Yes, we’re pleased to announce the return of Phrased & Confused, back to once again explore that creative common ground between music and lyrics.

This year we’re shaking things up a bit, and are packing up our Phrased & Confused belongings to take over a stage at the award winning Summer Sundae Weekender festival, which for three days (8-10 August) takes over De Montfort Hall and Gardens in Leicester.

We don’t want to give the game away here, but we have got some rather special things planned and artists confirmed. For more information, check out www.phrasedandconfused.co.uk where all – well, some anyway – will be revealed.

Our Saturday morning podcast project at Stratford Media Circus finally came to an end this week. We were joined by two BBC radio producers who offered feedback to the participants and talked about how they could develop there skills.With bags of experience and enthusiasm, we all benefited from there received wisdom and we at times wished we were on the shoes of the participants once again!

The young people were each presented with a final mix down of the pieces they have been working on over the past 5 weeks. It included interviews, stories, sound effects, live performances, groups projects, individual projects and of course a range of indents.Overall, the young people enjoyed the project a great deal and got a lot out of it, as did we, and hopefully, there will be plenty more to come.

Big thanks to Lou & Alice for coming in and enlightening us as to the inner workings of BBC radio production, also to Stuart, Sound Connections, Stratford Media Circus and of course, all the young people who took part. Well done everyone!

The British Council and NESTA opened applications for a new award that seeks to stimulate the development of the UK music industry in an international business context. This aims to find the most talented young entrepreneurs in the UK’s music industry and give them the chance to find out more about what is happening out there, by becoming part of the British Council’s international network of young creative entrepreneurs.

The competition is open to music industry specialists between 25 and 35 years of age, who have at least three years experience and a track record in innovation. Applicants must be seeking to push the boundaries of the industry and have a vision for extending international business and cultural relations through music.

If you think this sounds like you then you could well be the inaugural winner of this prestigious new award.
Applications are now open. The deadline to apply is: 6 May 2008
For more information about the award and details of application procedure please visit: www.creativeconomy.org.uk/ukyme08

With one more session to go, we’ve been busy tying up any loose ends and making sure we have recorded all the material we need to assemble all our shorter audio pieces into one big one. One big Podcast that is - made up of interviews, the groups favourite tracks, stories, sound FX, narration and more. We’ve also had a bit of a photo shoot so the participants can walk away with not just an audio record of the work shops, but a visual one too.

Next week, we will be making the final touches and presenting each participant with a finished product. Stuart has even promised to reward them with a bakewell tart each. We look forward vey much to these moments!

This week, we have focussed on working as a group. After an initial brainstorming session, we came up with the name Music Mashup Podcasters which we think reflects what we have been up to in our workshops.

The next logical step was to create an indent for the group which was a lot of fun - you can see the photos by clicking here. For this, we decided to employ a good old box of percussion including shakers, triangles, djembes, marracas and more. After a lot of noise, we think we’ve come up with something.

We’ve also built on our interviewing techniques and generated reems of material. All in all, the group have got plenty to say so we’re looking forward to next week when we’ll be assembling it all into the form of a podcast.

The day is Saturday, March 8th and we have just finished our first podcasting workshop at Circus Media, Stratford which is delivered in association with Sound Connections and Youth Music Action Zones. The group of young people seemed to enjoy themselves a great deal and commented on how they were looking forward to attending next weeks session.

This week we have focused on the fundamentals of recording and spent time interviewing and getting to know one another. Each participant has worked hard to create audio content based around there favourite musical styles, bands and interests which we will be looking to edit into the form of a podcast over the coming weeks. Led by Stuart Silver and assisted by hubsters Tom and Andi, the programme has gotten off to a cracking start and everyone involved has greatly enjoyed what looks to be a hugely rewarding project. To see the pics, just click here.

The organisation Sound Connections have launched an online survey that looks at the way young people ‘do music’ in London. The survey is live online until the morning of Monday, March 17th.

If you are a young person or work with young people, you could help out. You can access the survey by clicking here or visiting the Sound Connections site. All who take part in the survey will have the chance to enter into a prize draw with 3 Amazon or iTunes vouchers worth £50.

The idea of the survey is to gather research that will help shape future youth music projects, benefiting young people all over London. So remember kids, you’ve got to be in it to win it!

Do you have an interest in music or radio and are looking to develop your digital expertise in this field? If so, you may be interested in what we have on offer…

Funded by Sound Connections and supported by Attitude Is Everything, the hub will be producing and delivering another inspirational training programme centred around podcasting.

The project Podcast Connections is a programme of workshops for disabled young people between the ages of 11–25 and is completely FREE! It is a workshop programme that enables participants to develop all the practical skills and knowledge they need to put together their own podcasts.

Including digital production skills, feedback from industry professionals, help to share and promote your music via a range of multi media channels and a chance to play live, you’d be mad to miss out on this fantastic opportunity!

Beginning on Saturday 8th of March and continuing to Saturday March 29th, the programme will run between the times of 10:00–15:00 at the Stratford Circus in East London.

To reserve your place on the course, you will need to fill out a brief application form which can be obtained by clicking here. This should be returned by 12:00 mid day on Wednesday 5th March so you’ll have to hurry as we only have 10 spaces!
For more information, please contact andi@thehubuk.com