2021 End Of Year Wrap Up

#2021

Another year of uncertainty on all fronts.

The only way to plan during these times is to persevere and be fully committed.

Everyone has to work together and keep the momentum. None of this is possible without the support from the worldwide community. Without the dedicated passion and support from the turntablism practitioners, artists and purveyors, none of this would exist.

We are grateful and blessed to be part of this with you.

#scratchinschool

This focuses on the introduction of Turntablism as a GCSE (Music) into the UK School curriculum. TTW, alongside Leicestershire Music, remained active throughout 2021 with the continuation of the Class Cuts Scratch In School Programme.

The execution and expansion of the Programme was delayed for part of the year whilst pupils were required to home school due to the pandemic. As restrictions eased, both parties took the opportunity to introduce the Programme to new Music Hubs in the UK, expanding into Birmingham, Lincolnshire and Liverpool.

Music Tech is a key topic within the UK educational system and we will be working to further develop this initiative through 2022 in parallel with Turntablism.

Currently, we are re-pressing the Class Cuts v1 vinyl which is an early indication of demand for this Programme.

More updates to follow.

#beatgeak

BEATGEEK 2021 took place over the weekend of September 24-26th 2021.

Whilst it was anticipated in early 2021 that COVID restrictions would be eased and the climate would be near to normal in later 2021, it became apparent that was not to be the case as new variants of COVID emerged.

Our Arts Council England funding bid was not successful due to the sheer number of applications submitted - this was the result of a back log of cancelled applications from 2020 being resubmitted. In addition, the majority of Companies/Brands that we would typically partner with, had 'event' policies in place that were unable to support our event, especially 'live' trading booths in the Link Tunnel adjacent to the main venue.

Due to funding limitations, our aim was to replicate the successful event held in 2020 inside Aures-London, which excluded any outside activities. The only difference was no live stream and public access was permitted free of charge.

Event success was measured by 'quality' of content rather than 'quantity' of attendees. We were mindful that people may not embrace entering a live venue due to the ever changing nature of the pandemic and resulting restrictions.

Portablist Lounge was our flagship event and in order to provide it with some longevity, we introduced The Battle For Free Passage. Based on a Lord of The Rings theme, it allowed over-seas competitors to earn travel and accommodation for the main physical event in London. Sadly, due to COVID restrictions, only one out of three winners was able to travel to the UK. That individual was Underkut from Los Angeles, who went on to win Portablist Lounge 2021.

The event included a number of workshops and tutorials for the children participating which ranged from beat boxing, dance offs to scratching, orchestrated by Bass6 from The Beatbox Collective.

None of this would have been possible without the overwhelming belief and support from our sponsoring partners:

Westend DJ, Reloop, Jesse Dean Designs, Magma, SAE Institute, Key Production and Ortofon.

2022 will introduce an expanded and new concept for Beatgeek.

Further details will follow in 2022.

#turntabletrainingwax

Despite the challenges with vinyl production worldwide, mainly due to factory capacity management, we have continued to operate steadily with only a couple of vinyl re-press delays.

New vinyl releases will be available in the first quarter of 2022 and we are excited that the label will introduce some new artists.

Our main focus during 2022 will be the logistical and requirement challenges with the #scratchinschool Programme expansion.

Have a fantastic leap into 2022.

As always, many thanks for supporting TTW!