From May 2021- May 2022 I was supported by Arts Council England, (ACE) on their Developing Your Creative Practice Programme (DYCP). This is for artists who want to develop in new areas to spend time learning, growing and developing. I applied to learn more about music production, video editing with live sampling, and DJing. I was able to spend time over this year getting lessons, courses, and personal mentoring in these areas. As part of my learning experience, I said I would produce 3 music tracks and 2 music videos.
I have released these music tracks and videos to a smaller audience first, and I am planning on doing a larger promotion release throughout the rest of 2022.
The 3 music tracks I have produced feature on my Bandcamp and will be released on Spotify through the rest of 2022.
https://loudspeka.bandcamp.com/track/worker-bees
https://loudspeka.bandcamp.com/track/re-born-to-re-wild
https://loudspeka.bandcamp.com/track/freedom-forest
There are 2 videos that I have produced as part of this learning experience.
The second video ‘Worker Bees’ has 2 different versions:
Cheesy Dreams https://youtu.be/KGYqP4tDx8Y
Worker Bees Video 1 Low Fly https://youtu.be/xtiSzRQyzhQ
Worker Bees Video 2 High Fly https://youtu.be/rolD0TFIexQ
Worker Bees music video ended up being more of a challenge than predicted as the camera operator’s camera was stolen on location in the first video shoot in Tower Hamlets in April 2022! Along with the rest of the people I had asked to collaborate with me on the video, we then had to resort to plan B where we filmed on mobile phones for the rest of the day and made the best of it with the footage. This became the Low Fly Worker Bees video. Even though the footage is not as professional in quality, the people I collaborated with love the energy of this video and the dancing! We had to plan a time to re-film with a professional camera, but only half the original crew were able to make it for the second shoot. The edit on this video had to be done very quickly and I would have appreciated taking longer over it and learning as I went. We made a behind-the-scenes vlog about the challenges that we faced here:
Vlog about making the video https://youtu.be/GDpu64x3ces
In attempting this video twice, I essentially got more of a learning experience. My first video Cheesy Dreams is currently listed on a public link. However, the two ‘Worker Bees’ (Low Fly and High Fly) videos are currently listed on private links in order to give me time to decide if I want to re-edit and seek further mentoring. I wanted to have something done to show what I had learned in video editing lessons for the end of the DYCP time, however.
As part of the DYCP I got some lessons in sampling, live looping and DJing and over this time I hosted various livestreams. I have edited together some moments from these livestreams that show the learning journey here:
I also have spent some more time trying to work on my sustainability as an artist and a social justice activist. I have made a Patreon and tried to get support every month here:
I have done a basic video asking for support and some basic appeals. I originally wanted to spend more time on this but learning all the new skills took a lot more of the time I allocated each week to DYCP. However, I started the year with 1 supporter and finished the year with 7 more but I’m hoping to invest further in this area to keep my artist and activist content creation alive! Any support and solidarity in this is really appreciated, and I am hoping to build on this area and make more of it in the future.