CrossTalk 2023
Last week we hosted CrossTalk 2023; an all-day event to inspire creatives, co-produced with Bristol-based CIC NOODS Levels.
With musical activities and demonstrations spread out across Bridgehouse, attendees could get creative and listen to talks from leading creatives in the music, games and publishing industries.
Also taking place were interactive workshops in virtual reality with Rocketmakers, a DJ workshop for women, non-binary and gender non-confirming people hosted by Saffron Records, and a live sound workshop with our own Bristol Beacon technical team.
“Both the music and games industries can be very hard to break into, and anything we can do to help the new generation of composers who are interested in this line of work, the better.”
The Flight
A series of talks hosted by Emma Blake Morsi were the main focus for the day, which featured BRICKs Magazine founder Tori West, BBC Radio One presenter Victoria Jane, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla composers, The Flight.
The invited panel guests revealed an inside perspective from their journey to success and encouraged the audience to stick to their guns and make their own paths in the industry – which can be a toxic place.
Sending the event off with a bang was the official after party featuring headliner and grime original Manga Saint Hilare, with support from local artists TFNE SK and GUTTR.
“A pivotal event that dismantles the barriers into and advancing within the creative sector.”
Emma Blake Morsi
Grime Stories
As part of CrossTalk 2023 we were granted exclusive rights to host the Grime Stories Exhibition which opened on Sat 18 Mar, in partnership with NOODS Levels and Museum of London.
Based on Grime Stories: from the corner to the mainstream, the original display at the Museum of London ran from Jun-Dec 2022.
Co-curated by one of grime’s early documentarians Roony ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe and featuring grime pioneer Jammer, it explored the music, people and places central to the grime scene and its roots in east London.
The display features a series of newly commissioned films that explore the community at the heart of grime’s success, a large-scale illustration from artist Willkay and road signs based on the now mostly gentrified areas of London where the genre emerged.
Q&A Highlights
An informative Q&A, hosted by Bristol MC and grime guru KOAST, delved into the backstory of the exhibition with curator Dhelia Snoussi and revisited highlights of Risky Roadz’ career.
Risky Roadz, aka. Roony Keefe, explained that working in the record shop Rhythm Division put him at the heart of where UK garage had begun transitioning into what we now know as grime.
He highlighted the influence of a now legendary DVD ‘Jammers Birthday Bash’, which recognised the need for fans of this new wave of grime MCs to put a face to the voices they were hearing on pirate radio.
His Nan (widely known as Grime Gran) bought him a handheld camera; the rest is history.
“I was just a fan like everyone else. I was at school listening to Pirate Radio.”
Risky Roadz, from the Q&A
“You don’t know when your area will become something people want archives about”
Dhelia Snoussi, from the Q&A
Dhelia Snoussi, Youth Culture Curator at the Museum of London, explained the interest in Risky Roadz videos extended beyond grime music and its representation of areas now disappeared or gentrified where there is little or no archive footage.
Both Roony and Dhelia encouraged the audience to consider their own archive and how the history we capture on our phones might one day end up in a museum exhibition.
CrossTalk Gallery
Photography by Eljay and GOSH
Credits
Thanks to everyone who helped make CrossTalk 2023 a success.
NOODS Levels, Emma Blake Morsi, Museum of London, Risky Roadz, Dhelia Snoussi and Koast, Tori West, Victoria Jane, The Flight, Saffron Records, Pioneer ‘Start From Scratch’, Rocketmakers, Jon Fox (Bristol Beacon), PMT, Red Bull Music, DIGIT Music, NOODS Radio DJs
For more information on future events check out NOODS Levels’ website.
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