Sage Gateshead

• Dr Hannabiell Sanders is one of four artists in residence at Sage Gateshead.
• The residency has allowed her to explore and experiment with weaving narrative, improvisation, and electronics into her music to better express themes of identity, freedom, and protest culture.
• As part of Transmuted, she will perform new and reworked music as a soloist with her duet Ladies of Midnight Blue and her band Hannabiell & Midnight Blue Collective on the 16^th of June at Sage Two.

Sage Gateshead is delighted to announce that Dr Hannabiell Sanders, one of four artists in residence, will perform Transmuted as a soloist with her duet Ladies of Midnight Blue and her band Hannabiell & Midnight Blue Collective on the 16^th of June at Sage Two.

Transmuted will showcase new and reworked music and will act as a statement of intent for how her work and the band performances can change going forward. She is particularly interested in exploring ways to augment her music performance with stagecraft and theatrical dance elements. She is excited to find out how these elements can enhance the message and power of her musical performance, allowing her to say more as an activist and artist.

Bandmate and visual artist Yilis Suriel – who also features in a duet – has collaborated with James Davoll to create a new incredible staging, including lightboxes, visuals, and projections that she has designed. Transmuted will also include a dance collaboration with Aida Diop.

The residency at Sage Gateshead has allowed her to explore and experiment with weaving narrative, improvisation, and electronics into her music to better express themes of identity, freedom, and protest culture. She has also re-evaluated the importance of having a dedicated space to unleash her creativity and rehearse regularly. Once her residency is over, she wishes to find this stability and supportive infrastructure in a new space.

Dr Hannabiell Sanders – originally from New Jersey but based in Newcastle – is a charismatic musician, composer, activist, and progressive music teacher committed to using music to break stereotypes and bring diverse communities together. She has run her band Hannabiell & Midnight Blue Collective for several years as it morphed into an inter-disciplinary performance collective interested in community engagement and creating nurturing spaces to foster dialogue and community activism.

ENDS

For further media information please contact:

Susie Gray, The Corner Shop PR: susie@thecornershoppr.com, 07834 073795

NOTES TO EDITORS

Artist Development at Sage Gateshead

Sage Gateshead is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner in association with Youth Music. The residency is supported through this scheme and is part of Sage Gateshead’s commitment to artist development and the future of the music industry in the North East. Every year Sage Gateshead supports more than 100 musicians through its Artist Development programme. The programme includes one to one advice sessions, GP clinics, networking events and performance opportunities, as well as an annual Summer Studios residency programme.

About Sage Gateshead

• Sage Gateshead is an international music centre for the North East and wider North. Through music, creative learning and artist development, the organisation demonstrates what music can achieve for communities.
• Since opening in 2004, Sage Gateshead has worked side by side with partners and the wider community to help address the complex blend of social and economic challenges the region faces.
• Sage Gateshead continues to be a major employer bringing investment and tourism into the region. We’ve generated a c. £500 million contribution to the local economy, a sum six times greater than its combined capital cost.
• Sage Gateshead has brought social, cultural and educational value to over 10 million people and millions more via digital and broadcast activity. The scale of its artistic, learning and artist development activity places Sage Gateshead amongst the UK’s largest cultural organisations, while reaching a substantially more socially and economically diverse audience.
• Pre-pandemic Sage Gateshead attracted 2 million visitors; 5,000 people took part in weekly music classes; 17,854 school children experienced live orchestral music and we worked with a further 2,418 vulnerable young people; more than 2,000 adults a week took part in music making designed to tackle social isolation.
• The North East region is one of the worst affected by Covid-19. The region will be one where the recovery is slow and hard. Arts and culture have a pivotal role to play in regional and nation-wide recovery.
• Covid-19 presents a major financial challenge to Sage Gateshead, the iconic Foster + Partners designed NE landmark. 80% of its income has been affected, and in 2020/21 £10 million in revenue was lost. The organisation has taken swift action to overcome this crisis. 90% of the workforce was placed on furlough, significant cost savings have been sought and found, and it launched a fundraising campaign to raise £3 million to help secure the organisation during the next three years. Further challenges lie ahead; in 2021/22, Sage Gateshead estimates box office and trading income to be less than half of what would be expected in a normal year.
• Sage Gateshead temporarily closed to the public on 17 March 2020, five days ahead of the announcement of the national lockdown. Sage Gateshead recommenced performances in October 2020 with a season of socially distanced concerts featuring Royal Northern Sinfonia and artists across genres, made available by live stream; audiences were able to be present in the hall for two weekends of those performances.
• In 2020 Sage Gateshead received a grant of £2.8 million from the Culture Recovery Fund Round One to help it through the pandemic and associated financial crisis. In 2021 the charity received a loan of £3m from the Culture Recovery Fund Round Two to support recovery. It has thanked the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and Arts Council England for this vital support.