Get Seen 2015 comes to the West Yorkshire Playhouse

[Image courtesy of West Yorkshire Playhouse] 

 

Get Seen 2015 is a wonderful opportunity for regional artists and groups to perform in front of a local audience, casting directors and agents in venues across Yorkshire. Created by STAY and run in partnership with Arts Council England, West Yorkshire Playhouse, CidaCo and West Yorkshire Theatre Network, Get Seen 2015 aims to showcase the talents of culturally diverse and minority artists. And what fantastic talent!

 

The show will feature performances from spoken word and hip-hop artists right through to dancers and singers. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to chat with one of the fabulous performers, singer-songwriter Bianca Gerard.

 

[Image courtesy of biancagerald.com]

 

TSOTA: You’re one of the performers at the Get Seen event. Are you excited? What will you be performing?
BG: It’s great to be back on the West Yorkshire Playhouse stage! It’s a beautiful venue. I started out on that stage – one of my first performances took place at the WYP as part of a talent show, so it’s lovely to be back.

I’ll be performing some songs from my debut EP, The Butterfly EP – I can’t wait!

 

TSOTA: Is the Leeds community personally important to you? How has it helped your development as an artist?
BG: Leeds has such a great music scene, and we do really need to develop and encourage this community. It’s important that we support all genres and styles of music. As a singer-songwriter of experimental soul, Get Seen is an amazing opportunity to meet new people and share a less well-known style of music.

We have an arena here in Leeds now, so it would be great to see local acts performing there. There’s such strong talent here and I’m excited to share my music with others at the Get Seen 2015 event.

 

[Image courtesy of biancagerald.com]

 

TSOTA: What was the selection process like?
BG: The selection process was quite mixed, which gave performers a wide range of opportunities to put their work forward.

 

TSOTA: What is it like to perform with artists of other disciplines?
BG: It’s always nice to see other performers do their own thing, and we’re all very supportive of each others’ work so it’s been a great experience.

 

TSOTA: What’s next? Any exciting projects coming up?
BG: I’m focusing on writing my own songs at the moment. My dream is to write songs for both myself and other artists, so I’m working hard to chase that dream. Get Seen has given me the opportunity to put my work out there and my focus is to carry on taking other similar opportunities to share my music.

I self-released my debut EP and and I’d also like to release an album soon.

 

[Image courtesy of biancagerald.com]

 

TSOTA: If you could give advice to another artist just starting out, what would you say? 
BG: Believe in yourself. No matter how many closed doors you get (and you’re more than likely going to get them at some point!) just keep breaking down those doors. Be prepared to work hard to practice and perfect your skill, and have confidence in your ability. I’d also encourage other artists to be around others in their creative field, take as many opportunities that come their way and live and breathe what they want to do.

 

It was a joy to speak with Bianca – a truly inspirational woman who will no doubt take the stage by storm at Get Seen 2015!

 

Get Seen Leeds is happening on Monday 20th July at West Yorkshire Playhouse. STAY will also be running  Get Seen 2015 Hull and Get Seen 2015 Doncaster this year.

 

Sophie Joelle