The programme aims to provide equal opportunities for creatives across Aotearoa. Video / Corey Fleming / @westallroad
A new funding and residency initiative for pan-Asian musicians has just wrapped up at the Big Fan music space in Tāmaki Makaurau.
The programme is an expansion of an existing scheme to assist up-and-coming talent to collaborate and explore the potential of their work in the professionally equipped recording studios and performance spaces at the Morningside headquarters.
Nine creatives were given five full days in the studio alongside experienced producers, musicians and songwriters to work on their own material with the aim of producing demo-quality songs to further their musical careers.
Tei, Savina Fountain and Jefferson Chen at Big Fan headquarters. Photo / Corey Fleming
Savina Fountain, general manager of Big Fan, says she is greatly heartened by the new generation of Kiwi creatives who are flying the flag for their culture and heritage.
“It’s not something I saw when I immigrated from South Korea to Aotearoa in the early 90s,” she said. “Big Fan is excited to make this connection and give back to the next generation of Kiwi Asians. Representation matters. More so than ever in this ever-changing landscape, we need a range of perspectives and diverse voices coming through to enrich and reimagine what the industry and the future can be.”
Jefferson Chen (second from left) with Goodspace bandmates Callum Lee, Jamie Martell and Lloyd Thomason.
Jefferson Chen, frontman for Auckland four-piece Goodspace, was one of the lucky recipients of the support funded by New Zealand On Air.
Chen says he didn’t really know what to expect from the programme.
“I was just ready to be surprised in the best way and I definitely was surprised in the best way,” he said.
Chen says as an artist, you feed off understanding how everybody’s relationships differ from your own.
“So, I think that’s what I was really excited about at the beginning, and I got a lot more than that, actually.”
Tei had the "typical" Asian musical upbringing.
For solo artist Tei, being chosen for the camp was exciting and just a little bit scary.
“My music background - I had the classic Asian parent,” she said. “[I learnt] classical piano, all that kind of stuff from the age of 5 ... and that’s all I knew for a long time.
“I was so excited [and] honestly, I was a little bit scared.
“I started producing out of necessity for myself and I have produced for others but not in this sort of context.
“Yeah, so I was scared. But once I was in it, I just loved it and thrived.”
For Jefferson Chen (left), the Big Space environment has helped him feel a sense of belonging.
For Chen, the experience has helped him understand and feel a sense of “belonging” within the cultural space.
“I think with the fan camp, there was an abundance of, like, a real shared experience of upbringing, kind of diasporic conversations that felt very natural and easy here,” he said.
“So, I think right now, the kind of significance of being a pan-Asian artist just feels very uplifting and like very community-oriented.”
And it took a while for the buzz of being in a collaborative and creative environment to subside.
“I think processing what we learned and what we got out of it took a while, too. And, I guess, I learned about specific producers and artists and how they work and how I best work with them.”
The lessons learned will prove invaluable to his next projects, he says.
“I just wanna say like a mad, mad shout out to Sa [Savina] and the whole team at Big Fan.
“I think what’s really important about these targeted initiatives is that sure it’s about the pan-Asian in this specific category, but, ultimately, it’s about uplifting kind of minority community voices that haven’t had the same kind of presence or representation in the past.”
It was a steep learning curve for Tei.
Tei says the experience was a steep learning curve that took her out of her comfort zone and made it easier to let herself make mistakes.
“It’s easy when you’re producing for yourself to be very particular and to be stressed out about the little details. But when it’s for other people and you’ve got a day to smash out a track, you kind of just have to wing it and go for it and let the little mistakes, happy mistakes, happen.”
And for Fountain, it’s more than just giving artists an opportunity to create, it’s about bonding and sharing experience.
“At the end of the week, we get together with our friends and whānau and listen back to songs from the week,” she said.
“So that’s always something that’s a really nice way just to really celebrate the week and enjoy each other’s company and listen back to the songs.”
Fountain says the results from these programmes can take some time to materialise with raising funding for the next stage, for publicity and the like.
“I think our first fan camp happened about a year ago and we’re just starting to hear about a couple of songs coming up from that very first fan camp,” she said.
