Rizoom Foundation
Helping young makers further their artistic development
The talented makers of new music and sound art often have plenty of questions about how the cultural sector actually works. Things like how to network, where to find funding, and how to deepen their artistic practice. For this reason, makers are assigned a mentor from one of Rizoom’s partner organisations. This enables them to fast-track their artistic entrepreneurial development.
Rizoom is a hub for makers whose work is hard to categorise and for music that defies labelling. It’s a partnership between seven major music venues and festivals. It supports up-and-coming talent early in their careers. The focus is on makers experimenting with new forms and visual language. The foundation shares its discoveries across its organisations with young people who are drawn to the themes explored by these new artists. This, in turn, opens up a new audience for venues and festivals.
A personal voyage of discovery
The programme begins with a personal development plan, which is followed by an artistic process of discovery. The young maker is given access to rehearsal studios, technical facilities and back-office resources. Furthermore, each participant is assigned a mentor and paired with experienced practitioners from relevant disciplines, providing support for their personal artistic exploration. This might include marketing advice. Opportunities are also provided for participants to present their work to an audience in the form of trial performances. By 2025, the programme will have supported four makers in this way. Starting in 2026, that number will increase to between eight and ten.
Innovation and continuity
Toward the end of the programme, makers are given the opportunity to present their work at one of the participating venues or festivals. After this, Rizoom remains in touch with them and invites them, for example, to coach a new cohort of talents through peer-to-peer mentoring. This allows the artists to share current work with programmers from the network. In this way, innovation, development and continuity go hand in hand.