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The Fresh Produce Project

Details

The Fresh Produce Project formed a collaboration between Music Industry College (MIC) and hiphop artist Dr Elliot Gann from Today’s Future Sound, Oakland, USA.

The Fresh Produce Project facilitated music production workshops, events and lessons for artists and young people at the college and in the local area.  A key focus of the project provided industry-standard skill development and career opportunities.

MIC students who may not have recorded their work, or been eager to participate, were encouraged to work in the studio with the artist as a practitioner of Hip Hop, industry experience and music production expertise. This opportunity was extended to local youth and artists from diverse cultural backgrounds to collaborate with MIC students including young people from Brisbane Youth Services (BYS). 

The highlight of the project was The Fresh Produce Project Showcase. This was an exciting community event where participants were able to showcase their own original works and the songs they created during the project. 

When

July 2015 to August 2015

Where

Brisbane, Queensland

Two members of the Guava Lava on stage performing

 

Key stats

  • 77 students
  • 6 educators
  • 7 artists

Arts Queensland contribution

$20,000 – Artist in Residence program

Outcomes

  • The project delivered a multitude of opportunities for the students to work with the artist, engage in workshops and other less formal learning opportunities. These new collaborations generated many positive outcomes including increased exposure to the studio, music production and engineering, recording and production techniques, new aesthetic approaches to music-making and cross-genre pollination/collaboration.

There was immediacy to the music production meaning that beats were formed extremely quickly and this captured and maintained young people’s attention. The students were very quickly able to create music during the project and as a result, they experienced a sense of achievement.
Jordan Bruce, BYS

  • Quality of the work created during the project was high. Many of the participants involved in the project now have a demo to promote their work.
  • One participant has been offered a publishing deal. Another participant was asked to collaborate with a hip-hop group as a result of the group hearing a song recorded during the project.
  • MIC will continue to work with BYS, Mental Illness Fellowship Qld (MIFQ) and Today's Future Sounds into the future.

Four students with Dr Gann in studio

 

Learnings and reflections

The artist provided the following reflections about the project:

One of my major learnings from the project was how powerful music, and the arts in general, is in breaking down barriers between people and how music can be used as a therapeutic tool. 

The Fresh Produce Project enabled MIC to collaborate with a wide array of individuals and organisations in the community including Elements Collective, Brisbane Youth Services and Mental Illness Fellowship QLD. For the young people involved with BYS, the project provided them with a safe place to participate in the project and has provided them with the opportunity to use the resources and facilities at MIC in the future.

The Fresh Produce Project involved young people from diverse cultural backgrounds including indigenous participants. It was encouraging to see young people share their passion for music and how this enabled them to build positive relationships out of the project.’

One tip I would give schools is to think carefully about when this type of project should be implemented in a school year as term 3 is already a busy and interrupted time of the school year.

Contact for further information

Charlie Thomson, Music Industry College
Email: c.thomson@mic.org.au
Phone: (07) 3852 3074
Website:  https://soundcloud.com/thefreshproduceproject

A pdf version (PDF) (339.78 KB) of the case study is available.