Andrew Dartey
Accra Theatre Workshop (ATW) with support from Music In Africa Live (MIAL) on Sunday presented a series of workshops to assist creative artistes on how to live stream a full musical production.
The event provided resource information for musicians to be able to reach a wide audience in a safe manner during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were five sessions facilitated by different industry professionals. Topics covered included how to set up live sound for internet broadcast by David Addo Gyan, CHESE; how to effectively capture video using different types of cameras including phone cameras by Andrew Dartey, Fotodepot Ghana; how to market online content via paid and organic channels by Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, Terra Alta; how to perform for the camera by Emelia Dartey, Accra Theatre Workshop, and how to live stream a performance using different levels of technology by Jamal Shaibu, Red Dot Multimedia.
The event culminates in a demonstration by a musician, using the information obtained from the sessions to stream her own live event.
“The MIAL grant is especially essential in this desperate time when performers have lost a significant source of their livelihood,” says event organiser, Elisabeth Efua Sutherland. “This event will greatly help to break the limitations that have been imposed on performers due to the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Elisabeth Efua Sutherland
The workshop was free-to-view and streamed on November 28, 2020 on Accra Theatre Workshop’s website www.accratheatreworkshop.com/live and is still available to view.
Thousands of African musicians have no doubt been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has occasioned unprecedented lockdowns and restrictions across the continent. Musicians and professionals traditionally make a living from live performances, and now they find themselves in extreme difficulty.
The Music In Africa Live project is one of a number of new projects that the Music In Africa Foundation is introducing this year to support music professionals in Africa.
The project is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, Siemens Stiftung and Goethe-Institut.