As part of our work with Wild in Art on the city-wide Music for the Senses art trail this summer, we launched the Greater Manchester Grassroots Music Fund, a new touring fund to support the city’s next wave of music talent, with a pop-up acoustic gig at the Cathedral of Sound installation in Mayfield Park.
This fund was created to support the future headliners of a city that lives and breathes music, so we knew we had to do this the right way, and after much thought we decided that this event needed to be a stripped-back lunchtime line-up of local artists in the heart of town.
It will give grassroots artists from the region the opportunity to apply for much-needed financial support with ever rising touring costs from transport, to promotion, and paying their fellow musicians.
The fund itself has been created by music fans and supporters, by bidding on 55 iconic guitars, which are either donated by music legends like Oasis, New Order, Elbow, Peter Hook, Busted, Doves, Pixies, PINS, and Mani, or original music inspired artworks painted onto guitars that have been admired as part of the city-wide Music for the Senses art trail throughout the summer.
Whilst demand for live music events remains high, many grassroots artists simply cannot afford to tour. It’s a global, industry wide problem, and Wild in Art’s creative solution has been to harness the excitement and global interest in our city, to create a fund that delivers for the grassroots, whilst, alongside us, also creating a free interactive event for people in the city.
The simply stunning Cathedral of Sound by Lazerian in Mayfield Park played host on Wednesday 27 August, as some of Greater Manchester’s finest up-and-coming artists, who represent the next generation of the city’s music scene; Rumbi Tauro, Naomi Kalu, Concrete Club, Lily Rae Grant, Alex Spencer, and Macharia, stepped out to play their tunes to some lucky folk who happened in be the park, as well as plenty of audience members who came down especially.
Forming art of the final celebrations for Music for the Senses, the city-wide art trail that’s been turning heads all summer, with over 80 artworks, murals, mosaics and installations inspired by Manchester’s music culture popping up across the city, the artists sang in the rain and the gig went down a storm. We made a video piece about it, and took some beautiful photos.
The event landed nationally twice in the Guardian, in print, with both pieces focussing on the incredible images taken on the day, with one propping up a bigger feature about opportunities for grassroots artists in general – there was also some brilliant coverage around the launch of the fund on a variety of platforms including Access All Areas, Arts Professional, MONDO DR, About Manchester, Manchester World, Unlock Mcr, Manchester’s Finest, I Love Manchester, Confidentials, and Canal St Online, plus more.
Projects like this one are so important to us, as we always strive to provide platforms for creatives giving their all to reach a destination – this one summed our values up perfectly. The press campaign for Music for the Senses as a whole is absolutely mammoth, with tonnes of high-end coverage on a national, trade, regional, and broadcast level, and we are so proud of what we have been able to achieve with such a long-standing client.
Sundae x
