Music-wise, this month’s lineup features Gena Rose Bruce, Edward R., Demi Louise and Sinead Beth. “We really loved Gena Rose’s Mad Love EP, and with our main acts we try to get artists that would definitely support them and bring out their best sound,” says Speaker TV subeditor Monique Myintoo. “It’s not so much about curating a night that has certain genre, but it’s more about supporting the artists.”
Since day one, Citizens of the Streets has been interested in placing up-and-coming in a setting that allows them to optimally showcase what they’ve got to offer. “I’m looking forward to Gena because her EP was amazing,” says Myintoo. “In terms of Demi, she’s really killing it, especially with Rivers Run To Red. Selection-wise, it was about going through what’s recommended, what’s sounding good, who’s really upcoming in that kind of genre as well.”
On the visual side of things, this month’s event features live music photography displays from Mikki Gomez and Rochelle Flack, as well as the collage art of Ali Edmonds (who’s also known for making music under the name Ali E).
“We’ve been really lucky so far, because Speaker TV have a lot of contributors from all over Australia and Melbourne, so we’ve been handpicking music photographers that contribute to us,” Myintoo says. “Rochelle Flack and Mikki, they’ve been contributing for quite a long time and their photos are amazing. Ali, she’s established in her own right, so we reached out to her. She’s a great graphic designer and very established in her own aesthetic as well.”
One of Citizens of the Streets’ core aims is to give university students a chance to interact with people of similar interests and ambitions in order expand their social and creative networks.
“We wanted to make an event where we could invite industry guests and university kids and put them in an environment where it’s not so formal,” Myintoo says. “As a student myself, I go to a lot of talks and it’s very formal. You sit there and you listen to a board, and we kind of wanted to get rid of that. We wanted to have an event where you could talk to people, share a drink – just that environment. A lot of our interns are obviously university students as well, so it worked out really well.”
So far the event’s been in a success, both in terms of attracting a crowd and manifesting the original vision. “We did a lot of in-house surveys, so we’d sit down with all of our interns and all of our writers and say, ‘Hey, what would you be interested in seeing? Live music? Art and photography?’ We have a lot of great music photographers on board as well, which is really cool. So it stemmed from that.”
While no industry guests will appear at the September event – at least not formally – being in such a romantic environment as the Shadow Electric, with a few drinks in the belly, it’s still likely to be a highly interactive evening.
“This month it’s more about the artists, which I think is really nice, but definitely still focusing on university students networking,” Myintoo says. “From the first event we had, people were talking to each other. I know someone actually got an internship out of it, which is great.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
