Why are we crowdfunding?
We are raising money to launch our not-for-profit social programme: EartH Studios. At the core of our new venue, this will be a dedicated music education centre for young people in our community. We will provide training and education programmes together with our partner Community Music, London’s leading charity for music and young people, who have over 35 years of experience serving communities in London.
The funds raised will be used to renovate the basement (first £26k), and if we hit our whole target (£50k), we will be able to fully kit out the centre with the required equipment, without additional fundraising.
We chose to crowdfund to engage our community in our mission - so those who shared our passion, could help us reach our goal and spread the word.
About EartH
We are the team behind Village Underground, the independent live music and cultural venue in Shoreditch that we founded in 2006. Earth (Evolutionary Arts Hackney) is our new arts venue that reimagines an abandoned art deco cinema in Dalston. As the centre of our values, is the belief that art has the capacity to offer us ideas, progress and change. EartH is curated to span art forms and a multitude of genres and voices encompassing an international live music programme, performance art, special talks and debates, comedy, and film. We opened our doors this September with programmes featuring Lianne La Havas, Neil Gaiman, Janelle Monae and Kate Tempest among others. Full season line up: earthackney.co.uk/listings/
Our vision for EartH Studios
Right at the core of EartH, this will be a place where young people can develop their creative skills, through free and low cost music training and education programmes delivered by our partner, Community Music.
There’ll be opportunities for young artists to perform on our stages, for budding technicians or arts managers to shadow our staff through apprenticeship schemes. Local aspiring musicians will benefit from free rehearsal space, there’ll be music mentoring from professionals for young bands in our community.
We will particularly seek to engage young people who are socially excluded - giving them new experiences and training in music, and providing positive learning opportunities to create routes into education and employment.
EartH aims to be a springboard for the next generation of creative talent.
What will the money be spent on?
We need to raise £50,000 for our start-up year, to transform our basement into a fully equipped production suite and two rehearsal studios, where the education and training programmes we’re planning will be run.
Of that target, £24,000 will be used to purchase the kit and musical instruments we need. We will buy:
- 9x individual iMac computers
- 9x AKAI Professional keyboards
- 9x Logic Pro X
- 7x Focusrite Scarlett interface
- 1x Universal Audio Arrow interface
- 9x Beyerdynamic & Audio-Technica headphones
- 1x BenQ projector + Duronic screen
- KRK monitor speakers + stands
- 2x Natal Arcadia drum kits + Zildjian cymbal sets
- 3x guitar amps (Boss Katana, Fender, Blackstar)
- 2x Lacey keyboard amps
- 2x tc electronic bass amps
- 4x SM58 microphone bundles + 1x Aston microphones spirit
- 2x Yamaha PA sets
- Studio furniture
The remaining £26,000 will cover the complete renovation works in the basement, which will include reconfiguring the space with a new layout, putting in toilets and plumbing, rewiring the electrics, damp proofing and soundproofing the rooms, and of course painting and decorating so that our education space becomes a comfortable and inspiring space to be creative.
Who are Community Music?
Community Music has worked for 35 years in London helping young people with little or no access to resources to make modern music.
They provide free rehearsal space, music mentoring from professionals, performance opportunities in safe environments, sound engineering and music production training, instrumental tuition and recording opportunities. This gives thousands of children and young adults access to creative learning and career paths that are often difficult to find a way in to.
This will be their new education space in Hackney.
What education and training programmes will we run?
In our first year, Community Music will run four education and training programmes at Earth Studios. By year five this will grow to 12 annual programmes. In our start-up year, we aim to engage 100 new participants in these creative activities. This number will rise to over 250 active participants per year by our fifth year.
We will offer two venue-based training courses in our first operating year. This will expand to six annual courses by year five.
We will actively seek to engage NEET young people (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). Our aim is to engage 60 such participants in our structured training programmes in our start-up year, increasing this to over 150 per year by our fifth year. We expect 75% of our NEET participants to gain qualifications through these programmes.
What positive outcomes will we see?
Community Music have a proven track record. Through their education and training programmes at EartH, we know that children and young people will develop their creative, expressive and musical abilities. Their self-belief, confidence, creativity, ambition, and belief in a more positive future will grow.
We will see better achievement and attendance at school, higher personal aspirations, improved employment potential and better awareness of the benefits of positive community participation through working with role models, peer mentors, and volunteers.
Rewards
As well as commissioned t-shirts, totes and prints, we’re offering guest list to front row seats to a show of your choice in The Theatre or ‘Make a Date of it’ reward and enjoy dinner together first in our new restaurant, amongst others.
For larger groups looking for their Christmas party venue we’ve can accommodate up to 30 people in the restaurant - full proceeds go to the crowdfunder. Get in touch for details.
*NEW REWARD*
*EartH Season One Collector's Screenprint - NEW for final days of campaign*
Illustration of EartH by French illustrator / animator George(s), available on t-shirts, tote bags and screenprints.
EartH Launch Season designs
EartH launch season A2 flouro screenprint
Environmental sustainability at EartH Studios
We have been working closely with Julie's Bicycle who recently awarded us a 3 Stars Creative Green rating at Village Underground. Their case study on Village Underground details all the initiatives we have taken so far – from procuring 100% green energy to banning the use of plastic straws in our venue. We plan to replicate this at EartH and EartH Studios.
We are committed to:
- keep to a minimum the carbon emissions and waste usually associated with construction projects (EartH and EartH Studios are located in a repurposed building)
- be a low carbon building and become more energy self-sufficient
- develop a Sustainable Procurement Policy
- act as a model of environmental sustainability, and inspire all stakeholders to make changes
The topic of environmental sustainability will also feature in our training programmes.
Please support us by sharing widely on social media and with your network. Please tag us:
@EartHackney
@cmsounds
#earthstudios #crowdfunder #hackney
Any questions at all, contact us on [email protected]
THANK YOU