Today, we’re thrilled to announce that Sound and Music, The Mexican Center for Music and Sonic Arts (CMMAS), and Supersonic have jointly been awarded an International Collaboration Grant from the British Council. This funding initiative supports UK and overseas cultural partnerships to develop digital, face-to-face and hybrid artistic projects.
We have been granted this funding to embark on an international project with our friends CMMAS, whose mission is “to promote the creation and development of music and sonic arts in Mexico and abroad”, as well as with Supersonic based here in the UK.
Together, we will be using the grant to fund a new project supporting women, non-binary and LBGTQI+ artists working in electronic music. The project aims to address these communities’ lack of representation in both countries. To do this, we will:
- support the creation of two new collaborative sound works, to be premiered digitally
- enable two hybrid (live/digital) panel discussions about issues facing these communities within music
- encourage networking for partners and artists in both countries
We will select artists through an open call delivered in line with Sound and Music’s Fair Access Principles, seeking those with a strong track record at home but as yet no major international collaborations. Selected artists will be supported with project management, mentoring, and networking support. The resulting works will be premiered digitally in early 2023.
Rodrigo Sigal, Director of CMMAS, said:
“The Mexican Centre for Music and Sonic Arts aims to offer the best possible opportunities to sound artists from Mexico and abroad. We aim to collaborate with multiple institutions, and this project is a great chance to be more inclusive and offer new links between Mexican and UK based artists.”
Lisa Meyer, founder of Supersonic Festival, said:
“Supersonic Festival was founded and is led by womxn, we are champions of the most exciting experimental music the world has to offer and as such are delighted to be a partner on this project which will provide amazing opportunities for artists to collaborate and develop their practice.”
About our partners:
The Mexican Center for Music and Sonic Arts (CMMAS)
The Mexican Center for Music and Sonic Arts was created in September 2006 with the support of the National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA), today Federal Secretary of Culture, through the National Center of Arts (CENART) and the Secretary of Culture of the State of Michoacán (SECUM). CMMAS is a Civil Association that opened a unique technological-musical space in Latin America. It is made up of internationally recognized specialists and is supported by an Academic Committee that brings together some of the most prestigious personalities in the field of musical composition with new technologies.
CMMAS has established itself as the main space in Latin America for the creation, reflection and learning of contemporary music, with and without new technologies. It is a unique and avant-garde center for research, experimentation and development of sonic projects, which places Mexico in a privileged place for linking the rest of the world.
Supersonic Festival (produced by Capsule)
Starting as a one-day event in Birmingham in 2003, Supersonic Festival, curated and produced by Capsule, is an internationally renowned experimental music and arts festival. Bringing together live performances by some of the world’s most extraordinary artists, visual art, and audience participation, Supersonic occupies an exalted position at the heart of Birmingham’s cultural life, as well as attracting an international audience. It takes place alongside a year-round programme of live events, exhibitions and kids gigs which present the highest quality new work in ways you least expect.
Capsule’s work is dominated by the desire to explore and champion the outer edges of new and experimental cultural practice, particularly experimental music. This desire however has been equalled by their aspiration to bring such work to as diverse and large an audience as it merits. Rather than simply pursue experimentation as an esoteric adventure, they see this work as something that can surprise, delight and touch people.
Learn more about the International Collaboration Grants
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Find more opportunities for composers and creators