Black Leaders community ZOOM meeting

What Next? is a movement bringing together arts and cultural organisations from across the UK, to articulate, champion and strengthen the role of culture in our society. The objective is to work collaboratively to build alliances outside of the cultural sector, build relationships with local and national government and engage the public in new and different conversations about the arts.

What Next meetings provide a safe space for discussions following Chatham House rules to enable honest and productive debate between individual artists, freelance arts practitioners and small and large arts organisations from across the Liverpool City Region.

Chaired by Madeline Heneghan, from Writing on the Wall.

Meeting with Sam Ellis, Creative Director at Proactive Music Management, an artist management and development company based in London.

I am part of the panel for Terrestrial’s 2020 remote residencies, a paid opportunity for community artists across England to develop their local connections and explore new ways of working.

Terrestrial produces arts projects, community events and adventures. Over the last two years they have invited a series of inspiring artists to spend time in Weston-super-Mare, where they have collaborated with on-the-ground community groups. They have supported a dance project made by people with experience of addiction, created portrait films and choral songs with isolated older people, devised a spy adventure with 500 ten- year-olds, and brought together sea swimmers, litter-pickers and local historians to make a documentary about a mythical sea serpent.

In these challenging times, we are all discovering how to make connections in new ways. So rather than gathering people to us (as we had originally planned to spend this summer doing), Terrestrial want to invest in artists to explore community links with people and groups wherever they are based. This is what we mean by ‘remote residencies’ – artists taking time to think about how they might foster creative relationships in their own local communities.

This might mean artists building on connections they already have, or making new ones. They might connect with formal organisations (local charities, schools, community centres) or informal groups (street whatsapp groups, mutual aid networks, local parks) within the current social distance guidelines.

Through these residencies we will encourage artists to take some time for research and reflection... to think about the work they’ve done in the past and how they might continue to foster relationships and share artistic experiences with community groups – especially those that can’t easily access online networks.

Our panel will select 20 artists that offer an inclusive picture of community activity across England. Following an initial introduction chat with the Terrestrial team, we will invite each of these artists to take part in a short one-to-one conversation about their work. We’ll try to make this an informal, no-arts-speak chat about what you do and how you’ve collaborated with community groups in the past. We will pay each selected artist £150 as a contribution to their time and commit to covering the costs of anything that is needed to make this process accessible to you.

With your permission, we will record these conversations, and host them on our website as a public resource. We want to amplify the voices of community artists, as we believe that your skills are now more important than ever – as we all try to find new ways of coming together. We will invite producers, venues, festivals, funders etc. to explore and share these conversations; we hope this is a way to introduce the selected artists to new opportunities.

We will invite 8-10 of the shortlisted artists to join us for a ‘remote residency’. We will run these over two weeks, with 4-5 artists taking part each time.

Proposed dates: 25-29 August & 15-19 September

This residency invites you to stay just where you are. We hope to give you time to foster connections with your local environment: speak to neighbours, reach out to people on the phone, online, in the street... and share your thoughts and findings with the other artists taking part around the country. We don’t expect anyone to create work during their residency – it’s time to reflect, share and play.

As things evolve over the coming weeks, some artists may feel they can safely explore their local connections in person; but we know this won’t be possible for everyone, so we have no expectation of this.

You can work to your own timings – that may mean you split your residency time over a longer period to fit around other commitments. But throughout the outlined residency weeks we will host a series of digital gatherings, discussions and mini-workshops for residency artists to share experiences and ideas as a group.

We will pay each artist £700 as a contribution to your time during the week, as well as a short informal debrief session a little time after. We will do our very best to provide and/or pay for anything you need in order to take part in this residency (this includes any access needs and childcare costs).

We’ll ask you to document your explorations in whatever light-touch way suits your practice – a journal or audio diary, some photographs etc.

We hope that we can follow these residencies with some small commissions for artists to explore a project building on their local connections. We want to be transparent about this ambition, though we don’t yet know exactly how this might work. Any ideas you have

or partnerships you forge during the residency process remain yours to carry forward in any way you wish.

Sense of Sound Singers started a collaboration with Liverpool dance label Duo-Tone in 2019. Together they have already released two disco-house tracks: a unique cover of the 90s club classic Follow Me by Aly-Us, and their first original track: Time and Time Again (2020).

Sense of Sound Wedding Singers offer bespoke packages, from an intimate quartet, to a more powerful group of eight singers right up to the full twelve-piece choir for the ultimate joyous and uplifting experience.

Ask us all your questions on weddings@jenniferjohnmusic.com or visit senseofsoundsingers.com.

Sense of Sound Wedding Singers offer bespoke packages, from an intimate quartet, to a more powerful group of eight singers right up to the full twelve-piece choir for the ultimate joyous and uplifting experience.

Ask us all your questions on weddings@jenniferjohnmusic.com or visit senseofsoundsingers.com.

Sense of Sound Wedding Singers offer bespoke packages, from an intimate quartet, to a more powerful group of eight singers right up to the full twelve-piece choir for the ultimate joyous and uplifting experience.

Ask us all your questions on weddings@jenniferjohnmusic.com or visit senseofsoundsingers.com.

Sense of Sound Wedding Singers offer bespoke packages, from an intimate quartet, to a more powerful group of eight singers right up to the full twelve-piece choir for the ultimate joyous and uplifting experience.

Ask us all your questions on weddings@jenniferjohnmusic.com or visit senseofsoundsingers.com.

Sense of Sound Wedding Singers offer bespoke packages, from an intimate quartet, to a more powerful group of eight singers right up to the full twelve-piece choir for the ultimate joyous and uplifting experience.

Ask us all your questions on weddings@jenniferjohnmusic.com or visit senseofsoundsingers.com.

Liverpool Biennial 2020
The Stomach and the Port
11 July – 25 October

Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest festival of contemporary visual art. Taking over unexpected and public spaces, historic sites and art galleries, the Biennial has been transforming the city through art for over two decades. The 11th edition, The Stomach and the Port, explores notions of the body and ways of connecting with the world. More than 50 international artists have been invited to respond to this theme within the context of Liverpool. A dynamic programme of free exhibitions, performances, screenings and fringe events unfolds over the 15 weeks, shining a light on the city’s vibrant cultural scene.

Liverpool Biennial 2020: The Stomach and the Port is curated by Manuela Moscoso with artistic director Fatos Üstek and the Liverpool Biennial team.

Resonate, Liverpool's Music Hub, funded by Arts Council England, operates as a gateway for Liverpool's young musicians, meaning over 13,000 pupils in Liverpool have regular access to outstanding music opportunities which will impact on their lives and enhance our city.

Song Merseyside is a singing network that provides a framework of support and training for local and regional singing organisations, practitioners and classroom teachers.

Sense of Sound Wedding Singers offer bespoke packages, from an intimate quartet, to a more powerful group of eight singers right up to the full twelve-piece choir for the ultimate joyous and uplifting experience.

Ask us all your questions on weddings@jenniferjohnmusic.com or visit senseofsoundsingers.com.

As part of the 2020 RISE programme, Culture Liverpool has asked me to curate a Women in Music Conference.

Sense of Sound Wedding Singers offer bespoke packages, from an intimate quartet, to a more powerful group of eight singers right up to the full twelve-piece choir for the ultimate joyous and uplifting experience.

Ask us all your questions on weddings@jenniferjohnmusic.com or visit senseofsoundsingers.com.