Guts Meeting Antwerp

SPECIAL EDITION

VOL 1

GUTS P R E W T AN G N I T E E M ONLY 9 9 .

2 € Enjoy the fun of the latest adventures of the GUT S team

Bloeme van Roemsburg Bloeme van Roemsburg well prepared the fifth meeting of the GUTS project that took place in Antwerp on a beautiful location in the centre of town.

Thank you Bloeme.

The food was good, the beer was good, the atmosphere was great, the weather was bad.

THE GUTS TEAM

EUROPE’S LEADING ERASMUS PROJECT

REPORT GUTS MEETING Antwerp, October 23-24, 2023

PROGRESS OF THE PROJECT Portugal ThePortuguese team worked with inmates for 8 weeks, but they felt they needed more time to gain trust, at least 3 months. Inmates are suspicious because they are not used to this type of activity.

Beforehand there were 14 applications, but in the end they worked with small group of 6 really motivated people.

The bureaucracy in a prison makes it complicated to organize this type of activity, even if there is a long-term relationship with the prison.

The conditions also did not cooperate: no rooms available, detainees who had other activities, lack of good equipment.

The positive results of the project: - you do not need bad words for good rap music - storytelling is important to reflect your life and feelings - even outside the workshops, they continue to work on the raps, making videos and sending them out.

- it is important to set an end point. after all, you are never finished - videos were taken with permission from the detainees, now waiting for permission from management to share them.

Belgium The Guts workshops are organised in 3 Belgian prisons. PI Turnhout, PI Merksplas and PI Dendermonde.

The first workshop took place in PI Turnhout. The call for participation in the project resulted in not many applications. PI Turnhout is a detention house where prisoners are held in pre-trial detention. In the May/June period, many prisoners were transferred to other prisons due to lack of space. This made it difficult to form a permanent group for these workshops during the planned period. Nevertheless, 4 workshops and a presentation event were organised between 20 and 29 June 2023. The group originally consisted of 5 participants, eventually 4 participants attended the full series of workshops. The infrastructure in this old prison was far from ideal. The workshops took place in the prison's chapel , where unfortunately the acoustics were poor. The final recording took place in a separate classroom. Two participants brought their own created texts, for them the storytelling section was not really addressed. The other participants were helped step by step by the facilitator, a rapper himself, to put their lyrics on paper.

They received help from the two other participants.

Filming was not possible, only photos without facial recognition were allowed. The result is one rap song that the different participants worked on.

One beat was chosen, to which a compilation of their different lyrics was sung. They also worked with older participants than the original target group. The presentation moment coincided with the proclamation at the end of the school year, where the inmates received their diplomas for the classes they had attended. The GUTS participants, provided the musical backdrop and jointly performed the result of the workshops there. The opportunity to freestyle rap afterwards was well appreciated.

The workshops in PI Merksplas went similarly. Lots of enthusiasm at first, but still only 5 people actually participated in the workshops. The conditions in this old prison were not ideal here either. There were 4 group sessions, a presentation and a recording day. The participants did not all speak Dutch or very poorly, which sometimes made communication somewhat difficult. The positive attitude of the director in Merksplas made it possible to organise the presentation moment on 25 October outside on the walk where the GUTS delegation, about 20 fellow prisoners and some prison staff were also present. Chips, a drink and live music created a relaxed atmosphere.

At PI Dendermonde, a new high-security prison, the workshop will continue in November 2023. The facilitator here is also a rapper and has been working with this target group for years. We combine the rap workshops with a stop motion workshop to make the accompanying music video.

Norway 2 pilots have been realized, in a high and low security prison.

10 inmates were able to work in a studio with all facilities: first searching for a beat, using all available instruments, storytelling.

Some inmates took issue with the phenomenon of rap music because "that's for criminals”.

Video’s are made, but can only be used without facial recognition.

- It would be good if we translated the texts on the videos and subtitled them in English.

Maybe we should make a magazine with the texts and translations

Italy It has not been possible to work in prison yet.

Work has been done with a social worker working in a difficult neighborhood with high crime and drug use. A music producer who has given workshops in that neighborhood has also been approached.

Workshops storytelling, lyrics songs and music beats were conducted outdoors.

Netherlands Of the 16 detainees notified, 8 were eventually worked with.

In a period of 3 weeks there were 4 sessions of 30 minutes with every inmate.

It is based on a positive message: music, skill development, promotion (video, podcast) and merchandise. Detainees were treated as artists, it was their moment of shine A conscious decision was made to learn to manage limited time and a clear structure.

Session 1 was used to get to know eachothe[MOU1] r and choose a beat.

Session 2 was about writing and rewriting a text Session3 the recording Session 4 the videorecording.

The first session was in the group, and the beat was chosen. After that we worked individually with the inmates with two facilitators. One for the music and recording, the other for the content. A studio was build with own equipment.

All the material has been recorded, but we don't have permission to go outside with it yet.

For merchandise we let them make a mindmap[MOU1] . If negative words are used, we start a conversation about what it is related to, and ask them to make something positive out of it.

Then they have to choose 1 word and we make a design.

They cut the word out of vinyl themselves and that is printed on the T-shirts. We provide them with all the tools so they can do the whole creation process themselves. They experience that they can do it themselves and that it is very affordable.

It is an intensive way of working, but we try to show them how to be an entrepreneur. It is not only about making music, but also about skill development: the looks, the booking, an agent, author rights, merchandise, marketing.

We would like to start a community, so the project will continue after the official end date.

Mihai Puscoiu introduced the idea of a GUTS RECORD LABEL. He explaned about the world wide label system: · Major labels, multinational companies (Universal music group, Sony music, Warner music) · Independent Labels Good deals with artists 50%/50%. More influence of the artist on the product. · Sub labels An own brand in music recording, with own rights by a publicing company that takes care about streaming, radio, tv, positive publicists, merchandise.

Mihai will send his presentation with info.

PRESENTATION “How, why, for whom and under which circumstances do music programs in prison work?” by Silke Marijnissen from the University Brussels (VUB) She shared the outcomes of her PHD About the effect of music in prison programs.

The context is very important, because it shows that the same program can turn out very differently due to different circumstances.

Presentations - Google Drive https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1Hvwe8_hYkZUsFVl4CqIEt4rFe5Ve2yI The context is very important, because it shows that the same program can turn out very differently due to different circumstances.

TOOLKIT The goal is to create RAP songs. Storytelling is an important tool.

We need information, and different tools as inspiration to realise storytelling. Methods and materials to create selfexpression. No rules, but inspiration.

The manual for this project has been created.

The toolbox is part of the manual and describes the steps detailed.

It starts with the music, the beats, and than the content by storytelling and different forms There will be 25 songs in total: Italy 2 songs with video x lyrics Belgium 2 songs with video x lyrics Portugal 2 songs with video x lyrics Norway 10 songs with video x lyrics Netherlands 10 songs with video x lyrics In different chapters themes and artforms will be described: conditions, methods, inspiration, best practices, links and QRcodes.

It should be an online toolkit, an interactive PDF. Remarks partners -where to start -goals -target groups -why use this toolkit -visual ways to explain the toolkit -easy to follow -not to general -differentiation -connection to the manual, also in design To Do PERMISSION: Each partner will check locally the permission if video’s / photos taken in prison in the framework of the GUTS -project can be used for the final festival REPORTS: Each partner makes a report & evaluation of their workshops > send to Roberto · OUTPUT & RESULTS: · PILOTS /WORKSHOPS: o Italy needs to realize the pilots asap. o Finishing all pilots before end JAN ‘24

RAPSONGS + VIDEOCLIPS o There will be 25 songs in total o Italy 2 songs with video x lyrics o Belgium 3 songs with video x lyrics o Portugal 2 songs with video x lyrics o Norway 10 songs with video x lyrics o Netherlands 10 songs with video x lyrics o Video’s and text songs + subtitling send to Torbjorn.

(30 JAN 24) LYRICS All texts/lyrics (original + EN version)have to be send to Ed Send subtitles, text songs to Ed. He will make a booklet with the original text and a translated text in English.

Also send 2 screenshots of the video’s with the songs.

TOOLKIT § each partners send all input for toolkit > send to Alice (before 13NOV) § TRANSLATION TOOLKIT > If the toolkit is ready it needs to be translated. (Norwegian / Dutch / Italian/ Portuguese) Final EN version > send to Bloeme. She will translate this with Deepl PRO DISSEMINATION Important that each partner disseminate MAXIMUM the results of this GUTS project through all possible means of communication (meetings, soc.media, media, websites, publications, talks, conferences, ….)

List all references of publication (important for final report) POLICY RECOMMANDATIONS > first draft > FEB 2024 MULTIPLIER EVENTS Each partner has to organize a local Multiplier event to disseminate the results of the project.

Minimum number of participants = 20 pax (do not forget to make a signature list!)

Has to take place between Februari and April 30 2024 we all have to organize events for locals (at least 20P).

FESTIVAL (April 2024) A committee will be formed to organize the festival in Norway.

Torbjorn, Bloeme, Alice, Joanna, Roberto, Ankie · Torbjorn will make up a more detailed festival program Next meeting Oslo 14+17 of April travel 15 + 16 April meeting in two different prisons FESTIVAL is planned on 1 day, MONDAY APRIL 15, 2024 Torbjorn will organize transport to the prisons Advise for stay in Oslo: close to the railway station.

Ankie will try to find some suggestions.

DEADLINES Festival Committee Torbjorn, Bloeme, Alice, Joanna, Roberto, Ankie ONLINE MEETING > NOVEMBER 16 at 4pm Toolkit > all documents > send to Alice ONLINE MEETING TOOLKIT > DECEMBER 5 at 11am TRANSLATION TOOLKIT > Deadline end December 2023 ONLINE MEETING FINAL TOOLKIT > 22 DEC at 10am Lyrics (original + EN version) send to Ed DEADLINE > ANUARI 15 2024 Video’s and text songs + subtitling send to Torbjorn DEADLINE > JAN UARI 30 2024 MULTIPLIER EVENTS > locally organized between FEB > APRIL 2024 All documents for final report (Timesheets/ signature lists/, ….

DEADLINE > APRIL 30 2024

MEAN IT DON’T IF IT , G N I H T A THAT T O G T ’ N AI SWING

6 1 5 1 L I R P A 2024

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