Songwriting Workshop 2023
This will be our fourth songwriting workshop - each one has had a different focus and outcome, first one was about intergenerational connections with Hackney Elders group, we then held a workshop with Hackney Windrush Generation and then NHS staff.
Watch the 2020 workshop here
Our 2023 conference is titled: Good Foundations - Stronger Futures - 2022 was not an easy year for our industry and we have all experienced a hard, sometimes slow yet sometimes hectic path back to live. For this workshop we are teaming you; our members, up with a group of music students from ELAM (East London Arts & Music) who have recently graduated form their courses. This group of students had their normal college experience in a very different way to what they had expected and deserved; in lockdown, with very little social interaction and little time in class together. We want this experience to be a place for them to feel safe to explore some of those stories and emotions and talk about what they expect and hope for in the future; and together craft a song that encapsulates their stories.
We found with the past workshops that it was a very cathartic experience for all, some saying they felt like they had been on holiday. Once the songs were performed, we could see how emotional it was for them and also from the feedback we found it had helped them to deal with some life trauma, experiences, and things they hadn’t been able to express before - the medium of 'song' was something that enabled them to share poetically without it being too heavy and still be meaningful to the listener. We now want to share this experience with this group of students and hope we can make it another really powerful event for all involved.
We feel this will be another moving event for all involved, for the students to be able to talk about their lives and experiences, see them transformed into songs and for our songwriters to experience writing songs on subjects that are not directly their own stories. If this idea sounds like something you would like to take part in then please apply below - spaces are very limited so please let us know why you think you should be chosen. You will need to demonstrate that you have songwriting experience, you will need to be able to write songs using a guitar and to be aware and sensitive to the fact that your partners in this process may or may not be experienced songwriters. You will need to be able to be available to carry out this workshop in the first week of January 2023, be prepared to be part of short documentary type film about the workshop, then be able to perform your song at the conference on January 25th. We will in return give you a free full delegate pass for the conference, festival and awards.
APPLY HERE (you must be logged in to access)
