We had no idea what to expect from this ‘Your Stories in Song’ gig, fully anticipating an empty library, but were pleasantly surprised. Three people had come specifically and came to sit with us for the whole set, a few others wandered over and sat for a while having heard us while they were visiting the library. The most we had seated at any time was 5. The staff were helpful, getting chairs set up and having rearranged the space to create a performance area for us. We’d delivered some posters and leaflets a few weeks earlier which seemed to come as a surprise at the time so we wondered if they would actually be expecting us!
We did lots of taking about the stories shared so far and the audience asked questions back and created discussions which was excellent. The librarians said that many people came to the counter with their books to say how much they enjoyed hearing us while they were browsing. There probably would have been room to use a PA but there was no need and we had agreed to play acoustically. This particular ‘Your Stories In Song’ gig was more about engagement and discussion and performance rather than the songwriting element hence we didn’t even attempt a group song. It really wouldn’t have been appropriate.
It had taken a lot of emails backwards and forwards, library visits and telephone calls to get to play in the library. The original contact we had discussed the project with was very enthusiastic and had said she would put us in three libraries, which we included in our funding bid, but then she was off sick for quite a while and when we finally managed to get back in touch it turned out that those libraries were being re-organised so couldn’t accommodate us. That was frustrating after spending so much time on communications, but Jim found another contact after a few ‘phone calls who ran with the project and booked us for the gig at Hailsham Library and has since come back with 2 more confirmed dates for Hampden park and Battle libraries. The Hailsham Library gig was promoted on their East Sussex Libraries Instagram account.
This gig was funded by the lottery grant so we got paid from funds and it cost the library nothing. We’re looking forward to the next 2 library gigs.