from the audience and was full of tales about clubs like Clink Street where alongside Rocky and Diesel, Ashley ran Room Two. One night on they were playing Robert Owens’s ‘Bring Down the Walls’ when Ashley got on the mic and told people to bring down the walls. People literally started tearing down the netting from the ceiling, but that wasn’t the half of it. By the end of the night, a story started circulating around the club that guys had dug a hole through the walls. In fact, with the help of a screwdriver, two punters had burrowed through four walls and clean through the side of the building and into the light of day.

The stories kept coming, whether about David Byrne who recorded the club anthem ‘Lazy’ with Ashley, Rocky and Diesel (as X-Press 2) or about the power of music to unite people. As Ashley said – music is magic that we pull down from the air – how right he is. So yes, another huge success, and an unforgettable party full of good people doing good things. A big thank you to everyone involved and we’ll see you all again at the next Campfire in May with Ruth Mackenzie, director of the Cultural Olympiad.

If you couldn’t make it to Ashley’s Campfire, or if you’d like to relive the moment again, the first instalment of the video will be online later today. In the meantime you can listen to Ashley’s Fireside Favourites radio interview.

All at ditto would like to thank Jamie Milne for taking the time out of his quite hectic schedule of helping people learn and appreciate more about whisky and Glenfiddich, to present his story and that of Glenfiddich at our last campfire. A brilliant evening that saw us go from rockets to whisky, many a sample was imbibed and we think everyone walked away with a greater understanding of the drink that is, ‘The Water of Life’ and how to always strive for the things you want most.

A great evening was had by all, and we wish Jamie the very best of luck with his relatively new endeavour.  We would also like to send special thanks to all those who mentioned the campfire night on their blog, including: The Whisky Guy, Whisky Critic, Whisky Israel, Whisky Intelligence, The Aspiring Gentleman, Guid Scotch, Whisky Cast, and Assaf at Malt Geeks for his lovely review of the eve and look at the new Glenfiddich 14 years Rich Oak.

The Campfire team caught up with Jamie Milne, brand ambassador for Glenfiddich. Jamie will be presenting our next Campfire on July the 15th where he will not only be talking about his work with the worlds most popular malt whiskey, but also giving us some insight into how he came to being there from a degree in aeronautical engineering and career in IT consultancy.

Jamie Milne pre Campfire interview from ditto.tv on Vimeo.