Jake Curran

Jake Curran covers entertainment for the Isle of Wight County Press, with a focus on the Island’s live music and performing arts scene. His work stands out for close attention to local musicians and venues, framed through interviews and festival reports that link grassroots acts to larger stages. He treats the Island’s cultural calendar as an interconnected circuit, moving between marquee events and everyday cultural activity while keeping individual performers at the centre. Since 2022 he has consistently produced entertainment pieces for the masthead, building a beat rooted in live performance, festivals and the local creative community.

Festival guides and live music reporting

A recurring strand in Curran’s coverage is detailed reporting on festival line-ups and live sets, with a particular emphasis on Island-based acts playing high-profile events. He writes guides to Island performers at major festivals, highlighting who they are, where they are playing and why they matter to the local scene. His live music pieces mix set detail - songs performed, stages used, crowd response - with clear descriptions of how established events such as the Isle of Wight Festival and other South Coast festivals feature Island talent. In his writing on Record Store Day in Ventnor, he focuses on the experience of fans queuing early, the role of independent shops and the specific releases drawing attention, using concrete detail to show how national initiatives play out at street level. Across these articles he positions live music as community activity, giving space to both the organisers and the audiences who support Island venues and events.

Interviews with performers and cultural figures

Curran’s entertainment beat is strongly interview-led, and he uses conversations with performers to anchor his stories. His interview with Sir Derek Jacobi ahead of Cowes Fringe builds around the actor’s career and upcoming appearance, while situating the Fringe as a platform that brings “acting royalty” to Island audiences.

In other work he has interviewed comedians, broadcasters and musicians including Larry Lamb, Rick Wakeman, Bob Harris and Richard Herring, as well as performers linked to the Isle of Wight Festival such as Glen Matlock, members of Pretenders and YouTuber Arthur Hill. These interviews often happen around live events or festival slots, with tight turnaround, and his copy draws on direct quotes to show personality and context rather than relying on generalised praise. When covering bands like Vote Pedro at Victorious Festival, he combines interview material with performance description, capturing how the group interprets well-known songs and how the crowd responds to their set.

The overall pattern is an accessible, performer-centred style that treats interview subjects as working artists within a specific Island and festival ecosystem.

Support for emerging creatives and grassroots culture

Alongside festival and interview work, Curran reports on the support structures that underpin the Island’s creative scene. His piece on musician Amy Jolliffe’s use of Mike Howley Trust funding explains how local trusts give young creatives up to £1,500 to realise artistic projects, then follows the artist’s plan to record a new single using the award. He sets out who the trust is aimed at, what the funding covers and how it translates into concrete opportunities, keeping the focus on the artist’s next steps rather than the institution itself.

This emphasis on grants, trusts and grassroots initiatives complements his live music writing, showing how behind-the-scenes support helps generate the performers and material that later appear on festival stages. Across these stories he treats emerging artists with the same seriousness as established names, presenting them as part of the same cultural landscape rather than a separate, lower tier.

Local focus and entertainment beat

Curran’s entertainment beat is tightly local, centred on Island venues, bands, shops and festivals rather than national celebrity coverage disconnected from place.

He covers small spaces such as Ventnor record shops and local stages alongside large-scale events, reinforcing the idea that the Island’s entertainment scene runs on both major festivals and everyday cultural activity. His professional profile describes him as a music journalist with a portfolio across local media and festivals, and it notes a sustained focus on arranging and conducting interviews for Island outlets.

Within the masthead his work largely sits in entertainment categories - music, theatre, celebrities - but the consistent through-line is Island culture first, with outside names and national initiatives brought in when they connect directly to that scene. For story selection he gravitates toward live performance, artist opportunities and community-facing events, making him a fit for pitches that involve Island musicians, festival slots, creative funding or performer-led projects with a clear entertainment angle.