the blog

In Victorian times Tromsø earned the moniker ?Paris of the North? but not for obvious reason of architecture, oh no, it was so called because the ladies of this Arctic Circle outpost were wearing the latest fashions before the rest of Scandinavia. Today the adage still holds true and despite its diminutive size and remote […]Read More

Summer Sundae Weekender’s over for another year, but we?re still on a high.  What a fantastic weekend!  Not only did the weather do us proud, more importantly we had a really great programme of artists this year in the Phrased & Confused tent, and the overall quality was awesome.  A real highlight was the four […]Read More

We?re finally coming down from our Fertilizer festival buzz, but luckily we?ve had lots of love from audiences about this year?s good s**t from Poland to keep us pepped up: ?It was bloody brilliant!? ?Killer show!? ?I love Polish jazz?. Want to re-live the atmosphere? Check out our podcast with the touring trio of Sing […]Read More

After working through some 75 proposals from poets around the country, we?re really pleased to announce that we?ve commissioned Joshua Idehen, Sifundo & Jamal Msebele, Hannah Silva & Alexis Kirke and Sound of Rum to create new material for the Phrased & Confused stage at Summer Sundae Weekender (14-16 August 2009).   Find out more about […]Read More

We?re really excited to be able to commission four spoken word artists to create new material for this year?s Summer Sundae Weekender in Leicester (thank you Arts Council England!) Each commission is worth £1000. We?re looking for new work which responds to the question, Which Came First, The Music or the Words? and which will […]Read More

Fertilizer 2009? Good S**t From Poland is nearly upon us!! And here at the Fertilizer HQ we?re busy putting together the final touches, ready to hit you with a plethora of underground sounds and leftfield new music. The venues are booked, the artists have their flight tickets and we?re ready to go with this year?s […]Read More

Following the success of the first ever Mayor?s Music Education Summit, which was produced by the hub in January 2009, the GLA has recently announced a new Trainee Music Education Project Officer post.Read More

Phrased and Confused heads off on tour this May, taking an irresistible mix of song-writing genius and spoken word to venues in Bracknell, London, Norwich, Derby, Stockton and Exeter. We?ve invited some of our favourite songwriters and poets to climb aboard the tour bus, get lyrical and explore the spaces between poetry and music. Expect […]Read More

After its sell out success last year the hub are once again working with our friends at International Pen to produce The Insulting Cabaret. The event is a key part of Pen’s fantastic free the word festival. This year the Insulting Cabaret takes place at Southwark Playhouse on Friday 17th April starting at 10pm. Once […]Read More

Life as the hub’s Fertilizer Festival Intern has been fantastic so far, nearly 3 weeks in and I feel like I’ve been here 3 months! That is due to not only to being made to feel very welcome and at home by the lovely directors and hub ‘family’ but also from the fact that there’s […]Read More