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There's a small music venue in Commerce, Calif., that bills itself as "a place where the sole purpose was to listen to this kind of music."
That music? It's experimental music, which UCLA graduate student Dakota Higgins describes as "music that does not have lyrics or a set composition.
It can be improvisational, and he said this music consists only of sounds that would normally not be considered music at all."
Higgins is the co-founder of Departure from Music Venue, or the DMV, a monthly show that showcases "underrepresented experimental artists," reports the Los Angeles Times.
"More free versions of music create, at least for me, a more active and present listening space, specifically because there isn't a way to know what's about to happen," Higgins says.
"I think there's spiritual, intellectual and emotional value to being able to be in spaces where that is the condition of listening."
At the DMV, for example, a musician once performed a solo guitar set but didn't play the guitar at all, Higgins says.
Rather, Higgins says, the musician strapped bungee cords and contact microphones to his body and even used a saw at one point to make sounds.
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Foundation: Berrien Community Foundation
Lincoln Township Library will be expanding its new digital lab thanks to a grant from the Berrien Community Foundation.Library Director Joelle Wake tells us they've been awarded a $10,000 For Good...more
Sonoma County youth find their voices through Guitars Not Guns.Students ages 8 to 18 are learning more than just music they're building confidence, resilience, and a connection to something greater...more
XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement at NYU's Graduate School of Arts & Science offers a dynamic Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies for students whose research interests are best...more
Creative Australia has announced the latest recipients of investment through ACF Boost, an innovative matched funding initiative offered through the Australian Cultural Fund (ACF) The investment of...more
Emmanuel Asante was awarded the Early Career Kirk Robson Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development at the 2024 Creative Australia Awards.The award recognised his contribution to running art...more
Foundation: Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa, Fayette County Community Foundation
Fayette County Community Foundation recently awarded over $176,000 to 23 Fayette County organizations and nonprofits for the betterment of their communities.Grants are awarded through...more
James Umble is a two-time winner of the YSU Distinguished Professor in Teaching Award.He will perform a new piece of music written for saxophone and piano by New York City composer and jazz musician...more
Worlds Within Us is a three part writing workshop for people with stories to tell.Each session will be 60 minutes, in three 20 minute slots inclduing the lesson;writing in response to prompts that...more
Clothilde Bullen awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to Indigenous arts.Clothilde is currently Manager Art, Culture and Collections at Edith Cowan University, and previously...more
Travis Lohmann started composing music in his early college years, informally- through FL Studio 6.As of 2017, he ventured more into composing music which gets wider usage for more TV usage.He's been...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Why This Book Needs to be Read By Every Social Entrepreneur
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a 1970s book by author Paulo Freire, envisions a world not as a given reality, but as “a problem to be worked on and solved.” That mentality is often applied to the greatest social entrepreneurs.
