WITCiH Digital Festival, 9-11 June 2021 (online)
Join us for 3 nights celebrating the unique stories of intergenerational and intercultural women and non-binary creatives in tech. Each evening presents a digital premiere of a new commission/s, followed by an engaging, intimate conversation with established star guests.
Post-event, WITCiH Digital Festival attendees are also invited to an experimental, immersive after-party within a custom environment we've designed in @topia.io. Join us for intimate avatar exploration of spatial audio artworks plus video chat to fellow audience members, commissioned artists and guests. WITCiH World will be open for an hour after each event finishes next week.
BUY TICKETS HERE [Single Day passes (£10), Festival Pass (£25). Concessions available. WITCiH Community Members have access to discounted tickets]
[Support organisations information for 10 June - Wellbeing In Electronic Music]
If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this panel, the following organisations may be able to provide help and advice:
Victim Support - Provides help and information for anyone who has been affected by a crime, including a violent or sexual assault, or is wary about involving the police. Helpline: 0845 30 30 900 (Seven days a week)
The Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre - Support and information for women and girls who have been raped or sexually abused, however long ago and whatever the circumstances. Helpline: 0845 1221 331 (Seven days a week)
Samaritans - Provides confidential emotional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair. Helpline: 08457 90 90 90 (24 hours a day, seven days a week)
Support for musicians experiencing mental health issues:
Music Support (helpline: 0800 030 6789)
MITC: Music Industry Therapists & Coaches
MIND (Hackney Mind is now also offering a new service called Rainbow Mind for LGBTQ+ individuals)
Mind Guide for Artist Managers: https://www.mind.org.uk/media/8461/mind-mental-health-guide-for-artist-managers-final.pdf
The Musician’s Union (Offer regular free guided meditation for members and non-members )
Talk Changes (FREE CBT)
ELOP (LGBTQ / low income)
Recommendation to read: The Artist’s Way:
Sleep Station (app)
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Guests
![Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned and daring creative pioneers. Best known for her multimedia presentations, innovative use of technology and first-person style, she is a writer, director, visual artist and vocalist who has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music.Her recording career, launched by “O Superman” in 1981, includes many records released by Warner Records among them “Big Science” (1982), the soundtrack to her feature film “Home of the Brave”(1986) “Strange Angels” (1989) “Life on a String” (2001) “Homeland” (2008) and “Landfall” (2018) released on Nonesuch which recently won a Grammy Award in 2019 for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.[photo: Ebru Yildiz]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae0e45f96e76f5469d53de8/1621504221043-GCT0SY657JZI50A764YJ/LAURIE+ANDERSON_WITCiH2021.jpg)
Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned and daring creative pioneers. Best known for her multimedia presentations, innovative use of technology and first-person style, she is a writer, director, visual artist and vocalist who has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music.
Her recording career, launched by “O Superman” in 1981, includes many records released by Warner Records among them “Big Science” (1982), the soundtrack to her feature film “Home of the Brave”(1986) “Strange Angels” (1989) “Life on a String” (2001) “Homeland” (2008) and “Landfall” (2018) released on Nonesuch which recently won a Grammy Award in 2019 for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
[photo: Ebru Yildiz]
Nemone has been broadcasting for a quarter of a century with the last twenty years at the BBC (Radio 1, Radio 2, Five Live, BBC Radio 6 Music.) Her passion for electronic music led her to curate a weekly specialist show Electric Ladyland for the last decade. She now hosts her Journeys in Sound series taking a deeper dive into our relationship with music and its effect on the mind, body and soul.
Nemone holds a masters in Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling and sees clients weekly. During the pandemic, she promoted breathing and grounding exercises as part of supporting well-being and you can find her mini mediations at Mixcloud.com/Nemone
Nemone is currently collaborating with the Scottish Ensemble on a performance piece about how music might be implicated in transcendental experiences and the necessity of those experiences in a rational world.
Hannah Holland is a worldwide DJ, producer, composer and label boss from London, with releases on Classic Music Company, Crosstown Rebels, her own imprint Batty Bass and has remixed the likes of Metronomy, Goldfrapp, The Knife and Planningtorock. She regularly plays at clubs such as The Carry Nation New York, Berghain / Panorama Bar Berlin and Adonis London. Outside of clubland she works on theatre, installation and film music, as well as playing bass for the band Black Gold Buffalo. Latest scores have included Channel 4 series Adult Material and award winning indie feature Electrician. Hannah’s much anticipated debut album, Tectonic, is coming out on Prah Recordings in 2021.
https://www.hannahhollandmusic.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/djhannahholland/
Latest release: Midnight Horizon on Prah Recordings, from forthcoming album Tectonic coming out in Sept.
Kayla Painter is an experimental artist and producer. “Fragmented beats, heading towards uncharted musical territories” - Crack Magazine
Painter’s immersive, ever-evolving AV performances are a natural consequence of the entire writing process; the AV show has appeared at; Glastonbury, The Great Escape, Camp Elsewhere, Bluedot, and We Out Here festivals.
Supported through Gilles Peterson's ‘Future Bubblers’ talent development program, Kayla has made a lasting impact on tastemakers. She has crafted remixes for a string of well-regarded acts, written music for Disney, Channel 4, Discovery Channel and a range of independent films, as well as having been commissioned by Universal Publishing for sync. Kayla is an Associate Lecturer at Bath Spa University, and has a monthly show on Worldwide FM called Connections to Sound.
2021 will see a much anticipated EP release. Following the release a brand new 3D live show will be toured.
Artists need to be interdisciplinary. In the case of Samantha Togni, the Italian DJ, producer and promoter is the word 'interdisciplinary' personified.
Founder of the Boudica platform for women and non-binary folk in techno, Samantha curates a monthly radio show on Threads of the same name, in tandem with promoting Boudica events at Pickle Factory, where she invites established and upcoming artists to soundtrack the intimate space. After the success of the Boudica Music Conference streamed from Freemasons' Hall in November last year, she swiftly secured a second date for the conference in October 2021.
Recently signed to RAW agency, she is set to release an EP on the RAW imprint in 2022 and contribute to its forthcoming VA with a searing track in the pipeline.
Further releases on Pls.UK and Obscuur will drop in the months ahead, and on the DJ front, Samantha’s 2021 summer diary includes stints at Ministry of Sound, Colour Factory and Orange Yard.
Ana Matronic is an orator, author, artist, musician, DJ & broadcaster best known as the co-lead singer of pop phenomenon Scissor Sisters. Her show Dance Devotion airs every Saturday night/Sunday morning at midnight in the UK on BBC Radio 2. Matronic's book Robot Takeover: 100 Iconic Robots of Myth, Popular Culture, and Real Life was published by Hachette/Octopus in 2015. Matronic is a frequent public speaker on the subject of robots, artificial intelligence, and Transhumanism; in November 2017 she delivered her TEDx talk “Living the Electric Dream” at Stormont in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Anil Sebastian is a multi-disciplinary artist, member of the Icelandic band Hrím, co-founder and director of London contemporary voices choir and creative director of DLMDD. Anil Sebastian has also co-founded Trans Voices with Coda Vallach - the UK’s first professional transgender choir. They are also currently collaborating with Ai Da, the world’s first humanoid AI robot performance artist.
In October 2020 Anil Sebastian’s music film Daffodil was released on NOWNESS Experiments. The film meditates on what it means to be human in a mesmerizing short film that pairs live-action and archival footage with cinematic animation.
Sebastian has contributed co-writes/features the debut album of legendary producer Guy Sigsworth (Björk, Imogen Heap, Robyn), Björk percussionist Manu Delago’s Silver Kobalt album as well contributing choral arrangements to queer artist and activist Nakhane’s debut album.
Hannah Peel is a Northern Irish artist, composer, producer and broadcaster. Often inspired by the connections between science and music, her solo record career includes the album Awake But Always Dreaming, which became an ode to her grandmother’s mind as she lived with dementia; the electronic ruralism of Chalk Hill Blue, an album recorded with the poet Will Burns; and connecting our brain neurons to stars in our solar system, the space-themed Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, scored for synthesisers and a 30 piece colliery brass band.
In 2019 Peel composed and recorded the soundtrack for Game of Thrones: The Last Watch which earned her an Emmy nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)’. A year later she created the soundtrack for BBC documentary, Lee Miller - A Life On The Frontline and scored the 4-part Channel 5 TV thriller The Deceived. In March 2021 she released a new electronic album Fir Wave to critical acclaim where she rebuilt and re-defined the music of Delia Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop by re-interpreting the original music of the celebrated 1972 KPM 1000 series: Electrosonic and only weeks later recorded a collaborative record with the Paraorchestra, details of which will be announced later this year. Hannah is also a regular presenter on the BBC Radio 3 show, Night Tracks. www.hannahpeel.com
Portrait XO is an artist who creates musical and visual works with traditional and non-traditional methods. In collaboration with DADABOTS, they won the first Eurovision AI Song Contest Jury Vote for ‘most creative use of AI’, and completed her artist residency at Factory Berlin x Sonar+D in 2020. She researches computational creativity, human-machine collaboration, and explores new formats & applications for forward-thinking art and sound. She holds a monthly radio residency with her art & activism collective CO:QUO on Refuge Worldwide Radio, founder of SOUND OBSESSED, and a founding member of The IASAS (International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists, and Scientists).
Commissioned Artists:
Halina Rice is a London-based electronic music producer and AV artist. Uniting elements of ambient, electronic and bass music, her sound ranges from evocative and melancholic soundscapes to beat-driven tracks. Alongside the release of her first album REDUX via Blurred Recordings in 2017 live performances evolved using abstract visuals and projections. In 2020 Rice launched the NEW WORLDS project, working with a team of international technologists and designers, for which a series of tracks were created each with their own visual world. In a mixed reality live-stream, Rice performs these as a real-time digital projection into the visual environment.
Website Youtube Instagram @halinerice_music Facebook Twitter
![Hinako Omori is a musician and producer based in London. Initially training to be a sound engineer, Hinako started her journey as a keyboard player/programmer live and in the studio, working with EOB (Ed O’Brien), Georgia, Kae Tempest, KT Tunstall, James Bay and Sophie Hunger.Debut EP 'Auraelia' is a sonic exploration of space and transformation, building on layers of synths and vocals.Other collaborations include music for Cécile B. Evans’ installation “Notations for an Adaptation of Giselle (welcome to whatever forever)” at the Centre Pompidou, and the score for animation “Invisible Monsters and Tomato Soup” on pandemic dreams.Website Instagram @hinakoomori[photo: Luca Migliore]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae0e45f96e76f5469d53de8/1621410296891-SLAE30NLSFED3JOQRZLV/HINAKO+OMORI_WITCiH2021.jpg)
Hinako Omori is a musician and producer based in London. Initially training to be a sound engineer, Hinako started her journey as a keyboard player/programmer live and in the studio, working with EOB (Ed O’Brien), Georgia, Kae Tempest, KT Tunstall, James Bay and Sophie Hunger.
Debut EP 'Auraelia' is a sonic exploration of space and transformation, building on layers of synths and vocals.
Other collaborations include music for Cécile B. Evans’ installation “Notations for an Adaptation of Giselle (welcome to whatever forever)” at the Centre Pompidou, and the score for animation “Invisible Monsters and Tomato Soup” on pandemic dreams.
Website Instagram @hinakoomori
[photo: Luca Migliore]
lula.xyz
Habesha by way of London, lula.xyz (Lula Mebrahtu) is the vanguard of creative expression. Equipped with cutting edge technology MiMu Gloves and a soulful timbre which carries the weight of her heritage, lula.xyz makes levitation through sound waves possible, singing about a lived experience of the past, present, and future.
![BISHI is a singer, electronic rock-sitarist, composer, producer, & performer born in London of Bengali heritage. As a multi-instrumentalist, she has been trained in both Hindustani & Western Classical styles and studied the sitar under Gaurav Mazumdar, a senior disciple of Ravi Shankar.Previous collaborations & commissions for the stage include; The London Symphony Orchestra, The Kronos Quartet, Yoko Ono’s ‘Meltdown’, The Science Gallery, Joanna McGregor, Nick Knight's SHOWstudio’, a film collaboration with fashion designer Manish Arora, and recorded collaborations with Sean Ono Lennon, Tony Visconti, Jarvis Cocker, Daphne Guinness & City of London Sinfonia as a Tanpura soloist on Jonny Greenwood's Water.' BISHI recently produced LANDR's first-ever Sitar Sample pack.A passionate advocate for inclusivity in the music industry & the gender equality of women in tech, BISHI founded WITCiH (Women In Technology Creative Industries Hub), has been a broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and is currently an ambassador for the Featured Artists Coalition and Imogen Heap's Creative Passport. She is also on the board of directors for The F-List.Website Instagram @bishiofficial Facebook Twitter Youtube[photo: Frederic Aranda]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ae0e45f96e76f5469d53de8/1621410451918-FNINVO0F4666NJHRDDOU/BISHI_WITCiH2021.jpg)
BISHI is a singer, electronic rock-sitarist, composer, producer, & performer born in London of Bengali heritage. As a multi-instrumentalist, she has been trained in both Hindustani & Western Classical styles and studied the sitar under Gaurav Mazumdar, a senior disciple of Ravi Shankar.
Previous collaborations & commissions for the stage include; The London Symphony Orchestra, The Kronos Quartet, Yoko Ono’s ‘Meltdown’, The Science Gallery, Joanna McGregor, Nick Knight's SHOWstudio’, a film collaboration with fashion designer Manish Arora, and recorded collaborations with Sean Ono Lennon, Tony Visconti, Jarvis Cocker, Daphne Guinness & City of London Sinfonia as a Tanpura soloist on Jonny Greenwood's Water.' BISHI recently produced LANDR's first-ever Sitar Sample pack.
A passionate advocate for inclusivity in the music industry & the gender equality of women in tech, BISHI founded WITCiH (Women In Technology Creative Industries Hub), has been a broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and is currently an ambassador for the Featured Artists Coalition and Imogen Heap's Creative Passport. She is also on the board of directors for The F-List.
Website Instagram @bishiofficial Facebook Twitter Youtube
[photo: Frederic Aranda]
Gnarly is a British Sri Lankan female producer, live performer, DJ and educator. Most known for her live finger drumming performances with her online content reaching a large following all over the world and a rapidly growing audience. You can find her performing a highly skilled and captivating live show using Native Instruments Maschine.
Her debut label release in 2020 featured on new independent label 4NC¥ created by Foreign Beggars founding member Pavan Mukhi. Gnarly also featured on her first international compilation in 2020 with German label Dedicate and is set to appear on Amsterdam based label Anarkick Beats in 2021. Gnarly is also the Lead Mix & Mastering Engineer for the UK Beatbox Championships post-production since 2015 and has worked with World Champions, The Beatbox Collective, on sync projects featured on national TV.
She has worked with organisations such as Native Instruments, ROLI, LUMI, Novation, BandLab, Sample Music Festival, Music Producer Convention, Secret Walls, Meeting of Styles, Stylefile, School of Bop, Wired4Music, Lyrix Organix and more.
Website Instagram @gnarly.music Facebook Twitter Youtube Spotify
This event is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, Ableton, The FAC & The Creative Passport
