The Boite Takes FLIGHT
On a breezy Sunday evening at Fitzroy Town Hall, The Boite hosts FLIGHT, an event showcasing the next generation of Naarm’s diverse multi-genre music world. With 14 acts on the bill, FLIGHT takes place across multiple spaces within the Town Hall, encouraging you to move about and experience the different sounds these diverse artists have to offer.
The main space, as you walk in, is lit with a big, bright, bulb sign and a lowkey stage setup that beckons you in to watch the artists perform. The other space, The Reading Room, more intimate, begs, for more concentration. It’s more musically stripped too, with often just a singer and instrumentalist. It’s fascinating watching music take place outside of a traditional ‘black box’ kind of environment and, in this case, it’s space that works perfectly for the music it’s giving home to.
There’s a big family vibe about FLIGHT. I see family and friends congratulating artists on their performances, exchanging words of love and appreciation. It reminds me how ingrained music is culturally around the world and how linked the stories we tell through song are to the history weaved within.
“You can’t take the community away from music and vice versa” says Ellen Chan from The Boite. Minhy, artist and participant of The Boite’s professional development program the Portfolio Project (which FLIGHT is the celebratory culmination of), echoes these words of community; “The Portfolio Project gives visibility to stories that we’re not necessarily able to access as easily”.
It’s that sense of binding together as one and exploring, celebrating, each other’s uniqueness through art that is the lovely running thread throughout the conversations I’ve had with the artists at FLIGHT and team The Boite. The fusion of genres on showcase from Japanese city to R&B to country to rock to folk, really made for a wandering showcase of colour. It was so lovely hearing people sing in language and finding the space to express themselves free of the perceived, and at times realistic, constraints that exist in the ‘industry’. I left feeling energised, realising how we ever so need more spaces of expression like the one that was created by The Boite that night.
When I was walking home from the event I happened upon another Leaps & Bounds musical experience, taking place in a nearby park. It makes me wonder how much more connected our communities would become if the music that’s apart of our fabric was showcased more in the public world. FLIGHT was a great celebration of music. I wonder where The Boite will take their musical journey to next.
To explore The Boite and learn about how they create opportunities for culturally diverse music to contribute to a richer, more inclusive Australia, head over to their website and explore the projects and support they have on offer: https://www.boite.com.au/
