Co-curated scene at UP TO DATE FESTIVAL ’23
Pogotowie x Monument collaborative music project at the Up To Date Festival 2023 – Summary
“Co-curating Electronic Music for the Polish and Norwegian Music Market“
Up To Date Festival, held in Białystok in June 2023, brought together more than 3,000 attendees, making it a resounding success. Among the festival’s highlights was a fruitful collaboration with the Monument Festival, which involved the integration of a carefully curated artists’ lineup into the festival’s program, and a thought-provoking European music sector seminar titled ‘Do We Really Care?’. The exceptional collaboration initiative, titled “Co-curating Electronic Music for the Polish and Norwegian Music Market” received funding from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants. In both countries fhe funding facilitated an inspiring exchange of ideas and collaboration between over 20 artists and experts. Ten of these talented individuals had the opportunity to showcase their skills and insights at the Up To Date Festival.
24.06.2023: DO WE REALLY CARE? CONFERENCE
The seminar “Do We Really Care?” took place in “NIE TEATR” in Bialystok on June 24, 2023. During two discussion panels, specialists and artists discussed how to reduce the negative impact of the music market on the natural environment. In their conversation, they discussed the possibilities of the positive influence that the organizations and people involved in the music scene have over the attitude of the entire industry. An important aspect of the conversation was the uneven distribution of effects related to the need to reduce the impact on the environment, as well as the effectiveness of the activities carried out.
The second issue raised in the conversation was social inequalities affecting the scene, as well as problems related to the centralization and monetization of the music industry, affecting organizations located outside central cultural hubs, causing geographical and economic exclusion.
The interviews were conducted in two panels:
– Does festival industry even bother about (its impact on) environment?
– How can the scene become more balanced? Social inequalities, periphery vs center, geographical and economical exclusion.
The panelists participating in the project were Halvard Müller (NO), Mats Bekkåsen (NO), Paulina Żaczek (PL), Na Nich (UA), Misia Furtak (PL), Giuseppe Moramarco (IT), Yuko Asanuma (JP) with the participation of Grzegorz Stanisławski (PL), Bartłomiej Arendarski (PL), Cezary Chwicewski (PL), Mareen Nagel (DE), Kasia Gościńska (PL), and Jacek Popławski (PL).
Check the recording from the first panel of the conference!
Photos: Monika Kozak
23-24.06: CO-CURATED LINE-UPS PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MONUMENT CITY FESTIVAL
The “Co-curating Electronic Music for the Polish and Norwegian Music Market” project’s line-up was included into the bigger festival’s programme. It featured live performances and DJ sets. Henrii Havaas (NO) opened the “Be Yourself” scene with a DJ set. Lara Palmer (NO) played a deep, energetic B2B set with Aksamit. The performances of the project-invited artists’ set on the first day were supplemented with the live acts of two duets – Keen Distress (i.e. Błażej Malinowski & RTMS, PL) premiered their project, while Moonlight Resort & SPA (PL) gave an unforgettable musical spectacle. The second day of the festival’s ‘Be Yourself’ stage opened with a set by Ukrainian artist Na Nich (UA). Later on a Ukrainian artist Syncøpe (UA) also gave his live performance there.
Visual artists invited to the project was Melissa (NO).
Photos: Krzysztof Karpiński, Grzegorz Jasina
ABOUT THE GRANT
The project entitled “Co-curating Electronic Music for the Polish and Norwegian Music Market” benefits from a € 29,800 grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants. The aim of the project is to support and provide new opportunities to Polish, Norwegian and Ukrainian electronic music artists, and music initiatives operating at the periphery of bigger cultural hubs. The initiative aims at setting a networking and co-curated artistic exchange scheme between Poland- and Norway-based cultural initiatives operating in the electronic music environment.