The York Culture Awards return for their second year in 2018 – but you haven’t long to enter.
The awards celebrate the best this city can offer in arts and entertainment. Anyone can enter, there are 15 categories and the closing date is September 28.
In the run up to the deadline we are asking York Culture Award judges for their thoughts on the artistic scene in the city.
Today it’s the turn of Jericho Keys who is lead judge in the Outstanding Busker category.
‘Talented, creative and driven ’
The ‘scene’ is special because it’s very diverse, eclectic and dare I say, spontaneous? The events that seem to pop up on our doorstep, all year round, is undeniable really, isn’t it?
You can make people stop in the street, by being authentic and creative with the songs you’re performing, whether they’re your own or covers. I spotted a band performing The Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen in Love the other day, in a sort of skittle shuffle style and it was 10/10.
I think in a nutshell, play on the street like you would on stage, you never know who might be wandering past with their bags of shopping.
All the performances are within a stones throw of each other, so you can stumble upon something and someone you’ve never heard of before. That’s the beauty of a festival.
I always get caught out every year and once ended up in the middle, leading a chant for a ‘work’ interview in my normal clothes. As you can imagine I stood out like a sore thumb and was most certainly ‘memorable’.
Whether you’re a musician, artist or photographer, it all costs money and if you need to rehearse / practise you need a space to do it in. I’m really not fond of the idea that people can’t flourish in their chosen field due to their financial status.
I’ve also heard, on the music side, that some support bands are expected to ‘pay to play’ or sell X amount of tickets to enable them a slot with a headline band, that’s just wrong on so many levels.
I think before Stonebow House was developed, the idea that you could use that office space for community events was fantastically cool and worthwhile. I saw some brilliant gigs and exhibitions there during its short life.
We see so many empty shops on York’s high street, I think it would be a great idea for the city, if the landlords of the premises allowed the buildings to be pop shops for art projects, while they wait to lease them out again.
I also have my fingers crossed, that people keep appreciating what a talented bunch of people we have in this city, but then again, we know, so that’s the most important thing.
Jericho Keys presents BBC Music Introducing in North Yorkshire
York Culture Awards
They are an opportunity to showcase our city-wide cultural achievements and future plans, as well as to inspire and motivate organisations, businesses and educational institutions to make York’s cultural offer stronger.