Unsound Announces Unsound LAB Pre-Festival Discussion Series and Workshops. Unsound, SHAPE and Radio Kapitał to present Intermission Studio.
Over the decades, the music industry has endured many upheavals, but none have had such immediate, far-reaching impact as COVID-19. The pandemic has made live events either impossible, difficult or complex to produce safely. Simultaneously, BLM protests have brought to the fore the need for line-ups, rosters and teams to be more diverse and representative.
How do we get through this crisis as an industry, and what kind of post-pandemic future might we build together? What should change? What should stay the same? What does community mean right now? Will we find a way to work together more closely, sharing information and connections across sectors and worlds, supporting one another — or, in a changed world, will many inevitably fall by the wayside?
Networked industry meetings have brought together artists, promoters, club owners, festivals and agents like never before, attempting to address these issues. Other open online debates have focused on particular cities or countries. As part of Unsound 2020 activities, we’re starting our Unsound LAB project earlier and dividing it into two parts: open-access discussions and online workshops with limited admission.
The first discussion in the open-access series is titled Black Techno Futures: Local and Global Perspectives. Taking place on July 23rd, this talk is programmed and hosted by Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson from Discwoman and Brooklyn’s Dweller Festival. Including perspectives from different cities, the discussion will explore the conditions of working as a black person in the industry, diving into challenges and how things need to change for black people to survive and flourish. Panelists include Jasmine Infiniti (Brooklyn), Lakuti (Berlin/London), Axmed Maxamed (Amsterdam), Authentically Plastic (Kampala) and Onirica (Rio de Janeiro).
The next open discussions will be moderated by music journalists Lisa Blanning and Philip Sherburne — stay tuned for details.
The second half of the Unsound Lab project is an online 5-day program dedicated to working in the music industry, considering ways to try to exist and work in the pandemic and beyond. This will take place on 19-20 and 26-28 September 2020, with classes run by representatives of artist agencies, managers, promoters and curators, publishers, music journalists, lawyers, and representatives of cultural institutions. The call for applications lasts until August 21. Priority to participate in the workshops is from Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. The cost of the seminar is PLN 300, although anyone in a difficult financial situation can apply to have the participation fee entirely waived (details in the application form). The application form, the full list of speakers, the schedule of discussions and workshops is available HERE. Please note: The number of places is limited, and all workshops take place in English.
Finally, Unsound and SHAPE are joining forces with Warsaw’s Radio Kapitał to present Intermission Studio, a series of mixes created by SHAPE platform artists and transmitted by Radio Kapitał over the next three months. From July 22, you can catch mixes and new music from Fausto Mercier, VTSS, Poly Chain, Svetlana Maras, FOQL, Rojin Sharafi, Object Blue, and Aquarian.
Stay tuned for more information on other Unsound 2020 activities over the following weeks and months, including the next open-access Unsound Lab talks, details of the Unsound Intermission book and album, and news of this year’s October program.
