Musicians and bands get chance at paid gig during Enterprise Week

Local musicians and bands are being sought to provide a recorded video performance to be broadcast as part of LEVELUP - a two-day hybrid event drawing on and looking at innovation and best practice from around the world.

The LEVELUP programme will be delivered by Startacus, a start-up focused platform, programme and event facilitation company and in partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council.

The purpose of the event is to inspire change and encourage entrepreneurship at a local level, exploring how people, both regionally and internationally, have created opportunity, economic growth and initiated real change.

The organisers have said that, as they are expecting local, national and international attendees, they want to showcase talented local artists and musicians over the course of the two-day event.

A series of inspirational sessions on a range of topics including Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Social Change and Inclusion and Diversity will also be included in the showcase.

Alastair Cameron, Co-Founder of Startacus, said: “We know that the last year has been particularly challenging for local musicians and whilst we may not be able to offer them the opportunity to play a live gig, we would like to provide a paid opportunity to showcase what they do via a virtual performance.

“During the two-day event, we would like to feature short video recordings from up to three local artists - solo performers or groups and in some small way celebrate what they do. We want to highlight that, despite the recent challenges, the Derry music scene is as alive and vibrant as it ever was,” he added.

Submit a video

Musicians and bands from within the Derry City and Strabane District Council area are encouraged to submit a video recording for consideration.

The organisers have asked that interested parties send one or two .mov or .mp4 videos of 3-5 minutes in length of acts performing an original track via WeTransfer to [email protected] by Saturday April 10 to be considered.

All those who have submitted recordings will be contacted by week commencing Monday April 12 and videos from up to three selected artists will be broadcast over the course of the two days.

The event organisers also stressed that the technical quality of the recordings will also be a consideration in the selection process so the more professional looking the music video the better.

All featured artists will be paid £100 - £150 via PayPal or Bank Transfer if their videos are selected (£100 if one video is featured, £150 if two videos are featured).

All videos selected will remain the property of the artists and will only be used by the Startacus team during the LEVELUP day and evening events on April 21 and 22.

Enterprise Week 2021 will be held from Monday April 19 to Friday April 23 and will offer expert support in building business resilience and how to tailor operations and services to meet the unprecedented challenges that the expected reopening of full trading will bring.

Among the highlights in the five-day programme are three Full Circle hosted workshops on Business Resilience, Social Media and Online Advertising.

Full Circle Management Solutions are offering local entrepreneurs an opportunity to avail of free workshops to help grow their business during the Covid recovery phase.

The Business Resilience workshop takes place on Monday April 19 at 10am will be hosted by Leah McStavrick from Full Circle. An introduction to Social Media for Business Users on Tuesday April 20 at 10am is presented by Rachel Gallagher and will detail and discuss the various social media platforms and specific benefits of each dependent on your target market /audience.

On Friday April 23, An Introduction to Online Advertising with Danielle Wilson will show you how to generate and find new quality leads using Facebook and Instagram.

You can register for events at www.derrystrabane.com/enterpriseweek where the full programme is available.