Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Victoria Ska & Reggae Festival is committed to helping expand our community's knowledge and appreciation for not just ska and reggae music, but of all the offshoots its spawned, but the art, culture and history that surrounds the music. With that spirit in mind we are proud to once again present workshops featuring presentations from festival artists covering the many facets of what makes this Festival and this culture so special. This second workshop of the festival will have three very different presentations from people involved with the creation and performance of the music.

DUB FX - The Independent Musician’s Balance
Artists are external sponges that open themselves to a wide breadth of cultures, viewpoints, historical data and contemporary works. They do this in an effort to provide a fresh perspective that is accessible to their audience and follows their previous works in a comprehensive manner. All of this work can be overwhelming but it is the heart of what makes artists such a passionate group. There is, however, the business side of being an artist and ensuring what one does is sustainable. Balancing both the creative side and business end of an artist's career is often tiresome.

How do you find the a good balance between creativity and business? How do you explore the nuance between what is satisfying creatively and what will sell? Can that be the key to artistic success that does not take a personal toll? Join international recording artist Dub FX as he helps to answer these questions and provides some insight into what drives him artistically and how this drive can be attributed to his career trajectory in a realistic manner.

WESTERN STANDARD TIME SKA ORCHESTRA - Collaborations in Ska
Artists are typically visionaries that have to work to make their fantasies exist in reality. There are many constraints in this process including time, money, technology, physical space, skill and accessibility. This process becomes more involved when two or more artists with unique styles and visions, converge to produce something that becomes more than the sum of its parts. Collaboration happens in all forms of art but is especially prevalent in the world of ska and reggae.

One of the most accomplished collaborative projects to come out of the ska and reggae world in the past twenty years is Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra from LA. This twenty piece monolith has a style that is itself a blatant product of collaboration, mixing big band swing with early Jamaican ska and rocksteady. The band has incorporated members of great ska bands Jump With Joey, Hepcat, The Aggrolites, See Spot, Los Hooligans, The Debonaires, The Expanders, Kingston 10, and Yeska, to mention a few.

So how do you get 20 different musicians from different backgrounds, with different artistic visions to work toward a common idea? How do they constructively and diplomatically deal with the creative conflict and debate that will inevitably arise when each artist attempts to improve the direction of the combined effort? Join Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra as they discuss their own history, their creative process and collaborations that they've admired throughout the history of ska and reggae at large.

BRIAN WALLACE of SUBPAC - Tactile Audio Technology and Jamaica’s contribution to Bass
SubPac is a patent-pending tactile audio technology – it transfers low frequencies directly to your body and provides you with a new physical dimension to the musical experience. Join Western Standard Time bassist Brian Wallace as he discusses his role in founding this technology and the journey that brought him there. The idea of the SubPac would not be possible without the foundation that was laid down by the pioneers of Jamaican Music. He will also discuss the experience of using the technology in the creation of the latest Western Standard Time record. This workshop will also include a demonstration of the cutting edge technology.
http://thesubpac.com/what-is-the-subpac/