Proposed Project
Theme/Narrative
Our Project will take on a slightly political narrative regarding music and protest (Peddie, 2006), music as political expression (Street, 2012), and the effect of cost of living and ‘authoritarianism’ (Garratt, 2019) on culture and the industry of the arts. The way we plan to let these themes manifest in our works will be to create each work with our experiences at various clubs that have now been forced to close in mind. Our initial plan was only to be slightly influenced by these themes. However, upon reflection, and after listening to feedback, “…clubs shutting down, you can connect that more closely to the idea.” (see appendix), we feel that it would make sense to follow this path to a greater extent.
Collaborators:
Scarlett
- Scarlett is a multimedia artist from Essex, studying fine art at the University of Leeds. Currently she is studying in Budapest, Hungary.
- “Her practice operates on the belief that to create is to resist. Working across stop-motion animation and sculpture.” (Simmons, S. 2025)
- Scarlett has had her work displayed in various venues across England, and she has animated for events varying between Light Night 2024 in Leeds and animations/visuals for house parties.
Jacob (Me)
- Classical pianist from Essex, studying Classical Performance with a minor in Music Production at Leeds conservatoire.
- I have performed across the country in a variety of contexts, mainly as a soloist. I made my international debut at 17 in New York and am preparing for my next international recital in Spain, 2026.
- Whilst the focus of my career is piano, my love for music is rooted in electronic music, especially the music of the 90s. My favourite sytles to produce in are 90s dance music, and ambient electronica.
Influences and Music Production History
As mentioned, I take a lot of influence from 90s dance music and electronica, especially English sounds such as ‘Bleep and Bass’ (Anniss, 2023), as well as Jungle. But also, American sounds such as Electro and Techno. I also take a lot of influence from my practices as a classical pianist as most of my understanding of music comes from this side of my career. In the past, I have worked with the ‘Global Business Initiative on Human Rights’ by providing them with sync music for some of their videos, a few of which have previously appeared on the United Nations website.
Rationale/Relevance
The main rationale behind taking on this project is that Scarlett and I are good friends and have worked together before when she created a visual loop, “House Party Backdrop” (Simmons, 2025), for my 5 hour DJ set at a house party we put on together; “I love the idea, the aesthetics are similar and you work well together.”, “working with collaborator in the past will aid this project” (see appendix). It is relevant to say that we have already begun work on the project. Scarlett has started her work on the animation, as well as set out ideas for the artworks.
(Simmons, S. 2025)
“Artists who work together often share close personal relationships, blurring or ignoring boundaries between their work as artists and the rest of life” (Watcher, 2017:5).
I believe that as we already share a strong bond, we will be able to work together creatively and efficiently, with scope for further collaboration throughout the rest of our lives, as Watcher (2017) suggests here. As well as this, Scarlett and I share similar experiences of the night-time industry and therefore have similar outlooks on the current declining state of nightlife. “Statistics show that three clubs in the UK are closing every single week as it stands…” (Ross, 2024). We feel that is important to reflect on this situation, and for what reason it is occurring, e.g. cost of living (Coleman & Black, 2024), and “music censorship” (Garratt, 2019:48).
From ‘A Collage of Life’ (Simmons, S. 2025)
From ‘A Collage of Life’ (Simmons, S. 2025)
The project, as a reflection on the current state of this sector of the music industry, is relevant. It is something that has affected a wide variety of people such as promoters, musicians, DJs, and partygoers (Girling, 2025). Although we are not capable of doing much to aid this situation, we feel that by presenting our experience of this industry through our collaboration, we may be able to provide an insight into the importance and significance that clubbing culture holds in people’s lives and in this way, we can use music and art to form our own kind of “political resistance” (Peddie, 2006:66) by creating a statement influenced by the current state of the industry.
Target Audience
- Our target audience would be young adults who are interested in learning about other people’s views of the electronic music industry.
- The exhibition would also be well presented as a multi-sensory experience.
- Best suited for small exhibition spaces.
Hypothetical Budget
- Art supplies: £200-£300.
- Travel cost (to Budapest): £50-£100 per trip.
- Transporting works back to England: £350 (Van hire)
- A total of up to £750
Funding
To cover these costs, we may: Raise money by putting on exhibitions/concerts, crowdfund, sell merch (e.g. postcards, tape recordings, vinyl, etc…) or look for art funding/bursaries.
Planning
Contingency
If the collaboration were to fall through, my backup/contingency plan is to collaborate with dance manager and teacher Supatee Dhanasonthorn, my uncle. Supatee, or Sup, is a dancer, “Originally from San Francisco, Sup Dhanasunthorn trained at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.” (The Dark Horse Agency, 2023). Sup is also the founder of ‘Hustle’, the largest community of performing artists in the UK (The Dark Horse Agency, 2023). Should the need arise, Sup has confirmed with me during a recent face-to-face meeting that he will provide me with some dancers and choreographers to collaborate with. The project would likely remain similar, with me using the same type of music and with the same political undertone. As of course, dance, club culture, and electronic music are deeply connected (Anniss, 2023).
Evaluation
Reflecting on the feedback provided by my peers following my presentation, there are a few areas that I could improve on regarding the planning of my project. The area for improvement most frequently suggested was my time planning. Most feedback suggested a more visual form of time planning for the project, such as one classmate who suggested “More of an overview of timeframe like a Gantt chart”, or another who suggested something similar, “Maybe just outline the timeline more like a Gantt chart.” (see appendix). Whilst I do think upon reflection that “A powerful tool in this context is a Gantt chart.” (Kennett, 2014), Watson (2002:44) suggests that “For most smaller projects a task list is enough”, I believe that our project is small enough that it only warrants a task list. Regardless, I listened to the feedback and created a Gantt Chart.
Though it could be argued that working with a small and relatively vague task list for this project is a risk, it is okay to work with this, given that we “accept the risk as being present and monitor it closely during the project.” (Watson, 2002:68). As well as this, it could be argued that by maintaining a more relaxed plan and time frame whilst still creating some form of structure, we are encouraging creativity; “Limitations and structure are the core of a workflow…” (Turtonen, 2025:131). A relaxed approach encourages an improvisatory approach to the way we work, and as Sajnani (2012) suggests in McNiff (2013:77), “Improvisation, with its emphasis on risk, responsiveness and relationship, is at the heart of the artistic process and art-based research.”
Another way in which the project could have been justified more clearly, would have been to include a greater detail of the influences for the music involved in the project. Whilst genres were discussed, there were no direct examples of music given. This area could have been covered easily, as an influences playlist was created for the project (see appendix). This playlist includes works by musicians such as: ‘Alex Smoke’, ‘Mouse on Mars’, ‘Susumu Yokota’, ‘Eaux’, ‘Mira Calix’, ‘Alex Reece’, ‘Nightmares on Wax’, ‘Simian Mobile Disco’, and more. Examples of some of the songs included are: “Dust” (Smoke, 2013), “Aftermath” (Nightmares on Wax, 1991), and “Tobiume” (Yokota, 1999).
Research done into funding could also be improved. Shore and Carfora (2011:25) suggest that “In principle, the search for funding starts with your interests supported by your vision of an optimal project.”. We have communicated our interests and a vision of our project, meaning that by the standards of Shore and Carfora (2011), the first steps towards acquiring funding have been taken. However, the actual research into funding options is minimal. Whilst I do feel that the options presented, such as raising money through exhibitions and crowdfunding are viable options, research into possible art funding schemes (Arts Council England, 2025) would have been a good idea.
Presentation
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Appendix
Appendix 1: Feedback
