I am extremely happy to announce that hcmf// is returning with a programme of live concerts, performances and talks, alongside in-person exhibitions and installations, running from Thursday 18 to Monday 22 November.
In curating the 5-day festival against the ongoing risks and uncertainty of the pandemic, we are placing a huge emphasis on protecting the health and well-being of our artists, our audiences and the festival team. Within this context, we are therefore ‘cautiously excited’to be presenting a programme that celebrates live performance and brings a community of composers, musicians and artists back together with in-person audiences.
Reflecting on hcmf// during 2020
But as we look ahead to hcmf// 2021, I would like to take a moment to reflect not only on the devastating impacts that the pandemic has had on the festival, our community of artists and the wider world of new music, not only in the UK but also on our partners and collaborators right around the world – but also on the ways in which hcmf// has responded during this unprecedented period of our 44-year history.
From March 2020, we adopted an artist-centred approach that has seen hcmf// fund and/or commission 30 new works, ranging from large-scale pieces to miniatures – providing immediate and direct support for artists, including established composers and new voices. In all, hcmf// has provided around 120 paid opportunities for artists/practitioners through 2020 and into 2021.
When it became clear that we wouldnt be able to present the programme we had planned for hcmf// 2020, we quickly decided that we would honour as many commissions and planned projects for artists as possible during the year, devising an alternative programme that was presented online and via our partnership with BBC Radio 3s New Music Show – bringing numerous works to the attention of an international audience and marketplace at a critical time for composers and artists.
It’s also important here to acknowledge the vital and ongoing support provided to hcmf// by Arts Council England, including a grant in October 2020 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (administered by Arts Council England on behalf of DCMS), as well as the continued support of Kirklees Council and the University of Huddersfield.
Looking ahead to hcmf// 2021
As I write, and despite the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic, we are looking forward to bringing more of these commissions and projects to fruition as live events at hcmf// 2021, including welcoming Chaya Czernowin as our Composer in Residence and Laurence Osborn’s hcmf// commission Essential Relaxing Classical Hits, both of which were originally planned for 2020. Other concerts and events at this year’s festival will be live realisations of projects first presented online or as radio broadcasts, including hcmf//‘s Zeitgeist Commissions (in partnership with the Riot Ensemble) and James Dillon’s echo the angelus, performed by Noriko Kawai. The hcmf// shorts programme will round off the festival’s 5 days on Monday 22 November in what I’m sure will be a welcome return of our hugely popular day of free-to-attend events.
With caution and safety considerations at the centre of our approach to presenting live events, we have focused our resources on creating a 5-day programme concentrated across three of our larger spaces – St Pauls Hall, Huddersfield Town Hall and Bates Mill Blending Shed. This will enable us to facilitate socially-distanced seating for optimum audience numbers, while also working closely with the venue-based teams to ensure that rigorous cleaning and sanitisation processes are in place and to safely manage access to and from the buildings. We will also require all participants, staff and audience members to adhere to Government guidelines – along with the venues’ and hcmf//’s safety guidelines, which will be published and updated on our website.
To enable us to manage venue capacities, all events, including those that are free to attend, will be ticketed and will need to be pre-booked. The full programme and all booking information will be available here on our website in mid-September.
Whilst some things will necessarily be different this year, with the number of events and capacity more limited, we believe that the changes are merited in order to enable artists and composers to once again share their music in a live setting.
Inclusivity and diversity
Although we have needed to adapt the way we work over the past 18 months, the core values that make hcmf// a leading international advocate for the manner and context in which new music is commissioned, curated and presented have not changed. In fact, our resolve to challenge, drive and demand greater inclusivity and diversity across everything we do has, if anything, become stronger and even more focused.
hcmf// 2020 saw 84% of our events featuring women/gender minority music creators, while ethnic minority artists were represented across 56% of the programme. hcmf// is also at the heart of a pan-European project to drive intersectional diversity as a founder member of Sounds Now, a Creative Europe-funded project that aims to give greater influence to a wider diversity of experiences, voices, backgrounds and perspectives in shaping the future of the contemporary music and sonic art scene. I look forward to sharing more about our Sounds Now projects with you over the coming weeks, but in the meantime you can read more on the Sounds Now at www.sounds-now.eu.
Increasing participation opportunities has been a key priority over the past year, and so far in 2021 hcmf// has delivered 18 community events for young people and adults – including Music at Play events, workshops exploring videography, film-making and using text with music, half-term and holiday workshops and two live installations – resulting in over 4,000 engagements.
Fielding Talent
Nurturing artistic talent is another driver that’s been at the heart of hcmf// for the last four decades. Ever since we awarded James Dillon the Young Composers’ Award at our inaugural festival in 1978, weve been investing in the future of emerging composers and performers and, over the past decade, mentoring and guidance has become a core constituent of the hcmf// programme itself.
During 2020, we developed and launched our new Fielding Talent platform, bringing all of our formal talent development programmes together under a single unified banner and creating a dedicated space for this activity on our website. In recent months, we’ve showcased the work of some of our Fielding Talent artists through our Artist of the Monthseries across our digital channels – and we’ll be sharing more details about related events during hcmf// 2021 very soon.
Keep in touch
I hope that I’ve given you some insight into how the hcmf// team has met and managed the unique challenges of the past year and a half – and into how our new ways of working, our artist-led approach and our resolve to continue to challenge ourselves and the status quo are all woven into the programme that we’re so excited to share with you in November.
We plan to publish the hcmf// 2021 programme here on our website in mid-September, with booking opening towards the end of the month. In the meantime, please do follow us across our social media channels and sign-up to our email newsletters to ensure you get the latest news direct to your inbox.
Graham McKenzie
Artistic Director