Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 graduates did not get the showcase and opportunities that they deserved. Chapter Next is a project to professionally record a collection of brand-new songs written by Gerber and Allen-Martin ahead of performing a concert series (when safe to do so), with musical direction from Gerber and direction from Tori Allen-Martin. The pair will also be looking at alternative measures such as online concerts to ensure participants as many opportunities as possible.
‘Training is expensive and the industry is brutal, 2020 graduates didn’t get the opportunity to finish their training properly – they missed out on their final chapter of training – the part where you get to hone your craft by performing in front of live audiences and showcasing in front of agents. It’s always hard to start out in this industry and in this current climate, it’s even harder. We have to keep nurturing, lifting and developing new talent and we have to give them spaces to find their own voices’. Says Allen-Martin.
‘Adam and I have always been passionate about new writing and new talent. To give performers the opportunity to originate a song, really make it their own and have us make changes around them, so that they are left with a professionally recorded song, and performance that shows them to the best of their ability is the kind of thing I would’ve jumped at when I was starting out. It can be so hard to be seen, and especially difficult to find your own voice in a world that moulds us into whatever came before. We hope that by working with these students and creating around them, we’ll really help them to access a part of them that feels truly authentic. We hope to lift their confidence and shout about them and ultimately find alternative ways to ensure that their talent is heard. It’s been a difficult and uninspiring time for us all, so we hope that this project will breathe a bit of life into the beginning of their next chapters, and hopefully elevate these graduates in a time that feels otherwise stagnant. It will also serve as a great database of new performers and also new songs for graduates looking to expand their repertoire. We hope to make sheet music and backing tracks available also.’
Tori and Adam met working on new musical Muted at The Bunker Theatre in 2016 and both having such a passion for new writing have wanted to work together ever since. Chapter Next has become a real passion project, with them spending their free time creating the album, inspired initially by working with students at They Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. ‘We are working on a project like this with them for their final project and we wanted to create pieces that felt truthful to them so the initial songs were born out of that – and about considering what young people are going through and how they’re feeling navigating these crazy times, starting proper adulthood when the world is on fire really – why crowbar them into previous experiences, why not let them tell their own stories? Let them find their own voices. Our Central students were so brilliant and inspiring and we just wanted to extend that, bring more graduates into the mix. Why not? We have to start thinking outside of the box, because who knows when things will go back to normal or if they ever will’.
To be considered for the project, please visit the Chapter Next website, where you can fill out a simple form and upload a video of you singing a song that you feel connected to and that shows off your skill. The quality of the recording isn’t overly important – as long as we can hear you and see the kind of performance you give.
The deadline for sending submissions is Friday 21st August, and you can apply here – https://www.adamgerber.co.uk/chapternext
Adam and Tori as creatives themselves have also been hit hard by the pandemic having had the majority of their work cancelled and they currently have no funding for this project. ‘We are determined to make it happen, and we will, but if we could raise a bit of funding to help us get a better studio than our own home setups, and also if we could pay these graduates for their time as well as give them the finished product, that would be the dream, and so we are asking you to give a little or a lot to help us fund these brilliant future superstars, and give them the lift, support and platform they so deserve.’ You can support their justgiving page here – https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/chapter-next or you can reach them directly via the website to offer space or time, all donations and support is welcome.
