Creative refueling in the pandemic

Our short residency series for 2022 at the Jazzinstitut

Our societies are entering a phase of exhaustion in the third year of the pandemic. This is especially true for cultural workers and for creative people. We all may need places of retreat and spaces of inspiration that enable creative recharging.

In 2022, the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt will make its premises and professional resources available to jazz musicians for short residencies during five dates. For a few days, they will have the opportunity to make Darmstadt the HOME of their current artistic ambitions and projects. The German word HEIMAT (home) represents a place of origin, for creativity, and new artistic impulses. HEIMAT provides the humus for the growth of creativity.

The selected projects for heimat@jazzinstitut 2022 will focus especially on aspects of gender equity, diversity, and overcoming social inequality -- individually and conceptwise. In addition, ideas for cross-genre or cross-art form implementations are to receive special support. We aim to provide exciting musicians with a temporary laboratory for their personal artistic profiling. The Jazzinstitut is a temporary HOME, a place for reflection and at the same time a platform for the further development of their artistic careers.

heimat@jazzinstitut 2022 wir gefördert vom Hessischen Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst und der Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt

heimat@jazzinstitut - the idea

Starting in 2022, the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt will make its rooms and archival resources available to musicians from the field of contemporary jazz and current improvised music for five short residencies spread throughout the year. For a few days they are given the opportunity to make Darmstadt and the Jazzinstitut the HOME (= Heimat) of their current artistic ambitions and projects. 17. Darmstädter Jazzforum “Roots_Heimat: Wie offen ist der Jazz?” im Jahr 2021 geführt wurden.

The concept of an (artistic) HEIMAT takes into account the fact that jazz in particular demands a cultural and aesthetic self-location. HEIMAT consequently denotes a point of origin for creativity and new artistic impulses. Jazz is more than just music; it is a creative practice that is used globally, referring to its African-American origins. However jazz at the same time is a music that many people have grown up with, that helped them become who they are, find their individual point of view and be able to expressed it. HEIMAT thus provides the humus for creative growth.

The selection of artists for heimat@Jazzinstitut is independent of age, reputation or artistic vita of the invited. Special attention will be paid to musicians and projects that personally and conceptually take into account aspects of gender equity, cultural diversity and the overcoming of social divergence. Ideas for cross-genre or cross-art form implementation will also receive special support. The goal is to provide musicians with a temporary laboratory for their personal artistic development. The Jazzinstitut will thus become a temporary HEIMAT, a place for reflection and at the same time a starting point for the further development of artistic careers.

heimat@jazzinstitut - sustainability and regional connections

As an concert organizer, the Jazzinstitut is increasingly concerned with aspects of sustainability of cultural projects, the protection of our natural environment, and ways to make events climate-neutral. Staying in one place longer than just for one concert not only saves artists from resource-consuming travel from concert to concert, but also allows for a more intensive exchange between the artists and the concert pomoters or local scenes. In terms of travel, accommodation, catering and production, we pay attention to climate neutrality and the conservation of natural resources. At the same time, it is our goal as concert promoters to remain a long-term contact partner for the participants in our program during their further artistic development. We would like to maintain the musicians' ties to their "home away from home", their heimat@jazzinstitut in the long term and support especially young musicians in their further careers. This applies particularly to young bands from the region of Southern Hesse and the Rhine-Main area.

heimat@jazzinstitut – about HEIMAT

The Jazzinstitut Darmstadt is Europe's largest public research archive on jazz and a cultural institute of the city of sciences Darmstadt. Over four floors, it houses one of the world's most important collections on the history and present developments of African-American-influenced improvised music in historic hunting lodge from the early 18th century. Since 1998, the Jazzinstitut has been holding regular concerts in its acoustically excellent concert space underneath the institute. The Jazzinstitut is also known as an international information and documentation center with services for researchers, journalists and musicians from all over the world.

heimat@jazzinstitut – our program in 2022

19 - 22 January 2022: Ronny Graupe & Nicole Schneider - DUO-LOG

The focus of this session was the simultaneous improvisation of drawing and jazz. Berlin guitarist Ronny Graupe and Darmstadt illustrator Nicole Schneider entered into an audio-visual dialogue, exploring the question of what forms of artistic interaction are possible - call-and-response, if you like, with pen and instrument. Using digital drawing technology and electric sound, musician and artist explored the possibilities of audiovisual forms of expression in a joint live performance.

Ronny Graupe, who has won the German Jazz Award as Guitarist of the Year in 2021, and artist Nicole Schneider, known for her equally sensitive and humorous portrait series of Darmstadt personalities and omnipresent graphic chronicler of jazz concerts in Darmstadt, created an ambiguous and intriguing art experience.

5 - 8 April 2022: Quartertone – be:prepared

This young, highly talented jazz quartet from Frankfurt and Darmstadt has been formed around the recipient of last year's Frankfurt jazz scholarship, sxaxophonist Darius Blair, and was selected to represent the state of Hesse at the national "Jugend jazzt" competition in 2022. Darius Blair (saxophone), Jan Iser (drums), Luis Schell (bass) and Finn Heine (guitar) prepared this performance during their residency at the Jazzinstitut. The residency included a concert in the Jazzinstitut's concert space, which was professionally recorded and videotaped in parts and a band coaching with Cologne-based composer and pianist Florian Ross. (photo by Wilfried Heckmann)

25 - 28 May 2022: Angelika Niescier Quartet & OODT – The Hidden Tune

The saxophonist from Cologne worked for more than three years on her dream project, which was supposed to come to Darmstadt in May 2020 and May 2021 and had to be postponed each time because of the Corona pandemic.

Since her second encounter with the Orang Orang Drum Theatre (OODT) in Malaysia in March 2019, Niescier has been preparing for the intense musical encounter with her trio (Angelika Niescier, alto saxophone, John-Dennis Renken, trumpet and Matthias Akeo Nowak, bass) and the six-piece percussion ensemble. Orang Orang Drum Theater has since its inception in 2014 focused on exploring and researching various traditional Malaysian and Southeast Asian musical instruments and playing styles with a contemporary approach, breaking down the boundaries between music, dance, and theater, enriching the percussion tradition with theatrical expression, and ultimately expanding the perception of art in general.Angelika Niescier, Altsaxofon, John-Dennis Renken, Trompete und Matthias Akeo Nowak, Bass) und dem sechsköpfigen Perkussion-Ensemble vor, dass sich seit den Anfängen seiner Gründung im Jahr 2014 auf die Erkundung und Erforschung verschiedener traditioneller malaysischer und südostasiatischer Musikinstrumente und Spielstile mit einem zeitgenössischen Ansatz konzentriert, indem es die Grenzen zwischen Musik, Tanz und Theater aufhebt, die Perkussion-Tradition mit theatralischem Ausdruck bereichert und letztendlich die Wahrnehmung von Kunst im Allgemeinen erweitert.

Their six-day residency in Darmstadt was the first meeting of the nine musicians on European soil. An intensive rehearsal phase followed by a world premiere at a concert in the Bessunger Knabenschule prepared the performance at the moers music festival on Whitsun 2022.

18 - 21 August 2022: Appaloosa – Sustainability Tour

The five musicians of the Nuremberg band Appaloosa used their four-day heimat@jazzinstitut residency in Darmstadt from August 18 to 22, 2022, among other things for an intensive rehearsal phase with a concluding concert as part of the open air concert series at the Bessunger Jagdhof on August 21. In addition, some professional recordings by Darmstadt-based recording studio Sound & More took place in the Jazzinstitut's concert space. The band also participated in an online Q&A with Hamburg pianist Benjamin Schaeferon the topic of climate neutrality in the music business.

Resource conservation, sustainability and climate neutrality

For concert promoters, very practical questions arise when holding an event and wanting to follow the principles of resource conservation. The Jazzinstitut is increasingly concerned with aspects of the sustainability of cultural projects, the protection of our natural environment, and ways to make events climate-neutral.

Staying in one place longer than just for one concert not only saves artists from resource-consuming travel from concert to concert, but also allows for a more intensive exchange between the artists and the concert pomoters or local scenes. In terms of travel, accommodation, catering and production, we pay attention to climate neutrality and the conservation of natural resources. At the same time, it is our goal as concert promoters to remain a long-term contact partner for the participants in our program during their further artistic development. We would like to maintain the musicians' ties to their "home away from home", their heimat@jazzinstitut in the long term and support especially young musicians in their further careers.

CO₂ savings in mobility and transport

First of all, there is the area of mobility, which, according to the Green Touring Guide published by the Mannheim Pop Academy a few years ago, causes the largest share of climate-damaging emissions. For music events, this is about 10% on the part of the bands and 33% on the part of the audience, whom we encourage to arrive at the well-connected Bessunger Jagdhof on foot, by bike or by public transport.

By the way, the musicians made their way from Nuremberg by train and public transport as well. This is only possible for a band if the venue provides bulky instruments such as a piano, drums, amplifiers or, as in the case of the band Appaloosa, even a vibraphone. The local transport of the vibraphone, for instance, which the Jazzinstitut had borrowed from the nearby Akademie für Tonkunst, was done by cargo bike. The special design by the Darmstadt tinkerer Eike Günther makes it possible to transport even bulky goods.

Solar power for mobile studio and concert sound system

The recordings during the residency and the sound engineering at the concert on Sunday were carried out by Darmstadt-based recording studio Sound & More. Sound engineer Klaus Endel has been running his studio exclusively on solar power from the in-house PV system for many years. Recently, he has been able to work on the move, thanks to two lithium-iron-phosphate batteries with sufficient power and a power distributor with a display of the current voltage and the power drawn. The status of the batteries can be queried at any time via Bluetooth using an app. Just one battery is enough to make at least eight hours (probably significantly more) of recordings with this mobile equipment. The two batteries were also used for the sound and the lighting of the concert at the Bessunger Jagdhof on August 21.

Short distances and local supply

For the accommodation of the five musicians we refrained from using large hotels in the periphery. Instead, the band spent their days in Darmstadt in a shared vacation apartment, which is only 50 meters away from the Jazzinstitut. Food for self-sufficiency is available in the surrounding small bakeries and grocery stores in Bessungen, delicious coffee and homemade cakes in Café Mela on Forstmeisterplatz, and a joint final dinner in the Belleville restaurant opposite the Jazzinstitut.

Tips and ideas for more climate neutrality in the music business

The band discussed all many aspects of sustainability on Friday morning during a video conference with Hamburg-based jazz pianist and composer Benjamin Schaefer. From him they got some more tips on how to implement climate neutrality in their personal everyday life as musicians - when rehearsing, teaching and giving concerts. Schaefer has focused on this topic in recent years as a board member of the Deutsche Jazz Union. From his practical experience as a professional musician who travels a lot, he has developed a concept to reduce his professional carbon footprint to the maximum in a short time.

16. bis 19. November 2022: Mandy Neukirchner – Bebop Mädchen goes Darmstadt

Mandy Neukirchner ist eine Gitarristin aus Leipzig, die 2020 unter dem Titel “Bebop Mädchen” einen Podcast ins Leben rief, in dem sie aktuelle Themen behandelt, die Karriereplanung und Alltagssituationen von Musiker:innen gleichermaßen betreffen – das Ganze aus einer bewusst feministischen Perspektive (Bebop Mädchen). Die Inhalte, die sie auf frische und unverbaute Art mit ihren Gesprächspartner:innen angeht, reichen von der Bewältigung weiblicher Selbstzweifel beim Musikmachen bis zur allgemeinen Mysogynie im Musikbusiness oder auf Musikerinnen bezogene Hatespeech im Netz.

Wir hatten Mandy Neukirchner zur fünften Kurzresidenz unter dem Titel heimat@jazzinstitut vom 16. bis 19. November nach Darmstadt eingeladen. Die vier Tage in Darmstadt nutzte Neukirchner gemeinsam mit Expertinnen zu einer ausgiebigen Evaluation von inzwischen mehr als zwei Jahren Podcasting.

Dazu traf sie virtuell auf SWR-Journalistin Julia Neupert, von der Neukirchner Tipps und Anleitungen zur weiteren Professionalisierung des Formats erhielt. Dabei ging es um redaktionelle Recherche, den dramaturgischen Aufbau des Podcasts und die Weiterentwicklung der Moderation, inklusive der Gesprächsführung im Interview.

Von der erfahrenen Podcasterin Imke Machura von der Hamburger Agentur “Raketerei” erhielt Neukirchner ein vom Jazzinstitut vermitteltes Online-Coaching in Sachen Monetarisierung und Entwicklung eines Social Media-Profils für ihren eigenen Podcast.

Mit der Stuttgarter Kulturmanagerin Lisa Tuyala tauschte sie sich darüber aus, welche spannenden Fragestellungen und Antworten es im Bereich Frauen in der Musikbranche gibt – wo stehen wir in der Diskussion? Welche Vernetzungen fehlen, welche existieren? Welche Geprächspartner:innen kommen in Frage und worüber müsste man mit ihnen reden? Tuyala ist u.a. Mit-Initiatorin des Netzwerks “Women* of Music” (W*oM).

Zum Auftakt lud Wolfram Knauer Neukirchner am Mittwoch, den 16. November zu einer Diskussionsrunde über “Jazz und die Zukunft des Radio” im Rahmen der Mainzer Jazzgespräche an der Universität Mainz ein. Zudem begleitete sie Arndt Weidler am Freitagmorgen zur Online-Zukunftswerkstatt der Deutschen Jazzunion zum Thema „Jazz und Digitalität – Kunst, Diskurs und Rechteverwertung im digitalen Bereich“. Die restliche Darmstädter Zeit nutzte Neukirchner , um im Archiv des Jazzinstituts nach neuen Themen zu recherchieren.

heimat@jazzinstitut - Our services per short residency

• Daily allowance per full day of attendance per musician
• Performance fee per musician
• Accommodation costs (accommodation guest house)
• Travel costs, local transportation (only public transport, no car or airfare)
• Catering/one dinner together
• Aufnahmetechnik, Instrumente, Back-Line bei Bedarf
• Externe Dienst- und Personalleistungen, z.B. Tontechnik, Grafik, Choreographie, PR-Beratung, Filmproduktion bei Bedarf
• Internal services and personnel services, e.g. rehearsal rooms, support with research, supervision, press relations, advertising, GEMA, KSK