It only takes a few minutes to Meet the Winners and to get an insight into how the grant will make a difference. Our first musical community group are 'I Love Thunder' - allow us to introduce you...

1.  Who are 'I Love Thunder'?

I Love Thunder is an inclusive rock band which first got together at the end of 2009. We are a varied collection of individuals with a wide range of musical influences, which dictates the tunes we play. Our ages range from 16 to 66 with music being the jam that sticks us together! Our sets include songs from Taj Mahal, Wilson Pickett, Steve Harley, Rod Stewart, Bob Marley, Sha Na Na and Chuck Berry. Recently we have started working on our own material and ‘I Love Thunder’, our theme song (confusing isn’t it), is now a part of our regular set list.

As the year has progressed I think people’s reactions have definitely changed. When we start up there is often a look of surprise on people’s faces!

 

2.  How will the BBC Performing Art Fund Community Music grant help the group?
We are planning a series of special rehearsal sessions whereby local bands from a variety of different genres (heavy metal, country, folk, jazz, reggae, indie etc) will be invited to come and rehearse with us. The final format for this is still taking shape. The idea is to expand our musical vocabulary and open us to other ideas to help in the creation of our own music.


3.  Tell us about the best day 'I Love Thunder' has had so far?
We’ve played at 8 gigs this year, which was brilliant. Every time we learn something new and we continue to bond musically and are relaxing into our performance more. Our favourite gig so far was probably at the Harrow Disability Arts Festival in November although the gig at the RJT fundraiser in October was a close second.


4.  What was the best reaction from the group when they found out about winning the PAF grant?
I think the reactions will really start when we start the programme in earnest.


5.    Give us 3 words that describe a performance by 'I Love Thunder'
Inspirational, rocking and uplifting – well something like that anyway!

Here are some audience reactions:

"I thought the band was really great –  Actually they really lifted the atmosphere as so many of the other songs were quite moody!"

"Even the female leader of the band called Grapefruit commented about I Love Thunder's timing being great"

"Great set at the Remembering Julia Trust event at Elthorne. Really enjoyed it, so many thanks!"

"Well done mighty Thunderers, keep on luvin it! Fantastic show yesterday, look forward to the next one."

"I just wanted to say thank you for the performance that I Love Thunder did at the ARC last month. The feed back was very positive and I think the band has gain new followers since their performance."

"Please will you also thank all of the band members for coming and making the evening such a great success."

"You guys were amazing today! It was a real pleasure working with you. Hope to be able to see you again some day!"

"Well done for a FANSTASTIC gig on Saturday! You were all amazing! Shall look forward to the next one xxx"

“I have always been fascinated with the arts world, and am constantly influenced by the world around me. Since the rise in degree fees, I think the best advise I can give towards getting into the cultural sector, would be to go out and seek opportunity. Be involved in any way you can and if you have the right attitude, it will get noticed.

 

My path started by exploring photography and film at A-level, I loved experimenting with the visual messages you can create in both mediums. This pushed me in the direction of filmmaking. I studied a HNC in media practice, which had a focus on production. Although I enjoyed specific areas of the degree a lot - scriptwriting and directing were always my favourite – I did feel that some of the creative degrees now stop you tackling what you have passion for in your own way. Not everyone who is interested in making films – from the horror head, to the documentarian – will learn and take information in the same way.

I didn’t finish my degree as I wanted to explore different routes and I came across Changemakers, a charity that focuses on the development of young people and helping ideas grow. I was fortunate to became part of their year scheme which developed my campaign skills, presentation and speech as well as giving me access to a personal mentoring scheme to help develop projects of my own. It was inspiring to be amongst like-minded people that wanted to make a difference.

That is where I got the chance to curate a community project with a £350 grant. Working with the people around me, I wanted to capture ‘The London Life’ through young people from 18-25 using Film, Photography, Music and Poetry. The project was a great success, and it was really interesting to see what people had to say. Also, the amount of support and involvement that was on offer was amazing.

Then to find spaces that aren’t being used or on offer to use as a work space/ office/ rehearsal space for any project you have in mind somewhereto is an organisation which can help. See more information on their website.

Apprenticeships are now becoming widely available which is great to see. It’s not only the increase in university fees that makes me a firm believer in all apprenticeship schemes. Participation on a scheme allows you to work and learn in a professional environment and really gain an insight into working within the arts. The Independent Theatre Council offer great short courses to help develop any areas you wish to know more about.

If there is any advice I can give, and what I urge you to do, is: Get out there! Speak to people with the same interest, combine ideas, get networking and get involved. Do some research into companies that produce the kind of work you are interested in and approach them about work experience opportunities. Meet people within the industry and be pro-active. And don’t forget that networking tools such as twitter and blog pages are a great way to communicate with the world and follow people that inspire you.

Find your drive, and hit the road because the opportunities are out there!

We help in a number of ways:
•    We offer funding
•    We let you know about opportunities we have on offer
•    We keep you posted on any jobs in the arts
•    Through our online magazine, IdeasMag, we offer advice

We try to make the application process for our fund and opportunities (such as live briefs and showcasing opportunities) as simple as possible. You can find out more about how we judge our briefs here.

We also offer a number of different bursaries through our funding stream IdeasFund. They look like this:

Ideas Fund Innovators
Open all year, with four deadlines for submissions, this Fund offers £1,000 awards for projects from any creative discipline. In the past we’ve funded everything from performances to photography collectives, visual artists to filmmakers.

Ideas Fund Edinburgh
Normally open for six weeks from October, the Edinburgh award provides two winning companies with £10,000 each, along with expert mentoring, to take a show to the world’s largest arts festival. For the last two years, Ideas Fund Edinburgh winners have gone on to secure Fringe First awards for their productions.

Ideas Fund Shorts
Open for six weeks from February, Shorts offers young filmmakers £5,000 to create a five-minute short film. Entries this year included documentaries, conceptual pieces, trailers for features, music videos, fashion films and animated shorts.

Top Up Fund
The Top Up Fund is managed by a changing panel of IdeasTap members, who decide the theme and award the funding. This Fund offers 20 projects a £500 cash injection, based on a particular theme.

In addition to the funding outlined above, we also partner with Sky Arts to offer the Sky Arts Ignition: Futures Fund. The fund aims to help five young artists (aged 18-30) to take their creative practice to the next level through £30,000 each and expert mentoring. It’s currently open to the following categories:

• Performing arts: theatre-makers including playwrights, spoken word artists, directors, puppeteers and live artists
• Dance: dancers and choreographers
• Music: musicians, composers, songwriters and conductors
• Visual art: fine artists, sculptors, photographers, animators and video artists
• Creative producing: do you bring together disparate parts of culture in exciting and innovative ways? This category is open to creative producers working in visual arts, theatre, film and performance/dance.

For further information on the Sky Arts Ignition: Futures Fund visit www.ideastap.com/futuresfund

Membership is free and only takes a couple of minutes to sign up. So you see, there are loads of reasons why you should visit us and keep an eye on what we are up to".

Fireflies Choir

Grants of up to £10,000 have been awarded to 47 not-for-profit groups in order to develop the talent within the group, encourage new members, produce workshops and projects that bring them closer with their communities and raise their profile. The scheme has encouraged groups to take on more challenging projects through commissions and working collaboratively with other local organisations as well as professional artists.

The Aestaewast drumming group, image by Monika Parzcyh

Miriam O'Keeffe, Director of the Performing Arts Fund, said: “We are delighted to be providing an avenue for these projects to flourish. The passion these groups have for music is inspiring. The range, not only in the types of groups but also in the spread of ages, shows us that music really is for everybody.”

Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra, image by Indigenous Design & Photography Ltd

How will the Performing Arts Fund grants help these community groups? We’ll let some of the successful groups tell you for themselves:

ReSound Community Choir, Lancashire

To see the full press release please visit the BBC Press Office website and you can download a list of all the winners here. To keep updated on the activity by the groups, join us on Twitter & Facebook and don't forget to sign up for our Newsletter.

Congratulations to all the groups and break a leg! We can’t wait to see the finished projects as they come together in 2013.

“Waiting expectantly in the wings, I took a deep breath to calm myself before I walked onto the stage. In some respects it seemed the enormity of what I was about to do had only just hit me. In about 30 seconds I would be singing live on Radio 2 with the BBC concert orchestra. I would be watched by a 500-strong audience and, more than that, heard by an estimated 600,000 radio listeners. I thought back to the beginning of this whole process and how extremely lucky I was to be there and to be given this amazing opportunity. But before I had to time to dwell on it, I heard Michael Ball announce, “Here’s the song that Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber wrote for Mary Magdalene, and it’s sung this evening for us… by Emily Dunn…”

The Audition
In May, we were told that our school - Arts Educational Schools London - was to take part in a very special and exciting live broadcast of BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night (FNIMN) Our director of Musical Theatre, Chris Hocking, told us that the entire year would participate as an ensemble, and there would also be parts available for soloists. I remember his words vividly, “To be a soloist you will need to have “nerves of steel!” (I’d always thought that I worked well under pressure but, as I’d never done anything like this before, I wondered if a live radio broadcast would change this). I had to admit, I wasn’t that familiar with the programme- so I went straight home that night to research it. I was surprised to find that FNIMN is the ‘world’s longest running orchestral live music programme on radio,’ which features the highly acclaimed BBC concert orchestra. Armed with this knowledge, I was delighted to find that I had been selected to audition for a solo in front of the BBC panel - Executive Producer Anthony Cherry and Co-Producer Ruth Beazley.

On the day of the auditions the panel was incredibly friendly and supportive and I left feeling that, even if I weren’t to be chosen as a soloist, it was a wonderful experience (although that didn’t stop me from feeling the gut-wrenching uncertainty that comes after an audition!) A week later I was put out of my misery with the fantastic news that I was to be one of 13 soloists.

Rehearsals
I instantly set about working on my two songs- a duet with Robin Lake, ‘You are my Lucky Star’ from the classic musical Singin’ in the Rain and the famous solo, ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him,’ from Jesus Christ Superstar. I rehearsed intensively for the next few weeks with singing teacher Ann James and Head of Music Dane Preece on my material- working particularly on the low vocal ranges which both songs covered. I worked particularly on my solo, trying to create my own interpretation of this well-known song. The BBC producers and MD Richard Balcombe came in to help all the soloists, giving us tremendous support and invaluable advice for coping specifically with Radio singing. Their tips included, when singing a high or loud note, pulling the microphone sharply away from your mouth ‘diva-style’ is a big Radio ‘no-no’! 

Masterclass with Michael Ball
With only a couple of weeks to go, we were given the exciting news- our programme was to be fronted and presented by none other than West-End legend Michael Ball! So, in the last week of rehearsals, he came in to Arts Ed give the soloists a masterclass in performance and radio technique. It was an event for which we all eagerly awaited! He was extremely friendly and encouraging, giving us all lots of vital advice; from radio techniques like how to handle a microphone without creating distracting noise, to avoiding  looking into “musical theatre middle distance” (staring into space) while performing. As the countdown to the big day began, my excitement and anticipation grew even further. I’d already had so many fantastic experiences- auditioning for a BBC panel, performing in front of Michael Ball- and we hadn’t yet made it to the performance!   

Friday Night
The day of the broadcast had arrived, and I was a bundle of nerves, excitement and anticipation. After becoming initially dumbstruck by the awesome sound produced by the BBC orchestra, I knew I had to focus my attention on the task at hand. I was prepared and ready to perform. We’d rehearsed with the orchestra and Arts Ed ensemble for the past couple of days, and now the audience was beginning to fill the Mermaid theatre. Sitting on-stage, we were tuned into the 8 o’clock news on Radio 2-and then it all began.

Producer Anthony Cherry told us all that the performance would go by in a flash- and he was right. Before I knew it the FNIMN theme tune had been played, the programme had begun and, all too quickly, it was my turn to sing.   

After I’d sung the first few notes of my song, I felt like everything was going to be ok, and I could relax and enjoy it. As clichéd as it might sound, it really was the best experience of my life. Thinking back on it now, I feel so proud of myself and all my classmates and what we had achieved. This whole experience made me realise just how essential and beneficial my training at Arts Ed has been- without which I wouldn’t have had the technical skill and confidence to sing on live radio. I would also like to thank the BBC Performing Arts Fund for all they have done to support my training for the past couple of years. If I could give any advice to anyone currently auditioning for musical theatre schools or perhaps trying to raise money to fund their place, it would be to absolutely keep going.  The training and experiences you get (like FNIMN) make it completely worth it in the end.”

Emily Dunn was awarded with £1500 towards her training at Arts Educational Schools London as part of the 2011 Training in Musical Theatre scheme. More information about the scheme can be found here.

 

"The end of the UK festival season provides a good opportunity for BBC Introducing to reflect on another busy summer. We’ve taken our stage to Hackney Weekend, T in the Park, Manchester Jazz Festival, London Mela and Reading & Leeds festival with a huge range of artists getting exposure to some very passionate crowds.

I’ve only been in role of Content Producer for BBC Introducing for five months so it’s been a fantastic insight into the enthusiasm, drive and determination of all the artists involved with our stages and festivals.  At T in the Park, local band Fatherson were handing out flyers informing the crowds of their stage time while Vigo Thieves went one better with a huge banner draped over a flyover across the M90. Following Reading & Leeds Festival, Proxies and Park Bench Society remain our two most shared acts of the festival (above Green Day and All Time Low) – testament to their dedicated fans and their abilities to generate an online buzz. These bands, singers and DJs work tirelessly to keep themselves in the spotlight.

Hackney was particularly special. We had worked with local supporters of new music including Rising Tide, Urban Development, Land of Kings Festival, Bigga Fish and Eat Your Own Ears, to give the local talent of East London the chance to play on the same bill as Jay-Z, Rihanna, Calvin Harris and many more. For most, it was the largest stage they had played and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a few nerves showing through backstage. I managed to sneak out to watch Kersha Bailey’s headline set on Sunday (I spend most of my time trying to get videos and photos online as quickly as possible) and was asked who it was on stage by a lady in the crowd. She took a note of Kersha’s name and I’d like to think put it into Google later. 

We’ve loads of highlights from this summer on our website and on YouTube that’ll be around for time to come. Have a watch and hopefully it’ll serve as inspiration in keeping with the BBC Performing Arts Fund’s focus on music this year. We’re always asked about how our BBC Introducing acts are chosen and there’s some helpful information on the site and within our blog. The first place to start is with our Uploader tool, where you can upload your best tracks for our local shows across the country to listen to. You can find us on Twitter too and we're always up for a chat."