ame and dai hall
ame (art music experiment) C.I.C is an organisation that has supported and promoted experimental art and music projects in Huddersfield since 2015. Since 2019, we ran dai hall in a disused shop unit in the Piazza Centre.
dai hall has hosted so many varieties of festivals, concerts, exhibitions, residencies, film screenings, workshops, meetings and more. Beyond acting as our venue and base, the space was a unique creative hub that provided encouragement and inspiration to wide local / national / international communities to collaborate, share skills, learn new knowledge, think and act together.
We have invited nearly 300 artists of diverse backgrounds during the 4 years of activities in the venue though for many reasons we were always under the threat of eviction. 13th January 2024 was the last day of dai hall. We were given no alternative space by the team of the council. The unit was subjected to the demolishment of their Cultural Heart development starting ‘as soon as’ our eviction, and we were officially hurried to move out, only to be informed on the last day that members of local artists were moving in to the very unit after ame…….
we’re not giving up
With unclassified reasonings and injustice, we left dai hall. But we are not giving up. We want to move on with our belief and passion to empower experimental art and music scene in north England. But where and how? We had no time to think or financial strength. This is why we’ve temporarily moved in a small room studio at Vortex Studio.
Vortex Studio is a private studio run by a local family. There are several artists renting a room and one room became available for us for the next 12 months.The space is for
- store our equipment
- meet and work
- potentially host small public events : workshops, talks, and meet-up
This is the year for us to plan next steps and work on fundraising towards ambitious programme in 2024. The first programme we are fundraising for is conneXion. During April - July 24, conneXion programme collaborates & links organisations, artists and audiences to introduce a diversity of sound & music, and empower the creative scene in north England.
Between ame, eroteme, FLOAT, Culturesof_ and Huddersfield University, we would like to commission amazing national and international musicians / artists
- Léo Maurel / PANCRACE
- Nguyn + Transitory
- Haymanot Tesfa
- Freya Shaw
to deliver a series of public engagement and live performances across deprived areas in north England. This is the first programme ame will deliver after losing dai hall. In this new chapter, ame aims to develop our ability to unite and act together with like-minded organisations in order to maximise our performance to the best, setting a higher goal in participation and engagement.
conneXion will be a step-up programme for us to be able to
- think
- clarify our pivotal reason of existence
- focus on essentials and efforts
- use time and resource productively
- re-discover what/how we want to be in the future.
Smaller organisations and people struggle endlessly in the current economy. conneXion is a programme to increase our consciousness in collaboration and shared-learning approach. It promises creative country & promote cultural engagement in north England where aspirations need to be increased. Learning from the previous survey where people mentioned health, economics and transportation issues, conneXion will cater for better solutions. We will support people to experience the programme both physical and online platforms.
how you can help us
we are aiming to raise £5,000 to cover:
- Studio rent
- Running costs - IT, staff and overheads
- Matching fund for conneXion Arts Council England grant application
ame is run by freelancers who represent the diversity of gender, race & class, reflecting on how we curate & programme, treating everyone fairly, spotting new talent and nurturing existing gems. We have done the best we could to keep going on sporadic public grants that are now becoming increasingly less available and more difficult to qualify for. Losing a physical space to carry out our activities is another big blow to our ability to operate, but we still believe in what we and our communities have done together.
We are extremely grateful for any contribution. Any donation is warmly welcome. We have created bonus gifts too!
Bonus Rewards
1. Donate £25 and get a special edition of dai hall baseball cap
2. Donate £25 and get a special edition of dai hall beanie
3. Donate £15 for a limited edition of specially designed A3 poster with all the names of artists who played at dai hall
Thank you for reading and your support. If you can’t contribute with a donation, it's fine but we would greatly appreciate sharing this page on your social media channels.
Ryoko / Charlotte