The for-Wards music programme was completed in 2018! It was quite a ride!! I have so much gratitude to everyone who supported the delivery of the project to reach its successful completion. All 10 musical works were performed and distributed onto a vinyl record. We have nearly sold the run we made, just three left. They can be purchased over on Bandcamp with proceeds going to SIFA fireside homeless charity.
Initially, when thinking about the design for the for-Wards interactive sound map, I intended on their being iconic Brum buildings. Mid conceptualisation, I realised it made sense to include musical icons – for-Wards after all is a music project – D’oh!! ‘Why not localise and feature Brum’s musical heritage?’ I thought to myself. One excel spreadsheet later I began the job of working out who to include, trawling websites whilst running this ambitious music programme. It was a lot!
I can’t remember who it was, but someone suggested I get in touch with Jez Collins from the Birmingham Music Archive and he kindly agreed to help me decide which venues and artist to feature on the music map. We then spent some time down the pub going over final draft, checking typos and that the beautiful illustrations made by designer Claire Hartley were positioned correctly. Jez has had wooden versions of the for-Wards music maps for his train project ‘Musical Routes’ and since then, I’ve had interest from the public in buying prints, so I’m going to do a small run which you can find on Etsy.