One year after music venues were forced to close in Wales, a group of young people have come together to prepare for the industry’s resurgence by creating a free, digital Welsh music industry conference, SUMMIT.
With the news of lockdown restrictions beginning to ease, music fans are eagerly counting down the days until venues and festivals open their doors again, and the music industry will need to prepare itself for what’s to come.
The impact of the pandemic to our entertainment industry in Wales has been catastrophic. A study found that in the UK 170,000 jobs will be lost in the live music industry due to restrictions.
The Cultural Recovery Funding, helping them to weather the storm of coronavirus is set to close soon, and many worry this is going to hit self-employed workers and road crew the most.
As part of music project BEACONS, a group of four young consultants (age 16-25) recognised the need for support for young people wanting to get into the industry after lockdown. After having their careers put on hold for an entire year, Summit is an opportunity for them to reconnect with the industry, and gain insight on how they can work within it.
Summit will take place online from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th April and showcase a wide range of experts, who work in a number of crucial areas that will help the industry to get back on its feet including, social media, songwriting, A&R, taste-making, side hustling, PR and more to be announced HERE.
Alexandra Jones, one of the young organisers of Summit said,
“it’s been a rubbish year for the music industry, and especially for young people like me who want to start their careers but have had to put it on pause. We’re hoping that Summit will help people to feel hopeful for their future in music.”
Spike Griffiths is the Youth Development Officer at Beacons, he told us…..
“We’re not sure how things will be when the music industry returns, but with so many young people keen to get into the industry, this is the perfect time to connect them with experts who can help them to kick start their careers.”
The conference will be wholly focused on the Welsh music industry and is curated by young people, for young people. Its purpose is to get you started on your creative journey, to visualise your career and to offer you guidance through the thrilling labyrinth of the Welsh music industry.
The weekend long event will provide diverse educational material surrounding the music industry and illuminate the journeys and stories of inspiring Welsh based professionals.
There will be three distinct areas of Summit:
- DIY series – A bullet point video series of quick insights, hacks and top-tips from beginners videos to advanced.
- How to guides – A deeper dive into the world of the music industry. First-hand accounts from professionals who have been determined to carve careers in the sector they love.
- Wellbeing/personal development – An area devoted to the promotion of wellbeing and mental health of young people.
As you can see from the poster, they have a huge range of speakers over the weekend.
One of the speakers, Alex Stacey, shows just how it can be done, at a young age, with the right determination, guidance, and of course talent.
At just 21 years old, Alex has a natural ability for super catchy melodies and youthful lyrics, have already gained him attention in both the UK and US leading to him signing an exclusive publishing deal with Mike Caren’s Artist Publishing Group (APG).
Alex had his first international cut with OneRepublic’s single ‘Start Again’ featuring Logic which also appears on the soundtrack to season 2 of the Netflix show ’13 Reasons Why’. Alex also co-wrote the UK radio hit single ‘Wish You Were Here’ for Youtube star HRVY along with the single ‘Talk About Love’ from the latest and final Boyzone album. He has also co-written the new single ‘Friends’ by Ella Henderson.
He’s recently been writing with Liam Payne, Ella Henderson, Maisie Peters, Michael Pollack (Lizzo, 5SOS, Jonas Bros), Caroline Ailin (Dua Lipa), Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello), DJ Frank E (Justin Bieber, David Guetta), Sam Martin (Maroon 5, 1D).
You can take a look at his Facebook page HERE.
One of the other speakers, Violet Skies has done so much she released her first single back in 2013. In fact ‘How The Mighty’ made it onto the list of the 50 greatest Welsh pop records of that year.
Her debut solo EP, Dragons came out the following year. Since then she has played at the Glastonbury Festival on the BBC Introducing Stage. Had her songs regularly played by Huw Stephens on Radio 1, Jamie Cullum on Radio 2. She was also selected as part of BBC Horizons Gorwelion, a BBC Wales and Welsh Arts Council Initiative.
Having grown up on the outskirts of Chepstow, she was exposed to plenty of traditional Gaelic and Celtic music, as well as jazz. She said…….
“In terms of vocal performance, Etta James is still my all-time. She crosses over into that soul spectrum, but that’s kind of where my love of jazz really sits. It’s more jazz-blues rather than straight down the line,”
“I grew up with parents who used to sing a lot of old traditional songs. They were both really into folk. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was traditional Gaelic but there is that wider element of heritage, like Mary Black – maybe more Irish than Welsh in that respect. To be honest, I listened to mostly pop and soul when I was younger.”
So Violet too will bring a wealth of experience and support to the conference.
Beacons Summit will take place between Friday 9th to Sunday 11th April, online and free tickets are now available here BEACONS.
Beacons is relatively new bilingual suite of online resources designed to empower the next generation of the music and creative industries in Wales. Beacons is very much about these young creatives who are the driving force behind the project. It will be built and delivered for young people seeking knowledge, opportunity and networks to illuminate future career paths.
Beacons is made possible by funding through Creative Wales, Youth Music and Anthem.
If you’d like to find out more about the FORTE PROJECT, take a look at our feature HERE.
