The next members night will be held on Wednesday 4th May. If you are doing your Bronze arts award, you will need to be here at 4.30pm to work on your Arts Apprenticeship. Anyone doing Silver can come along for 6.30pm.

If you haven’t been to a members night before, it’s essentially a night where members can perform in front of their fellow Shed members (non-members aren’t allowed, so please don’t bring along friends on the night). In order to perform, you’ll need to have an instrumental ready and bring it along on the night.

One of the film projects we’ve been working on lately is a documentary film about the 1960 St Pancras Rent Strike, most of which was shot by local resident John Cowley. We’re hoping to have the film finished by the summer – here’s a sample of some of the footage we’ll be using, courtesy of British Pathé:

EVICTION BATTLE ON

Phantomz and Cleve have been collaborating on a number of tracks lately, the most popular of which is Romeo. Here’s the video which is blowing up in a big way on YouTube:

Shedcast, our podcast is now available to download on iTunes.  It was compiled and mixed by JD Birch and it’s a great introduction to the music and people who make up our little musical community.

The music was all produced at Shed and it’s a mix of everything from hip hop to modern acoustic folk.  Here’s the tracklisting:

Shedcast Episode 1

The Shed – Make Music

Dusty – Starbound

Awate – Power Remix

Skylark – I Am What I am

Fatal 64 ft Skenz – Moonlight

Blackstar – Superstar

Delio Lima – When The Night comes

Profit – Freestyle

Renzo – Sidelines

Rambo DK – Money Is A Stranger

Young Reks – Freestyle

Fatal 64 – Meet Me

Breaka – Freestyle

Glimpse – Freestyle

Renzo – Hotline/Neon

Simeon – Green Eyes

Subscribe on iTunes now!

This month we’re launching ShedCast, a monthly podcast that will provide an opportunity for Shed Artists to share their music with the wider world.  Each addition of the podcast will be made available to download on iTunes.

The podcast will exclusively feature the best Shed artists exclusively and everyone should think about what they’d like to contribute your music, freestyles, interviews, comedy skits and shout outs.  All ideas are welcome and speak to Jerry if you’d like to be involved.

At Silver level, Unit 1 is about planning, achieving and reviewing a personal challenge in the arts. You’ll explore your chosen art form and find out how to enjoy it within your community.

You’ll cover three areas:

Arts Challenge

First of all, this is not to be confused with Arts Leadership, which is in Unit 2.  This section is about you and  an arts challenge in your chosen arts activity. It can be something you have never done before or it can be a way of extending yourself in something you already do. You will plan and review your achievements, and show your progress in your portfolio.

Arts Events

Attend live arts events like shows, exhibitions and events; review them and share your opinions with others through newsletters, websites, or presentations.

Arts Research

Find out about arts activities in your area and beyond by getting involved, or by interviewing people. Research arts training opportunities and jobs, to help you decide what you can do in the future.

At Shed we’re going to start with the first part of the Arts Challenge.  To help you get started, download this sheet and use it as a guideline to writing out what you’re going to do.

Shed is proud to announce Adam Smith, who has directed episodes of Doctor Who and Skins, will be supporting a funding bid we’re submitting for a film project that we’re hoping to run in 2011.  Adam’s role will be to help co-ordinate the project and to advise young people on how to go about the filmmaking process.

As well as directing many of the BBC’s flagship dramas, Adam also has experience in directing music videos and he has worked with Wiley, The Streets, Lady Sovereign and The Chemical Brothers.  You can see an overview of Adam’s work here.

If our bid is successful, it will be an exciting development for Shed as the project won’t necessarily be based around music, but will probably take the form of a short film.  So if you’re interested in acting or being behind the camera, let us know and you can also be involved in working on the bid.

Youth Music is running a major new project, Youth Music Voices, which will provide 14 -19 year olds with the opportunity to participate in and celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games through singing.

On Sunday 30 January 2011, from 10.30am-4.30pm, Youth Music will be running a launch event in partnership with the Royal Opera House and local organisations. This will be a singing workshop for 14-19 year olds which will form the first stage in recruiting a new national vocal ensemble of around 150 young people who will perform in prestigious locations in 2012 as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

The day will include fun and challenging group vocal activities with opportunities to experience different styles and methods. The event is free and no previous experience is necessary.  If you’d think you’d be interested, please let us know and we can provide you with more information.

The next Members Night will be held on Thursday 16th December. If you haven’t been to a members night, it’s a chance for people to practice their live performance skills in front of their fellow Shed members.

As per usual, this event will be for members only and will count towards your Arts Award. In the meantime, please have a think about which song you’d like to perform and let Marc know in advance so he can prepare your backing music. And food and refreshments will be provided of course!