On 29 January Blackball rapells into the Guelph Youth Music Centre.
After-school electronic music classes take place until April 9, 2025. See the QR code for details.
We're sorry-not-sorry to announce Blackball is already fully booked for the winter term. But the amazing people at GYMC have added a second series starting in April.
As always, Blackball is free to participants.
Will we see you at the Centre?
When we launched nearly ten years ago, Blackball was an unknown, untested and underfunded program.
Electronic music workshops for children and youth were not a thing—picture a roomful of children and youth who wanted to play synths and no pocket money to buy synths with.
Enter Chris Wardman, venerable producer, songwriter and guitarist, and the source of Blackball's first major donation, this O.G. 1987 Yamaha DX7ii.
Aspiring young synthesists have been taking on the DX's wobbly * keys and musty sliders ever since.
Five cities, countless live performances and hundreds of participants later, The Guelph Arts Council, The Guelph Community Foundation and the Musagetes Fund have given Blackball the much-needed funds to restore this classic synth at Kitchener's illustrious Anodyne Audio.
And there were just enough kroner left over to keep our beautiful DX safe and warm in a DX-fit gig bag direct from Sweden's Slickbag. But that's a story for another blog-day.
A bigger, bolder and better-equipped Blackball will be starting workshops at a school near you very soon.
* Chris Wardman's favourite adjective, probably.
Keeping a six-piece all electronic live band going calls for a small mountain of materiel. And you can't just toss your synthesizers, controllers, amplified speakers, mixers, cables and power supplies in a dusty corner. You've got to stow it away, shipshape and Bristol fashion.
Eight days from today, Blackball returns to Mitchell Woods Public to begin another wild year of bumping beats, earth-shaking bass and wailing synths.
Do you need to know what that looks like?
Quick, click this Youtube link to check out the latest raucous Blackball performance.
But we couldn't do what we do if it wasn't for the hard work and generosity of our supporters, donors and friends, who turned out in force at the Second Annual Blackball Benefit.
We exceeded our fundraising goal—and shortly thereafter bagged some very pretty new gear donations.
So you can understand why we think it's going to be Blackball's best year ever.
We are truly thrilled to announce the Second Annual Blackball Benefit.
Blackball Benefit Part Two takes place at 7:30 PM at Silence, 46 Essex Street.
Blunderspublik, Terrible Edie and Transstar have generously agreed to perform.
And because Blackball's programming is free to participants and currently receives no funding, we organize benefit concerts to cover the cost of transportation and maintenance of the numerous, very finicky instruments we need to keep the program going.
To attend the Second Annual Blackball Benefit, tickets are purchaseable at this Eventbrite link.
We want our amazing electronic music to be heard by as many as people as possible. But space at Silence is limited. To those generous souls who wish to support Blackball but are not able to attend in person, please contact us at blvckbvll@gmail.com to arrange a targetted donation, instead of reserving a seat. (And if you want to come but can't afford the ticket...contact us about that, too. We'll figure something out!)
These five young talents make up the Mitchell Woods Blackball Band.
Blackball is now in its eighth amazing year, and we are better, bigger and louder than ever.
It's 2023 and Blackball is alive, performance-ready and All Synth.
Meet the Mitchell Woods Public School Blackball Band.
Blackball's board president has been asking me to organize a benefit show for too long.
It's also been too long since we were able to safely deliver our innovative electronic music education programming.
But it's all yours, and it's all coming back.
This October at an Upper Grand District School Board public school near you we'll be reintroducing in-person Blackball workshops.
In order to make these workshops possible, we're holding the very first Blackball Benefit.
The Blackball Benefit will take place Friday 30 September and feature a live performance by Guelph's own Transstar, who will perform her new track, Yours.
Delivering free electronic music education costs. Gas is like gold. We're turning to the community for help.
Join us at The Cornerstone. It's 10 dollars at the door, and the curtain rises at 8:00 sharp.
Blackball is taking to the airwaves.
Feel free to view Blackball's video testimonial now on Instagram.
The bad news? Like Art Not Shame and so many other community-engaged arts organizations, our work has been turned upside down and inside-out by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Because Blackball electronic music workshops are not deliverable on-line, our operations have been suspended indefinitely.
But the lockdown has turned out to be a gift for us. We've had time to reflect on the work of our project, the needs of our participants and, most importantly, how to serve them better. So we're restructuring our organization, forging new partnerships and researching new ways to teach and inspire through electronic music. We think we can build a better, stronger Blackball to meet the needs of the post-pandemic universe.
We have so much more to give!
