Creative Freelancer and Business Grants Available in South West England. Apply before May 7th!

In response to the significant impact the pandemic has had on businesses and individuals working in the creative industries, the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) launched a new business support programme and grant fund for the cultural and creative sectors, as part of its Regional Recovery Plan.

The creative freelance grants range from £1.000 to £3.000 and seek to support individuals in the development of a project during a lapse of 6 months. The creative business grants range from £5.000 to £10.000 and it is aimed at funding projects that will employ creatives and promote resilience and financial security in the community.

The application window for both closes this Friday 7th May at 23:59h, so if you have or are able to develop an elegible project or idea, be sure to apply ASAP!

Click here to see the Creative Freelancer grant page.

Click here to see the Creative Business grant page.

Hear everything about Abigail Kelly on “Success Beyond The Score”

The full interview to international operatic soprano Abigail Kelly is now available! Learn about how she built her music career, why she chose opera over pop music, how COVID-19 impacted her professional and personal life and how she overcame every obstacle in this great conversation with our director Millicent:

You can also listen to “Success Beyond The Score” in all your favourite podcast platforms.

Have Your Say in the UK Music Creators’ Survey 2021

UK Music has launched its flagship UK Music Creators’ Survey, which every year gathers vital data on how the music industry contributes to the UK’s economy. This year, our input is more important than ever, as the whole industry is suffering the effects of the pandemic and the Government’s neglect.

The survey is open to anyone who is a full-time or part-time professional music creator. This includes artists, composers, writers and producers. UK Music, the organisation in charge, asks for personal data, but all responses are anonymous, confidential, aggregated, and managed in accordance with GDPR legislation. Also, at the end of the survey, you will have the option to add your e-mail so you can participate in the raffle of several great prizes, including Sennheiser products and music stores’ vouchers.

Click here to take the survey.

How to memorise a complete opera? Abigail Kelly has the answer

The second part of the interview of Millicent with international operatic soprano Abigail Kelly is online! As usual, you can watch the video on YouTube or listen through your favourite podcast platform.

Remember that Success Beyond The Score has a new episode every other Monday.

Listen To Abigail Kelly’s Success Beyond The Score Interview On AffinityXtra

Today at noon, UK time, the radio station AffinityXtra will stream the first part of Millicent’s interview with international operatic soprano Abigail Kelly.

Tune in to listen to Abigail’s journey into building a full time music career in the opera scene, how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted her work and personal life, and what unexpected opportunities came in the midst of lockdown.

Click here to go to AffinityXtra’s website.

You can also catch up with the podcast on YouTube or through any of your favourite podcast platforms.

How does Holly Pyle write songs?

Holly Pyle is an American singer, vocal coach, music producer and songwriter with a deep insight on the intimate process of music creation. She works in multiple fronts: from her solo project HolloH, which she describes as “future vintage sad music”, to her band House Of Stairs, to varied work in the jazz genre.

Holly was kind enough to make her masterclass in songwriting free to everybody online. In this class, she speaks about her background, her motivation to write songs, the method she follows and what she has in mind during the process, among other things. It is a personal and interesting journey that you can take by visiting her YouTube channel:

Holly is also fairly active on the video social network TikTok, where she shares music tips, opinions and snippets of her current projects. It is possible to watch the content without necessarily having an account in the website, by visiting her profile.

Why did you become an Operatic Soprano and not a Pop or Musical Theatre vocalist?

Maybe becoming an opera singer was never on your radar because you prefer Pop or Musical Theatre. In today’s episode of Success Beyond The Score podcast we hear from Abigail Kelly, who is international operatic soprano. She will answer the question ‘Why did you become an Operatic Soprano and not a Pop or Musical Theatre vocalist?’. She explains the stages she went through to build a full time music career. She also gives an honest experience of how lockdown dismantled her work and her wedding, but also later on provided great music opportunities.

You can watch part 1 of the interview on YouTube or listen on the Podcast page.

Nothing Is Zimmpossible

Sandy Zimmerman, a.k.a Zimmpossible, a PE teacher from Spokane, WA, made history in the TV show American Ninja Warrior by being the first mother to hit the buzzer, a feat that had not been achieved in eleven seasons of the sports entertainment show.

Sandy is currently 42 years old and this was her third time trying the renowerd obstacle course of American Ninja Warrior. In her website, she explains that physical activity and sports were the source of many life lessons she dearly needed while growing up in poverty, and that the determination and tenacity she acquired training judo (she was a national judo champion at age 12), basketball, and many other sports, allowed her to make a good life for her family, which consists of her husband and three kids with whom she shares the passion for the challenge of American Ninja Warrior.

Sandy’s story is truly inspirational and we invite you to draw parallels with your own life projects, both in music and other areas of your interest. We are cheering for you just as we cheer for Sandy for season 13 of ANW, which is going to premier on May 31st!

The Full Interview With Louise Dengate Is Available Now – Success Beyond The Score

Millicent is publishing her interviews for ‘Success Beyond The Score’ season 2 in sections, with the aim of facilitating listening without compromising on the depth of the subject matters. If you, however, prefer to listen to the whole thing in a single sit, now you can do that with Louise’s interview!

Remember that the podcast airs a new episode every two weeks, and that, besides YouTube, you can also go to any of your favourite podcast outlets (Deezer, Stitcher, Apple Podcast, etc.) Find all the relevant links by clicking here.

A New Image To Reflect Our Growth

Everything has changed drastically since the last time we refreshed our image, back on December 2019. We have grown, we have learned, we have migrated to new, virtual environments to keep working towards our goal to empower women in music. All the challenges we’ve endured have polished us, and to reflect this, we have polished our image as well.

You might be wondering what is so different about this new logotype. It contains basically all the same elements of our previous one, just “tweaked” here and there. Well, that’s the key: brand design is all about the little details and how they are presented. Technicalities as having cleaner lines, changing the white background for a very soft pink hue, or swapping around the colours of the letters make for a more professional presentation that means everything when talking about branding.

We hope you like our new concept and the supporting material we are going to make with it, and we leave you with a little challenge: if you were to commission a logotype for yourself as a professional musician, what would you tell your designer?

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