A a part of all the incredible things happening at Melbourne Music Week Self-Made returns in 2015 with a fresh program of fun, unexpected and musically inspired events delivered by emerging Victorian creatives during Melbourne Music Week (MMW) from 13-20 November.
Self Made takes audiences to unique places including a North Melbourne warehouse, an interactive sculpture installation at a city church, a party at the Old Melbourne Gaol and an immersive sensory experience from behind 3D glasses, to name a few. The full program features ten independently curated events supported by MMW.
To get to know a little more about the project we caught up with some of the creative masterminds behind the ‘Self Made’ events.
Kate Brouwer – Lost Children Found
The Project: The Lost Children’s Project is a platform that brings business’, artists, creatives and musicians together to share their talents, time and passions in curating beautiful events that support development projects in Africa.
We believe that this city has so much to offer in creativity and passion and through the Lost Children Found festival we are able to bring those world changers together. Everyone has the opportunity to impact the world we live in, we believe that’s cause for celebration.
How It Came About: After a personal trip to Africa in 2013, I found myself falling in love with the small children of Kenya. Overwhelmed by the reality of their circumstances and feeling blessed by the opportunity to step into their lives, I wanted to share this back home.
As doors opened, I could see this wasn’t an opportunity I could walk away from. I wanted to create a way to get as many people involved as possible, this is where The Lost Childrens Project was born.
Aims: Lost Children Found festival is about people. Here in our own city and across the world in Kenya, Africa. It’s about seeing these communities as not another mouth to feed but the future of new beginnings, it’s about working together to share knowledge, creativity and hope.
I hope that through our events people can understand the value of human life, the joy found in the simple pleasures of working together, and celebrate the opportunity to breathe new life into desperate circumstances.
Tips For Those Wanting To Throw Their Own Events: It’s a lot of hard work. Be prepared to put in the hard yards (often alone) and understand that it won’t always work out. Be prepared to throw it away and start again. I stand by the knowledge that when one door closes, another opens and a door that God opens, no man can close.
Emily Siddons – Video Killed The Radio
The Project: Video Killed the Radio is a multi-sensory live music and visual feast that features collaborations between visual artists and musicians including Darren Sylvester, Paper House, Ela Stiles and Lost Few. We are aiming to completely transform the Toff into a visual installation that these great musicians will perform immersed within.
How It Came About: A love of instigating new collaborations across the arts, and a fantasy of taking over a live music venue and transforming it into a visual installation. There is naturally a lot of cross-over between disciplines in the arts, which means there is so much potential to play with.
Aims: A fresh look at live music and what constitutes a live gig in Melbourne, to take the audience on a journey and to play with their senses, to present the new and the unexpected, and to unearth some new creative talent while we’re at it!
Tips For Those Wanting To Throw Their Own Events: I always like to think about a unique angle or ‘way in’ for the audience – what makes your event unique and why would people want to come? I think it helps to constantly change and evolve your offering too, that way audiences don’t fatigue.
Andrew Kimber – New Orleans Street Party
The Project: The New Orleans Street Party is a celebration of the food, culture and music from the south. It will feature some of Melbourne’s most popular and fun live bands who are all in some way connected to New Orleans. It wouldn’t be a New Orleans party if there wasn’t great food and partying in the street, so we have some of Melbourne’s coolest Food trucks coming to bring the vibe of the Big Easy to Melbourne.
How It Came About: Melbourne has some great southern styled restaurants and music, places like The Beaufort, Le Bon Ton, Po’ Boy Quarter and Girl with the Gris Gris. The venues are authentic, where punters can enjoy the unique style of cooking found in that region of the US. It is great to see the community embracing these restaurants.
Since the Hoodangers started performing for crowds at the start of the new millennium, young Melbourne improvisers have become more interested in the New Orleans style of playing. Giving us groups like Horns of Leroy, The Lagerphones, The Furbelows and Adam Rudegeair’s Bayou Tapestry. New Orleans is truly a fun city, but it has so much in common with Melbourne! Both cities are built on great rivers with an abundance of fresh produce and seafood, both cities support music—people in New Orleans flock to a second line in the hundreds, and Melburnians have a great history of supporting it’s musicians. Melbourne Music Week is one of the best examples of this.
The idea for the New Orleans Street Party came about from the Second Line idea, which is a tradition in brass band parades in New Orleans. A second line is when there is a main section of a parade and then there are those who follow the band just to enjoy the music—the “second line.” This is what we really wanted to recreate, music and food on the streets, with a carnival atmosphere.
Aims: We are hoping that people have a great time! We are featuring some great artists in Melbourne and we would get no more satisfaction from creating an event to see people enjoy their music, while having some great food and drink! By buying a ticket and coming along, you are supporting local musicians and local businesses. So I encourage everyone to visit the Melbourne Music Week website, buy a ticket and come along!
Tips For Those Wanting To Throw Their Own Events: Plan ahead and commit to the event. If you commit to the event, and commit to your artists you’ll provide people with a great experience and see your vision complete.
Woodes – Interwoven
The Project: Line up: Woodes, Ella Thompson, Sui Zhen, Tash Parker, Eliza Hull.
Interwoven is a project that comes in two parts: Installation & performance. It features an interactive organic sculpture, local Melbourne fashion & women in music. I wanted to create something unique for MMW that hadn’t been done before.
Interwoven will celebrate Melbourne-based female artists involved in music, fashion and floral design by way of installation and performance events for Melbourne Music Week’s Self-Made presented by Levi’s.
How It Came About: I enjoy collaboration in art and in music. I’ve always wanted to work with Wona Bae (Sculptor) on a project. I feel her floral sculptures compliment the music I make, in that they take you to another place and are quite dreamy/ethereal. Her store ‘Looseleaf’ in Collingwood is one of my favorite places in Melbourne, full of indoor plants and beautiful flowers.
At first I envisioned a giant sculpture made of sticks in a dark warehouse that the public could explore, touch and photograph. Kind of like a stick-Stonehenge in the hidden of the CBD. The event has stayed true to those initial plans, now the piece has formed into a giant arch, which to me is quite symbolic for the event.
This large structure will be housed in a brand new venue behind 1000 Pound Bend called ‘The Church of Bang Bang Boogaloo” For the performance I wanted a line up of powerful women to perform in the middle of the sculpture, like goddesses. Weaving together music and art for a one-off show. Each artist will be wearing pieces from local fashion designers. There’s a theatric element we’ve created through considering both the styling and the set design for the event.
Aims: I love how much Melbournians love their secrets. I want to create an experience that people tell their friends to find. Our sculpture’s hidden down an alleyway in the heart of the CBD… It’ll be there for the entire duration of Melbourne Music Week (Saturday 14th – Friday 20th : 8am – 8pm) so there’s plenty of time for discovery!
From the performance I want to raise awareness and celebrate how many inspiring Victorian female artists are doing cool things in Melbourne (and Internationally) The night will be unique in that the artists flow into one another. Each little detail has been thought out so that it’s an intimate & evolving showcase for the audience.
Tips For Those Wanting To Throw Their Own Events: The Self-made program run by Melbourne Music Week is great, in that they assist and mentor you through the event making process.
There are a lot of things that are ‘learning experiences’ that come with throwing first events. The creative concepts are just one part of it… It’s valuable having a team where you all have roles. This is good for bouncing ideas around and for effective time management.
I’ve been in situations where you can spread yourself too thin if you try and achieve everything by yourself. For this particular event I’m grateful to have been able to work closely with Studio Aton, Sum Management & Style by Us and Them. There’s so much strength in collaboration, which is what Interwoven is all about!
Harry Rae – Gamer 3D
The Project : It is a combination of intricate pixel art VJ animation and synthwave tunes with big, gated reverbs and sonic soundscapes. For Melbourne Music Week, we will be performing our live show in 3D at The Croft Institute.
How It Came About: Gamer started as a combination of the sounds of Phil Shaw and visual art of James Rowsell. After playing a few shows as a live collective, we thought maybe two dimensions are just not enough dimensions. Thanks to MMW Self-Made we have the opportunity to develop our very own 3D glasses for you and put on an extra special show.
Aims: We want to get you on another level withan evening of moody, atmospheric synth tunes and eye-popping pixel art.
Tips For Those Wanting To Throw Their Own Events: Just do it.
Chris Nichols – A Club Called Trish
The Project: The name of our event is ‘A Club Called Trish’, we are a new collective to hit the Melbourne music scene showcasing up and coming Melbourne electronic music and visual artists. Our dream is to further explore a contemporary Australian musical and visual identity, we’re creating a Futuristic Australiana Trish dance temple.
How did it all come about: Trish grew out of a dream between a group friends wanting to agitate the Melbourne music scene and wanting something more from the nightlife in Melbourne. Our previous parties have always sought to explore the experience of a club beyond the music.
The concept of ‘Trish’ has been part of our extended friendship group for years, initially we used ‘Trish’ to describe someone you didn’t have a name for, but it flourished in meaning. It’s a word which can be used in many different contexts, for example you may hear someone say “Oh, everyone’s giving you Trish eyes tonight!”, “What a bunch of Trishes” or “I hope I get my Trish on tonight”, it’s open to interpretation. People always said “stop trying to make Trish happen”, but it’s now grown to a point where friends all over the world from Bangkok to Pittsburgh understand the meaning of Trish.
The title ‘A Club Called Trish’ is a play on the name of the L.A institution ‘A Club Called Rhonda’, a venue which takes its inspiration from the classic house and disco meccas like Paradise Garage. Trish = The ozzie holiday alias of Rhonda.
Aims: We want Trish to be a celebration of Melbourne and its unique creative scene. We are hoping to create an environment which fosters a sense of community and features high quality music. A Club Called Trish is a safe, liberating space where all are welcome to dance and dream.
Tips For Those Wanting To Throw Their Own Events: Sharing a vision within your team is vital for the success of an event
Natasha Johanna – Brunch Gigs
The Project: Brunch Gigs combines two of Melbourne’s favourite pastimes – music and food, to present morning concerts at cafes during brunch. We are dedicated to creating new opportunities for local artists to share their music and for people to experience live music, outside the box of regular night-time gigs at traditional venues.
How it Came About: The idea had been simmering around in my head for a couple of years. I am a maker and lover of music myself and since moving to Melbourne from Brisbane a few years ago, I really noticed how huge the music and cafe cultures are here.
I have definitely spent a considerable amount of time trying out different cafes and going to gigs and I wanted to combine the two together. I am incredibly grateful that we were able to be a part of Melbourne Music Week’s Self-Made program as it has given Brunch Gigs an opportunity to go from just an idea, to an actual living thing.
Aims: I am hoping that people will feel enriched and inspired by starting their day off by watching some incredible artists perform. I know I always feel great when I listen to a beautiful soundtrack when I first wake up in the morning.
I hope that people will see that there are many ways that you can experience music, and it doesn’t always have to be at a festival with thousands of other people, or surrounded by alcohol, or late at night in a bar. I am hoping that people will feel good too, for supporting local businesses as they are a huge part of this project as well.
Tips For Those Wanting To Throw Their Own Events: Be clear about what is it that you want to create and why. Make sure that you can clearly communicate what it is you are trying to do with everyone that you work with. Have a vision and stick to it, but also remain open to being flexible when things don’t go to plan. There’s a lot of planning that goes into making an event happen, but it’s inevitable that things will change along the way, before you get to event day.
