Presented by: Creative Europe Desk
The Future of Live Music: From Immersive Live Performances to Inclusion
Albert Meijer Creative Europe Desk NL, Thomas Geysen Krankk, Marko Vilhelm Vuoriheimo Signmark, Stephanie Singer Bittersuite, Nikki Manuputty Possibilize
English spoken
Making live concerts accessible has been part of an ongoing debate, but the focus is often on practical issues such as ramps and having sign interpreters. Although these talks are important, they frame the issue as a burden. But accessibility and inclusion of people with a disability on the stage and in the audience can be an asset for concerts as a whole. The Creative Europe supported project Revelland draws inspiration from the way disabled people experience live music. The international collective of artists, performance designers, sense specialists and organizers uses this inspiration to transform live performances to immersive, sensory and accessible experiences. Creative Europe Desk NL and Possibilize (the initiator of Revelland) invite deaf Finnish rap artist Signmark, composer and experience designer Stephanie Singer (UK) and Belgian music act KRANKk. Together, they do a deep-dive into the creative process, talk about how a limitation can be turned into an inspiration and explain how sensory elements such as visuals, taste, scent or dance can enrich a live performance. Creative accessibility is the key to the future of live music: these are inclusive solutions that create value for multiple target groups, both with and without a disability. Are you ready to change the way you experience and create music? Note on accessibility: Our aim is to make sure that this talk as accessible as possible. We will have a sign interpreter who will translate the session into Dutch Sign Language. One of the speakers will take an interpreter with him who will translate Finnish Sign Language to spoken English and vice versa. If your experience will be enhanced by another type of interpreter (International Sign Language, audio transcription), please send your request to nikki@possibilize.today by Monday 9th January 2022.
Speakers
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Albert Meijer Creative Europe Desk NL
Albert Meijer works as an advisor for the Creative Europe Desk Netherlands, within the Culture subprogramme. He holds an MA degree in Arts, Culture & Media with a specialization in popular music and policy, and an MA degree in European Studies, both from the University of Groningen. -
Thomas Geysen Krankk
You’d be forgiven for thinking KRANKk is from the UK. Their blend of Grimey basslines, Burial-inspired atmospherics, and future garage beats sound like they’ve been brewed up in a London lock-off. Really, though, they’re from Antwerp - and they’ve added a mad twist in that they play their two-step rhythms with live instrumentation. Live it's a cannonball on speed, it is infectiously exciting, danceable and super virtuoso. Drummer Thomas Geysen will be attending ESNS as a spokesperson for KRANKk and sharing about their artistic process with Revelland: “Our goal was to create an immersive experience that stimulates all the senses. RESET is a multi-disciplinary and multi-sensory show featuring dancers, speech, visuals, light, smells and of course our music. To give an example, we used our albums DARK and DARK // AFTERMATH to improvise with dancers with disabilities. You dissolve the disability when you’re in that flow, with that mindset, creating art together. It has continued to evolve and we look forward to dazzle the audience!” -
Marko Vilhelm Vuoriheimo Signmark
Signmark was born deaf into a world where music was only for the hearing. His music career began already as a child when he started to translate familiar Christmas carols into sign language, so that the whole family could sing together. Even though friends and teachers laughed at his dream of being successful in the music business, Signmark stood fast and made the impossible possible.
In 2006 Signmark independently released the first sign language hiphop album and DVD in the world. Signmark’s perseverance led to his first international show in Paris in 2006 after which things kicked off to a new level. He was invited to celebrate Finland’s Independence Day at the President’s reception, a book was written about him and he was asked to participate in the national Eurovision tryouts where their final placement was second place.
Warner Music released Signmark’s second album in 2010 which made him the first deaf artist to have a record deal with an international record label. He has toured the world diligently and performed in over 50 countries in 6 continents including remarkable performances at Mount Everest and the UN Summit.
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Stephanie Singer Bittersuite
Stephanie is a British composer and creative director of BitterSuite - a music experience company transforming live gigs into multi sensory experiences. Her work has featured at venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music, Royal Opera House, roundhouse and in worldwide press including Vice, Smithsonian, BBC, Guardian and TedX. She also is associate lecturer in music as experience design at university of the arts, London. Stephanie was the British Council musician in residence in Russia, 2020 where she produced pop- electronica experience New Symmetry, which showcased at Different Ever After Festival, Moscow and the Yeltsin Centre, Yekaterinburg. In 2021, Royal Opera House (ROH) and National Ballet of Canada (NBoC) commissioned Stephanie to collaborate with Canadian digital tech innovators SIRT to develop avatar Violet Disruption. Violet Disruption recently won the Beyond Opera award and the team will now collaborate with Finnish Opera House, Assembly Festival, and Block9 leading to her main stage debut October 2022-January 2023. Other credits include the score for immersive synth based disco horror installation 'Samuel' (The Tank), the score for immersive ballet by the New York City Ballet 'The Moth', original musical 'Simon and His Shoes', creative direction and orchestral composition for BitterSuite’s audio experience HELD. -
Nikki Manuputty Possibilize
Nikki Manuputty has a background as a theater maker, teacher and actress. Next to that she works internationally as a producer in the music and events industry. Nikki has a neurological condition that limits her mobility and uses a wheelchair. Living with this disability has made her realize that there are still many improvements to be made in the cultural sector in terms of accessibility and also in the artistic field in terms of creative accessibility. As an experience expert on different fields of work and in collaboration with Possibilize/ Revelland, she looks for opportunities in a production role and as a spokesperson for Revelland, to realize these changes in diversity and inclusion.
Moderator
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Amber Roner Story Art Studio
Amber Roner believes that everybody has a story worth sharing. Over the years, she has been an energetic host and multimedia journalist for various podcasts, music events, TV and radioshows.
