Festival celebrates exciting new music talent in borough
presenting cultural activity and events within their own communities.
They will now embark upon specially designed programmes tailored to their collective and individual needs.
In addition to training and mentoring from the experienced hcmf// team, the participants will also have the chance to develop new projects that can be tested within the region and presented to audiences at a future festival.
The six successful applicants are: Claye Bowler, a visual artist based in Slaithwaite; Jake Burdass, founder of recording studio and events space Bassment in Huddersfield; Holly Czolacz, a freelance opera singer from Huddersfield; Bethany Holloway, a music tech student at the University of Huddersfield; Charlotte Roe, an artist and events manager at The Old Turk in Dewsbury; and Monika Hodgson, a promoter who runs a weekly open mic event at Northern Quarter in Huddersfield.
They began the next stage in their artistic and leadership development journey by attending events at hcmf// 2019 where they gained firsthand experience of how the festival is run and insights for their own future events.
Throughout 2020, the Young Curators will continue to develop their own work, with support from hcmf// aimed at adding value to their practice.
While as part of hcmf// 2020 they will each curate an event which will form part of the festival programme.
Commenting on the new Young Curators Programme, hcmf//’s artistic director Graham McKenzie said: “hcmf// has a long and successful track record of working with young people, new talent and emerging musicians, composers and performers; receiving funding for the Young Curators’ Programme now gives us a fantastic opportunity to play an important role in identifying and nurturing the next generation of locally-based music curators and programmers, which is an essential element of building a world class music offer in Kirklees.
“Now we’ve found our budding curators, we’re really looking forward to starting work with them straight away.”
Kirklees Council has set out a vision for Kirklees to become a place where everyone can hear worldclass music through festivals and events; where children and young people have access to excellent musical experiences and education; and where the next generation of musicians and music professionals are supported to build and sustain high quality careers, by providing access to the very best industry advice.
The Leeds City Region Business Rates Joint Committee backed 20 projects in all with total funding of £12.9m.