- Written by Yasmine Davies
I am a 26-year-old Welsh singer-songwriter, project manager, and teacher/coach, and for the last two years I have been working freelance part-time, before starting a new position at Operasonic in 2023 as their new developing leader.
I currently work alongside the executive producer to run the charity's various projects, organise events, and attend training focused on my progression into leadership and management in the music industry. As I identify as a lesbian, the main focus of my work is supporting and championing the LGBTQ+ community in the Welsh music sector. This can be demonstrated through my freelance work with Beacons Cymru on a project I personally researched and developed named Resonant. The project helps those identifying as marginalised genders upskill, train, and work in behind-the-scenes roles in the music sector. These include sound tech, producing, lighting design, videography, and more. The aim of my work with Resonant is to help tackle the gender imbalance these areas of the industry are prolific for.
From this September, I will be lecturing at the University of South Wales, on the MA Songwriting and Production course, of which I graduated from in 2022. Additionally, I front the Cardiff-based psyche-rock band Banshi. We were awarded funding from BBC Horizons Launchpad earlier this year, and most recently performed on the opening night of the international showcasing festival Focus Wales in Wrexham.
RESEO Conference, Paris
- A visit supported by the International Opportunities Fund
In late September 2023, I attended the RESEO Conference in Paris as part of a cohort with Opersonic, which included visiting venues such as Opera Comique and Philharmonie De Paris. A standout takeaway for me was the importance of preserving cultural heritage, tradition, and language. Some of the educators I spoke with expressed how hard it is to make Opera accessible, and to me, it related to how Welsh traditions and/or language isn’t accessible to everyone in Wales. It’s important to offer and create spaces where anyone can participate, enjoy, or learn about our native heritage/history. I’m working with Operasonic to develop a Welsh history and myths music programme to educate the next generation on our culture.
I learnt from the panel discussion on the first day that although most opera related activities are well funded and preserved, education and community outreach is not as well taken care of. The people looking to make opera accessible are struggling to hit the general public, not for lack of trying but because they have to find ways to overcome opera’s exclusivity and association to the rich or wealthy. It has been my recommendation that ‘Operasonic’ should consider a rebrand since attending RESEO. The name of our charity eludes that we are opera-focused or -trained, and in reality, very little of what we do pertains to opera or classical. In order for us to be able to gain traction within our own community (Newport, Wales), I think we should use a name that represents the work we do, which is primarily contemporary music-based. Whilst we offer some workshops that cater to those interested in opera, we should be mindful of the connotations attached to the art form and how alienating it could be to most musicians, freelancers, and patrons - which our charity relies on.
The 'T@lent School' workshop was a standout as it provided insight into how to engage with children at primary school level. Using technology to get them excited by classical and opera, it was surprisingly efficient, sounded really natural and was a fun exercise during a long conference. I thought using technology in this way (with tablets), felt like teaching the children in their own new world language, with so many young kids having access to tablets at home, watching and playing games on them. This felt like meeting them at their level, to engage and inspire them to create, learn and appreciate music from hundreds of years ago.
The prison performance project was impactful and showed interesting ways to engage with societies most marginalised populations via technology, being able to project prisoners who were unable to gain permission to do the show to an audience, allowed them to still be involved and created a mixed mediums performance that could have many different applications. I thought perhaps with those in prison who could take part in our lullaby project and have a sharing or performance session that is streamed for families.
Lastly, RESEO did provide me with a chance to get better acquainted with Operasonic as an organisation on this trip. I was one of three young professionals selected after applying to attend the conference with Operasonic. At the time, I had only engaged with the organisation on a freelance basis, I am now the developing leader for Operasonic and I believe the trip to Paris was a great opportunity that led to my current position within the organisation.
You can browse the gallery of images from Yasmine's visit to RESEO Conference below.
The Operasonic cohort visit to RESEO was supported by the International Opportunities Fund. Find out more about the fund here.
Scroll through the gallery below by dragging your mouse across the picture shown.
