From lockdown to stage
The launch of the Hepworth Band’s new website brings a highly successful two-year grant funded programme to a close.
“From Lockdown to Stage”, an ambitious project supported by funding from One Community Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and the National Lottery through Arts Council England has helped the band to develop new performance opportunities, engage with existing and new audiences and has supported the band as it emerged from the impacts of Covid-19.
Band Manager Yvonne Embury said: “Having a two-year grant funded programme of projects to deliver has helped to keep the players, management committee and wider organisation engaged and motivated through the pandemic. It provided a real focus for the band to work towards, which meant that as we came out of lockdown and were able to come back together to rehearse and perform, the band’s personnel and management team had remained stable and intact.
We’d like to say a big thank you to our grant funders and to everyone who has helped deliver such a successful project. We’re particularly grateful to Carole Crompton for all of her help and advice and for co-ordinating and submitting the Arts Council England bid on our behalf."
Carole Crompton said: “I was really pleased that Hepworth band asked me to help them apply for funding and it was great to be back involved with the band which I had played for a few years ago. The project had some great concepts and outcomes and was a good way of bringing the band back together following Covid.”
Through the project the band has been able to launch a new responsive website, refresh and improve its social media platforms and benefit from a bespoke package of social media support and training, all delivered by Rochdale-based design and marketing studio Jolly Northerner.
Working alongside KMJ Recordings and Batch Video Production Jolly Northerner has also helped to develop and deliver the band’s successful live recorded four-part online concert video series that so far has been watched by more than 16,000 people across the world including viewers from Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
Jonny Shaw, founder of Jolly Northerner said: “It’s been a privilege to be involved in such a forward-thinking project within the amateur music scene. At the start of this project Jolly Northerner was a fledgling business but thanks to the detail in this project and developing a strong working relationship with the band’s management team it’s now an established entity working in both business and music sectors.”
“Rhythm of Light”, an innovative collaboration between the band, composer Dr Liz Lane and The Hepworth Wakefield, one of the UK’s leading art galleries, provided a high-profile centrepiece to the project.
With funding from an Arts Council National Lottery project grant, the band commissioned Liz to write a new work for brass band celebrating the life and work of Dame Barbara Hepworth that formed part of a series of audio-visual works in response to the gallery's tenth anniversary exhibition, “Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life”.
The work comprises four movements: “Landscape”, “Shadow cast by the sun”, “Pavan and Galliard” and “Rhythm and dance and everything” and explores the wider interests and influences of the celebrated artist and sculptor to provide a unique, original soundtrack to her most celebrated works. The Hepworth’s outdoor sculpture garden provided a unique setting for the première of the new work and to experience live performances by the band set amongst her inspirational works.
Composer Dr Liz Lane said “I was thrilled to be asked to write ‘Rhythm of Light’ for Hepworth Band. The research into Barbara Hepworth’s life and work was fascinating, and even more so because her ‘Three Obliques (Walk-In)’ sculpture in front of Cardiff University School of Music was a backdrop of my musical life for over a decade.
“It was brilliant to be able to attend both the recording and performance at The Hepworth Wakefield, where it was a privilege to hear the première in the beautiful garden setting. Another unexpected highlight was when the National Galleries of Scotland - who were hosting the ‘Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life’ tour - used an excerpt of the recording on TikTok!
“I’d like to thank Hepworth Band, Ryan Watkins and everyone involved for such a rewarding project and very much hope that we will work together again in the future.”
During the summer of this year, the band marked a return to live music making and community events by presenting “FeastFest”—a free, fun filled family festival in partnership with Hepworth Football Club, with drumming workshops, football skills coaching sessions and a live music stage as the band and local community came together to celebrate the return of Hepworth Feast. It was also a fitting way to mark the end of the band’s journey from lockdown to stage.