Talent Development Partner 2020: Manchester Jazz Festival
Manchester Jazz Festival (mjf) is the go-to place for contemporary jazz artists to develop their practice and for audiences to discover new music. For 25 years, mjf has curated bespoke programmes that pioneer the creation and performance of new jazz commissions, surprising collaborations, a suite of innovative talent development schemes that cater for all career stages, and audience development initiatives that lower barriers to engagement. mjf especially celebrates northern artists, providing work and development opportunities that obviate their need to migrate to London, and works to diversify the artist talent pool, prioritising female-identifying and culturally diverse music creators.
We offer talent development programmes that engage a diverse range of musicians at all stages of their career, offering a clear development path from entry point (Soundcheck), progressing through hothouse, through to a full commission with mjf originals. We aspire to reflect our population, realise creative potential, address imbalance and respond to identified need in a relevant way and help artists achieve a step-change in their professional journey.
mjf soundcheck: Soundcheck is our newest programme supporting diverse 18–25s from Greater Manchester who are keen to explore use of improvisation in their music, providing resources, confidence, mentoring and connections, enabling them to break into the jazz sector.
mjf hothouse: hothouse is our bespoke programme that motivates northern artists to be ambitious, providing the environment and confidence to evolve new creative ideas, focusing on process rather than product. We prioritise diverse artists in order to directly create a healthier, relevant artist base for the creation of new work. Artists gain CPD on artistic ambition, USP, networking and awareness building, along with budgeting and project management guidance, paid devising/rehearsal time and a bespoke industry mentor for 1-1 support to overcome acknowledged barriers. Each round culminates in a live work-in-progress industry showcase. For 2021 we will also stream the showcase to an invited audience of international peers for the first time.
mjf originals Launched in 2009, mjf originals is still the UK’s only open jazz commission, a cherished opportunity for artists and a powerful, highly-anticipated part of mjf. It offers a career challenge, profile and confidence boost, as well as resourced delivery of a new work.
To counteract uncertainty over Covid-impacted festival delivery, we reframed this opportunity to invite new work that could be delivered across digital/physical platforms, at any time of year and at manageable scale. With uncertainties continuing, we will continue this offer throughout 2021, enabling us to appoint a greater, diverse number of creators to produce more commissions that don’t rely on a single live performance opportunity.
“2020 was a year spent thinking on our feet, in isolation, and out of the box. From the rapidly-taken decision to cancel our entire 25th anniversary festival when it was just 10 weeks away, to the adaptation of a new interim version of hothouse for our existing cohort, to the twice-reinvented and now lockdown-proof Soundcheck scheme, we are delighted and honoured to be able to support and guide artists through these especially disruptive times.” – Steve Mead, Artistic Director