Changing the narrative, Part 1
As part of delivering a mentoring programme for 654 cultural projects funded by a federal grant in Germany, we spent time thinking about how we tell their story. We felt it was time to bend some conventions. What if we didn’t portray these organisations as ‘recipients of a grant’ — a storytelling trope. Thus began a year-long experiment. We commissioned three artists — a musician, a film-maker and a comic artist. Through interviews with the recipients they were asked to capture the energy, dynamism and diversity of the work that’s taking place across the country — from big cities like Hamburg to the countryside. This multi-platform 6-part diary is almost ready.
With this first post I’m starting to make sense of the process. I hope to be able to structure my thoughts into a blog-post/ case study as other funders may also want to explore how they portray the communities/projects/sectors they serve.
Let me introduce the musician who is part of the trio. Benjamin Berry has produced music for artists such as Max Richter, Kylie Minogue and Ellie Goulding, working for labels such as Universal Music, Deutsche Grammophon and SonyBMG. He’s also worked as a journalist and content creator for the third sector on campaigns for social mobility and adult education. An interesting mix, don’t you think?
I’ve been listening to his work released under ‘Fear of Tigers’ for years. It’s one of his many projects described as ‘original, independent, life-affirming’ music. How will the listener feel when they engage with the 6-part mini album saturated with emotion? Will it change the perception of the work that is taking place? Will the projects look at themselves in a different light?
The mini-album along with the documentary and comic will be out soon. For now, I thought I’d post a link to a track from the new Fear of Tigers release on Spotify. Enjoy!
Abhay Adhikari
digitalidentities.info
