Are you one of those people who has a dream where you are on stage in a magnificent hall? In my dream I’m looking gorgeous, the audience is loving what I’m playing and when I look round, I’m being backed by a fabulous orchestra.
Oh, right that’s just me then, is it?
For me LIMF Academy Orchestrated is always one of the highlights of the year. Over the years I’ve seen amazing artists like Koj, Ni Maxine, Jalen NGonda, Michael Aldag, Amber Jay, Dayzy and many more make the most of this amazing opportunity to collaborate with an orchestra. Sometimes in a studio you might be able to add some live strings to a recording if you have a budget – this is a once on a lifetime opportunity to hear your tracks backed by a full orchestra. It’s even worth putting your best outfit on for and maybe having a haircut! Get tickets at here to enjoy my favourite show of the year!
LIMF Academy is ten years old and over the last decade it has provide dedicated specialist support for a range of artists from across the city region from all sorts of genres.
Liverpool is a UNESCO City of Music, known all over the world for our incredible music offer and a music heritage that is second to none. But what sometimes gets overlooked is that it is an industry and an important one for Liverpool. It creates vital jobs and recent figures suggest that the music industry in the city region is responsible for generating £150m a year with music tourism adding another £300m. LIMF Academy is preparing artists to be in a position where they can build themselves a career in a sector which is set to grow and become even more important to the city.
One of the many great aspects of the programme is that it has led to an incredibly supportive network of artists who have been part of the Academy. They support each other through good times and bad and are enthusiastic musical collaborators. A brilliant example of this is the hugely talented Tee who has been working closely with the equally talented Koj.
While we are on the subject of collaborations, the Academy has always been keen to facilitate our artists working together. In January there was another special event where audiences were lucky enough to see the fruits of some unique collabs. We asked Academy alumni to pick artists they would love to work with and we make it happen.
That’s typical of what we do with the Academy. We want to see our artists grow and we want to support them to make a sustainable career in the music industry. But the reality is that it’s an industry that can be far too focused on self. That self-centred approach doesn’t help in the long term and we are proud that our alumni recognise the value in seeing the talent of others and working with each other to the benefit of everyone involved.
It not easy being a female in the music or event industry, and her at LIMF Academy we want to break down barriers that female creators are met with daily! We piloted an all-female songwriting workshop last year and following its huge success we have decided to bring it back, but bigger. LIMF Academy are teaming up with Ivors Academy to deliver the ‘Yes We Are’ programme, a programme designed to empower female music creators. The Programme will work with 12 emerging female music creators from the Liverpool City Region over a 4-day period, where the participants will be encouraged to collaboratively write, perform and produce 8-12 tracks under the watchful eye of songwriter, producer and writer Lapsley, facilitated by Michelle Escoffery and supported by the engineer, Amelia Danby.
Kate Gilston, Culture Liverpool Events
