Oliver Dudok van Heel : Early Career Promoter Fund
About :
Hilltop Sessions CIC was founded by musicians Maia Eden and Oliver Dudok van Heel to provide opportunities for independent musicians to perform to a knowledgeable and appreciative audience, essentially people who are passionate about music! They are committed to always paying artists (both headline and support) while keeping ticket prices affordable. Since they started after lockdown in July 2021 they have hosted 28 Hilltop Sessions, curated stages at 2 festivals and run their own one-day festival in September 2023. In the process they have also raised over £7,000 for charities in their hometown of Lewes, East Sussex. They have been successful over the past 3 years, building a strong local reputation and a growing position within the grassroots music scene. So far Maia and Oliver have run Hilltop Sessions, unpaid, in-between their day jobs, but would like to spend more time and energy on it to allow it to grow and expand. This means starting to earn a small income from their work. They have many ideas and plans but feel stuck because of a lack of knowledge and very limited time. The best way to do this is to increase ticket sales for each gig. The funding from the PRS Foundation will largely be used to strengthen the visibility of Hilltop Sessions in the South-East of England and to reach a larger potential audience through better marketing and promotion. They will seek advice from marketing professionals and pay for access to music event marketing platforms that will enable them to reach more people. They will also attend industry networking events to grow their visibility and identify more artists to perform at Hilltop Sessions.
Project Description : Increase the number of gigs, the audience numbers and pay those who make things possible: artists, staff, engineers, to ensure the viability of Hilltop Sessions