Being a New Voice 2018 – realising the potential

In June 2018 I was privileged to be selected as one of Sound and Music’s ‘New Voices 2018’, a group of fifteen composers and sound artists selected from across the UK to participate in an 18-month long programme of support for artists working in sound and music, supported by Arts Council England, the PRS Foundation (PRSF) the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust (RVWT). So what does it mean to be a New Voice 2018?

New Voices 2018

The scheme provides a small bursary for each participant, along with generous support from a whole team from Sound and Music to help us each realise our individual artistic potential. This comprises an individual Creative Project Leader, who oversees the practical and financial side of things, and other members of Sound and Music team who collectively have extensive knowhow and expertise in digital platforms, funding applications and audience development.

As well as this support network, each artist is offered a personal coach with whom to explore some of the psychological issues to think about in order to realise ambitious dreams, and with whom the final member of the team – a mentor – is selected. Being able to select a mentor is a very exciting prospect for me: to have a mentor for an extended period of time, and anyone – a composer, a director, a curator, a choreographer, an artist – can be selected for this role, anyone who will be able to expand horizons, give support and guidance in developing and promoting my individual work.

Next week I will have my first working session with my own Creative Project Leader, Samara Jancovich and with my coach Richard Whitelaw. I have been thinking carefully about who my mentor might be, what area of expertise they might have, and how I can best use this opportunity. There is great potential, but also a sense of responsibility to live up to high expectations and to create something that will make its mark in some way, speaking with a ‘New Voice’.

So far I have mapped my own plan of action, centring my focus on the development of a new work for clarinettist and live electronics Scintilla. This work has the potential to expand out, to grow in different directions, depending on how things go, where doors open or close, and on the other individuals taking part and their own creative energy, drive and ideas.

James Dooley, Jack McNeill and Liz Johnson rehearsing at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

I have started working with clarinettist Jack McNeill and digital artist James Dooley at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to develop a rich and complex soundworld that will be presented as a staged performance. The work could expand into an ambitious community project/dance work/opera/film or all of these and more. As yet nothing is fixed for the final outcome; but these possibilities are making me feel very excited.

The original starting point of Scintilla comes from an extended poem Crag Inspector by David Hart. This poem explores the relationship between a man and his environment, in this case a poet struggling to make sense of his existence (and his art) on a wild and remote island. The poem explores memory, dreams and nightmares; landscape, seascape, wild flora and fauna; other humans and their existence on the island past and present. There is an other-worldliness to the poetry. It goes deep inside the conflict and joy of finding one’s artistic voice, seeking it out, losing it, and finding it in unexpected ways.

The other aspect of being a New Voice 2018 is the amazing group of artists I now find myself part of. We met each other for the first time in June, and each individual spoke briefly about their own work: their hopes, their frustrations and struggles, and their dreams. It was inspirational.

It occurred to me that this group has not only enormous potential as individual artists creating fascinating work, but also as a group in itself, New Voices 2018 may have other kinds of collective possibilities.

We are a very diverse group, with a very diverse set of audiences. Maybe, over time, we can connect up the pockets of activity and interest we have each generated, to encourage a more engaged relationship with people generally?

Raising the profile of contemporary sound art and music as something relevant and important to modern day people, whatever their background, would be a great legacy for us to leave, and for the New Voices of the future to build on. The potential is huge.