Project Advisors
Shelley Atkinson
Shelley Atkinson is a grass roots independent music and dance promoter. She has worked on various festivals, events and projects, particularly championing live music, and several years ago set up her own company, Arts DeVille, working as co-ordinator, project manager, PR consultant, radio plugger, tour manager and promoter for various independent record labels in the West Midlands. She has also written for Channel 4 magazine, 4 Talent and is currently writing for several music websites.
Shelley presents a weekly radio show, Sunday City Musicbox on Rhubarb Radio, which celebrates local music alongside internationally acclaimed artists, classics alongside rarities and exclusives. The show has steadily built a global audience over the last two years and from December will be streamed live from the Hare and Hounds, Birmingham, featuring a band and a live audience for the second half of the weekly show. Other projects for 2011 include a monthly interactive live music event, launching an innovative new orchestra using some of the best musicians in the Midlands and an independent music festival that with some of the biggest names in the city.
Her biggest bugbears are the phrases "unsigned" and "alternative", as she feels getting ‘signed’ is now irrelevant for most musicians, and 'the mainstream' and 'chart run down' of yesteryear is becoming just as irrelevant. Independent music is a philosophy and there is a freedom that comes with getting music direct to market without going through a 'major label'. Smaller niche labels, self-releases and DIY attitudes are proving to be some of the most creative foundations for today's artists, and the mission now is getting new audiences to take an active role in supporting independent acts, radio stations and venues without being too distracted by the Karaoke culture of the X Factor.
Louisa Davies
Louisa Davies grew up in a very musical family, with both folk and classical music vying for her attention. She was regularly taken to folk festivals as a child, as well as having classical violin lessons, and singing in an excellent girls’ choir. In the end folk won out, and she pursued traditional fiddle and singing, developing a love of Irish music, and playing in a number of bands. Louisa currently plays and sings with Birmingham-based folk rock outfit, Elfynn (featured on this website, but not nominated by Louisa), as well as singing soprano in Notorious choir.
Professionally, Louisa is an arts producer and programmer of 10 years professional experience. For the last 6 years she has worked for MAC (Midlands Arts Centre) developing and delivering its music and performing arts programmes, as well as taking on a more strategic role during the centre’s closure.
Chris Downing (Little Chris)
Brumcast is a weekly podcast produced and presented by Chris Downing, known to his listeners as Little Chris. Now part of Internet station Rhubarb Radio’s schedule, Chris’ charm and seemingly effortless presentational style have increased to match the demands of a live-to-air programme, which encourages interactivity with its listeners through social networks like Twitter and MySpace.
The programme is a stripped down, simple, music-in-pill-form programme, with tracks spanning every conceivable music genre, from dubstep to thrash metal, from ska to folk. The only rule is that the music must come from the Midlands.
Tony Dudley-Evans
Tony Dudley-Evans is head of Birmingham Jazz and is Artistic Director of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. He has also, since 1985, been the chair of Birmingham Jazz, which promotes concerts at Symphony Hall, the CBSO Centre, the Adrian Boult Hall, the mac, The Drum, the Fiddle and Bone and the Glee Club. A popular promotion is the weekly free Friday evening gig, entitled Rush Hour Blues, held in the foyer of Symphony, where young jazz musicians are showcased before an audience of about 250 people.
Tony received one of the BBC Jazz Awards in 2005 for services to jazz. He is also an honorary Fellow of the Birmingham Conservatoire. Tony has also supported the Birmingham Conservatoire's BMus Jazz course and now co-ordinates the Performance Platform class for final-year students. Tony has also been a member of the Arts Council's Music Panel and is on the Board of both Birmingham Arts Marketing and JazzDev.
Clare Edwards
Clare is a freelance music consultant and event organiser. She works with Soweto Kinch Productions, runs events for Sing Up, conducts Notorious and is Chair of Governors at her local primary school. In between she sings with Ex Cathedra and tries to listen to as much music as possible. Clare was awarded the title of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year in 2007 and UK Young Music Entrepreneur in 2008. Clare was accepted into the Guardian/Courvoisier Future 500 in 2009 and listed in the Birmingham Post’s The Power 50 supplement in 2007 and 2009.
Richard Elms
After serving his time as a singer/guitarist in a number of local bands, Richard moved into events management and live music promotions in the late 90s, later working with acts such as the Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, and The Libertines, as well as thousands of unsigned artists. This included an eleven year stint, from 2000 to 2010, as a programmer and producer for Coventry’s Godiva Festival which is the UK’s biggest free family event of its kind.
Before joining Herbert Media in August 2006, Richard embarked on a stint teaching Music and Media at City College Coventry but now spends his time managing and coordinating the creative media department at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, offering his expertise through innovative audio, video and multi media projects, productions and training; which he says makes "a nice change" from working with the likes of Pete Doherty!
Apache Indian
Born into a family of Indian origins, Apache (Stephen Kapur) grew up in Handsworth, and by the early 1980s he was working with local sound systems and wearing dreadlocks. By the mid-1980s he had trimmed his hair and began to make a name for himself as a dancehall deejay, and he recorded his first single in 1990, "Movie Over India", initially a white-label pressing, until it was picked up by the reggae distributor Jet Star. The single mixed raga and bhangra and was hugely popular among audiences of both genres. Two further singles followed in a similar vein, "Chok There" and "Don Raja", bringing him to the attention of the major labels, and in 1992 he signed a recording contract with Island Records. Apache has remained active in Birmingham, tours worldwide, and now also runs his own venue, Apache’s Bar, which has become an influential local music force in Birmingham.
Kate Southall (Katy Jay)
Radio Presenter since 1999 for 101.8 WCRfm (Wolverhampton City Radio). Founder, Producer and Presenter of the hugely popular 'Freshly Picked' programme - a weekly two-hour showcase of the best local new/unsigned music, which started at the end of 2008. The show boasts music play, interviews, live sessions recorded at sponsoring studio Musoplex along with honest and heart-felt dialogue relating to the music chosen. Kate mentored Trainee Presenter Jen Birch for three months prior to her handing over the show to Jen in September 2010. Kate is currently involved in the launch of her new independent music podcast ‘Scene & Not Herd’; she is also developing a secure online databank of local new, unsigned, self-released music for community stations all over the UK to tap into and share, whilst also able to send their own local music for local radio inclusion.
Marc Reck
Marc Reck is the founder of Mr. Elephant Presents and a core member of Project X Presents. On the music & workshops side, his commissions & cross art-form projects can be found under his Reckorder alias & his award winning dj-ing continues to push the boundaries in a spectrum of environments, collaborating with a wide range of art forms & supporting a long list of big names of many genres.
His music tech workshops have seen his musical & production knowledge inspire a wide range of participants and create results whatever their position of musical ability. His unique and well developed approaches have enabled special needs groups to create epic film soundtracks through to primary ages create expressive live performance soundtracks, with each participant gaining a whole experience of all parts of music making from composition, recording, & production.
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Email: info@pilot-project.co.uk
