Sarah Streams for her Supper

TECH-SAVVY SONGSTRESS: Baan Baa singer-songwriter Sarah Leete (photo: supplied)

A ONE-HOUR live performance distributed on social media by a Narrabri Shire-based singer-songwriter has added to the array of artists reaching out to new audiences as part of an initiative funded by Arts North West.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baan Baa musician Sarah Leete toured her special blend of country music locally and interstate, but like so many other recording artists, she was faced with the sudden closure of performing arts venues in March.

“I have now been forced to take it solely online,” the singer told Arts North West this week.

While online performances might seem an easy task, as Sarah explained they’re no mean feat considering the expectation of high quality sound and lighting in online arts offerings, and working with limited or no access to technical support.

“I received a micro grant so I could perform on a high-quality live stream broadcast to my fans on social media,” Sarah said. “The grant helped me to purchase the equipment to use my DSLR camera to stream the project, as well as lighting and sound gear to make it look and sound professional.”

According to Sarah the project is going well, with her first video (assisted ably by family members) attracting close to 1000 views across the country and a huge response from fans on social media, many of whom generously donated to the singer’s PayPal account in exchange for her gutsy performance.

“The learning experience has been very steep though, and I have found it quite challenging,” she said.

“I would consider myself to be somewhat tech-savvy, but this project required a lot more time, effort, learning and understanding than I anticipated.

“Ultimately the live broadcast of my performance went off without a hitch, but there will be things I can improve on for next time.”

Unexpected obstacle

Performing a blend of originals and cover songs, Sarah spent the hour-long broadcast taking requests and delivering shout-outs to her fans, but she also dealt with unexpected phone calls, had to moderate comments while on air, and as she told Arts North West, an unexpected obstacle nearly threw the whole idea on its head.

“The main surprises in this project were technical,” she said, “but I also struggled to purchase the equipment necessary to complete the task, as a lot of musicians around the world are trying to do the same thing!”

Follow Sarah’s journey and live streams on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/sarahleetemusic and Instagram www.instagram.com/sarahleetemusic

Arts North West Executive Director Awarded Order of Australia Medal

SENDING SKETCHBOOKS: Caroline Downer, OAM, posting Arts North West Panorama Project content.

ARTS North West Executive Director, Caroline Downer has received an Order of Australia Medal for services to visual and performing arts, after dedicating more than 20 years to arts in the New England North West region.

Caroline took over the role of Executive Director at Arts North West in 2015, after seven years as Director of the New England Regional Art Museum.

In her role of Executive Director, Caroline plays an integral role within the Regional Arts NSW network to advocate for arts and culture in regional NSW. Caroline has successfully implemented and managed a comprehensive range of arts and cultural activities across the New England North West.

Caroline said the OAM emphasised the importance of arts and creativity in our communities, particularly during this difficult COVID-19 pandemic.

“The arts play such an important role in a healthy, happy and inclusive community” Caroline Downer

"When many of our arts venues have had to close, it has been really obvious that the arts play such an important role in a healthy, happy and inclusive community," Caroline said. "So, I am delighted that the arts sector is acknowledged in this special way."

Caroline has also volunteered for numerous New England North West arts organisations and committees including Musica Viva Armidale, the New England Bach Festival, Orpheus Music, New England Conservatorium of Music, the Armidale Youth Orchestra and the Armidale International Film Festival. She also serves on the State Government’s Classical Music Artform Advisory Board.

"I would like to think that I share this award with the many incredible creative people that live and work in the New England North West," Caroline said. "And also with the amazing volunteers who support and sustain arts and culture in this region - without them, so many of our arts activities just would not happen."

The Arts North West Boardjoins with the wider New England North West arts community in congratulating Caroline on this wonderful achievement.

“On behalf of the Arts North West Board I am delighted to congratulate Caroline on being a recipient of a Medal of the Order of Australia and named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.” Arts North West Chair, Anna Watt said.

“It is delightful to see that Caroline’s extensive contributions to arts and culture have been acknowledged.” Anna continued.

Create NSW Arts and Cultural Funding Heading to the New England North West

Congratulations to the following New England North West Create NSW Arts & Cultural Funding Program Recipients:

2 Rivers Pty Ltd Cultivating Creative Communities ($120,000)

Cultivating Creative Communities is a professional development program to develop and promote access for regional and remote artists and art workers to increase their skills and networks. This program includes mentoring and workshops with professional Aboriginal artists and art workers resulting in exhibitions and performances across the region.

Dr Alana Blackburn. Regrowth - New multimedia work for recorder ($19,000)

A collaboration between recorder player Alana Blackburn and composer Ros Bandt to provide an opportunity for regional NSW community members affected by drought, floods and fire to have their voices heard in a poetic and respectful way. The project aims to contribute to the diversity of cultural expression and audiences.

Buccaneers band together for pandemic heroes

BAND OF BUCCANEERS: (L-R) Steve Whitby, Paul Owen, Phil Weaver, Al Buchan (photo: supplied)

THE RECORDING of a David Bowie cover with a new video by a Tamworth-based group is the first project to emerge from a new initiative funded by Arts North West, created to assist local artists during the COVID-19 closure of arts venues in the New England North West region.

Musician Alan Buchan spoke to Arts North West this week and reported the project, based on ‘We Can Be Heroes’ penned by Bowie and Brian Eno in 1977, is progressing nicely, with audio engineer Nathan Kaye currently working on tracks recorded by the group known as Al and The Buccaneers.

Recorded to honour those Alan identifies as the heroes of the pandemic – supermarket staff, truck drivers, medical teams and emergency service workers – the focus of this musical project is on those he believes have kept communities going, but it also led to Alan having to pull out a few stops of his own.

“Due to the home lockdown, I approached the project very differently by recording a complete ‘demo’ of the track, myself, in my home, using a portable digital audio recorder,” he said.

“I played all the instruments myself and I sang the vocal parts and then created a rough mix of the song and sent that demo to the musicians so they could rehearse their parts individually.

“Once the lockdown was eased, I invited the musicians to come to my home and record their parts, drums, bass, piano one at a time over the course of a week. I then recorded the final guitars and vocal and these things are usually done in a day, at a professional recording studio.”

However, that setting wasn’t available due to the closure of businesses and regulations against gatherings, so despite the technical risks, Alan improvised.

“It was time consuming and somewhat nerve-wracking because I have to keep the project secure for this entire time at my home, and now I have to finalise the guide mix and send it to the engineer for the final mix and mastering,” he said.

“I will then send it to the videographer (Terence Sadler) so he can match the images to the music and we will just have to wait and see what it comes back like, both in terms of sound and vision.

“As David Bowie himself once famously wrote: ‘waiting for the gift of sound and vision’.”

Authentic ‘lockdown’

According to Alan, the founder of singer-songwriter showcase Fretfest, now that widespread quarantine conditions have been relaxed and people are able to gather in small groups, he and the other musicians have finally been able to hear what they’ve created.

“We had our first run through of the song, live in the studio,” he said.

“This would normally be done first, whereas in this case, because of the COVID-19 lockdown, we’re doing it last, so this is unusual.

“However, it has given us a renewed perspective of our performances and, as a result, we can now go back and revisit our parts to see if we want to record them again so as to better reflect our arrangement of the song, as musicians.

“Thing is, we might equally choose to leave it as it is, because that represents the compromise we each had to make. This would make it more authentic to the experience of being in lockdown, that we recorded our parts individually and not as a band might usually do, in the studio.

“The whole idea is to raise awareness of the staff, tradies and professionals who went to work while the rest of us stayed home, so my hope is that this video will receive widespread coverage and promotion,” Alan said.

This video of ‘We Can Be Heroes’ will be released on social media. Find Al and The Buccaneers on Facebook.