HOPE Portsmouth

After a good three months hard work the young people of the after school academy finally took to the stage to show off their moves and their sounds in front of a packed audience. It was a great atmosphere and each act was extremely well received! In association with our record label Backbeat Records there were performances from the Big Shot Bandanas, Split Personalities, the Kings Dance Crew and the HOPE Video mentees with a cracking music video.

The entire gig was recorded and so each participant will get a free DVD with the gig on. And of course some extra behind the scenes footage as well! We hope that these will be ready in about a months time, but will keep you posted on here.

Photos of the event will be coming soon!

Today was a good day. Our two bands, the Big Shot Bandanas and Split Personalities got a slot on prime time Express FM to talk to the guys down there and get their demos played on air. It was a great show and a fantastic experience for these young guys. Not only that, thousands of people got to hear their demos!

We will be getting the interviews uploaded soon so that you can listen to them at your lesuire, but for now sit tight!

We are getting very excited around here at the moment as we are all gearing up for the HOPE Showcase Gig on May 16th at 7:30pm in association with Backbeat Records (the record label we have set up to promote our young musicians). The gig will showcase all the hard work that has been going on around here for the past 12 weeks giving the young people a chance to really show off their stuff. The gig is being held at the Kings Centre on Elm Grove – entrance is free and all are welcome!

Performing on the night we have:

• The Big Shot Bandanas
• Split Personalities
• The Kings Crew Dancers
• Leanne Bourne
• The HOPE Video team

It promises to be an amazing night! Contact us if you need more information…

Our after school academy has been going now for nearly eight weeks and the guys who have attended have been doing a variety of things including a recording of a couple of demo tracks for a CD that will be released on the night of the showcase gig on our label Backbeat Records. The tracks so far are sounding incredible and a real testament to the guys in the bands. They have come a long way and we are really proud of the sound they have got.

You can listen to the MP3′s here.

We are pleased to announce that the HOPE After-School Academy will be starting very soon! After the success of the Summer Academy we want to offer a similar, yet unique academy that will run after school for 12 weeks starting on February 5th 2009. (more…)

So – it has taken us quite a few months, well nearly 3 to be precise. But the DVD of this years summer academy is finally ready! It has taken quite a lot more work than I had envisaged – but man, it was so worth it. Putting the DVD together had reminded me of just what a fantastic week it was, how stunning the gig was and what a great laugh it was to be doing creative things for a whole week.

The DVD was put together by myself and Mark Rose who did all of the video editing. He worked very hard at that and so a huge thank you goes to him. The DVD is packed with extra features including a directors commentary (well perhaps not a directors commentary, but me, Mark and a few others!), a behind the scenes movie shot by the video mentees as well as all the Banzai videos we made for the week.

I’d love to hear any comments you have got about the DVD. Also if you would like to order any extra copies then you can do so on this page. Order them and we’ll send them right out…

It is shocking that the HOPE project has been running for so many years now without a web-site! However, we’ve pulled our fingers out and there is now a place for you to go for all things HOPE. Whether that be information about mentoring or whether you want to purchase more CD’s or DVD’s – this is the place to find it. (more…)