James Attwood Talks Project Sound Lounge
James Attwood has wasted no time assimilating himself into Birmingham’s thriving music scene. Not only is he the first-ever recipient of our prestigious BIMM Birmingham Tony Iommi Scholarship, but the bright student is also a member of Project Sound Lounge.
For those that don’t know, Project Sound Lounge is an exciting initiative from the city’s Town Hall Symphony Hall, which recently played host to the famed Blue Man Group. The project offers creative skills and youth programmes to 16 to 25-year-olds, as well as the chance to curate an annual arts festival, which attracts some of the best talents.
James joined Project Sound Lounge before arriving at BIMM and was one of nine shortlisted from a long list of applicants to work on the group’s 2017’s bash. He later relished his role as a programmer and curated an outstanding line-up which reflected the city’s broad spectrum of music and communicated the festival’s artistic vision.
Speaking to BIMM about this incredible opportunity, James said, “My role in the project became the programmer, meaning it was in my hands to select and cultivate a lineup that was reflective of our artistic vision for the festival. This took inspiration from the wide variety of musical artists on the current Birmingham music scene.”
He added, “The project was a great way of exercising and challenging my teamwork skills, working amongst three other programmers and a wider team – involving a marketing section and production section – who I needed to interact with continuously throughout in order to execute the festival successfully. It was a lot of hard work and commitment from all of us, but it paid off in the end with over 700 tickets sold online for the festival.”
As a direct result of his hard work and excellent organisational skills, James has now joined Project Sound Lounge as a Fellow, meaning he’ll play an instrumental role in organising 2018’s festival, which will take place at the Birmingham Town Hall once again.
James currently works several days a week with Project Sound Lounge, managing this commitment with his BIMM studies; his work rate and attitude are inspiring, and James is a fantastic advocate for the level of ambition we look for in all scholarship candidates.
We can’t wait to see what 2018 brings for James and the Project Sound Lounge team.
