John Grant Curated Place sounds from Smoky Bay

ACM tutor Chris Carney wins big at UK Event Awards 2017

21 Dec 2017

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Curated Place picked up 3 awards and 2 ‘highly commended’ titles at the UK Event Awards 2017!

At ACM we believe in leading by example with our learning-by-doing ethos, so of course we were very proud and excited to hear that ACM tutor Chris Carney recently won a number of awards as part of Curated Place. When he’s not teaching, one of Chris’ various roles in the music industry involves working as Popular Music Programme Manager with Curated Place, which are an arts-led production agency delivering, creating and curating contemporary exhibitions and events on an international platform.

One of their most successful events of 2017 was ‘Sounds from Smoky Bay, John Grant’s North Atlantic Flux’, which took place over the Mayday Bank Holiday, and saw Curated Place join forces with Reykjavik-based singer-songwriter John Grant to create and curate a four-day music festival exploring the best in sonic creativity.

We spoke to Chris to find out more!

Hi Chris! What awards did you win at the UK Event Awards 2017?

We were up for 4, Best Team Under 40 members, Small Event of the Year, New Event of the Year and Cultural Event of the Year. We went away with all of them except for New Event of the Year for which we got a commendation. So 3 awards and a commendation… We also got one more commendation for the finale event of the year award. So a pretty good night, really.

What’s your role with Curated Place?

I’m Popular Music Programme Manager. The company do lots of visual arts, light installations and contemporary classical music as well, so I was brought in to add a little pop! But what I bring is still pretty alternative and out there to be honest.

How were the UK Event Awards?

It was a blast, the Marriott in Grosvenor Square is well swanky so we just made the most of it. We never realised we were gonna scoop so many awards, we just thought it’d be a nice night out.

How did ‘Sounds from Smoky Bay, John Grant’s North Atlantic Flux’ go?

It was incredible on the weekend although not always the easiest thing to enjoy with so much work to do, I still found plenty of time to take it in. Working with John on piecing together his dream programme was definitely a highlight. I’ve never worked with a curator before and he’d never put on a festival so we were learning together and he was an absolute joy to work with. Seeing him front and centre for nearly every gig was also a huge buzz, he didn’t just put his name to it, he got right in there. Musically, Lindstrøm, Wrangler (Cabaret Voltaire) and John Grant were my musical highlights. I’m sure Science of the Lamps (Kaya’s band) would have been another highlight but I managed to programme myself in to DJ at the same time as her set.

Nányë and Eva-Lina (ACM students) performed, how were they chosen and what made them stand out?

Nányë
Nányë

Kaya was working with both of them particularly Eva-Lina at first and she really fit the bill with a combo of the Scandi-link, electronic music and a little bit weird, which is what we like. Nányë had barely played 2 gigs when I first saw them, but I knew they were on to something special. They just keep getting better. Both acts played superbly on the day and were an absolute pleasure to work with. The same with the ACM musicians that joined Kaya for her gig.

Thanks Chris!


If you’d like to study at ACM and learn first-hand from our incredible tutors like Chris Carney, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.

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