Meeting our Founder, Joanna!

In just a few short weeks, the pilot group of Nomadic Soundsters residents will celebrate the culmination of their year-long collaborative work at the Spring Showcase, and Founding Creative Director Joanna could not be more proud. From navigating shifts in the COVID pandemic to the changing workloads and schedules of their co-collaborators, not to mention the novelty of running the marathon of a year-long residency, it has been quite an adventure to make it to the second showcase. Joanna reflects, “When we (the founding creative team) first created the residency, we envisioned it kind of like a traditional residency in that people who applied would be coming together online to create something. It was, in a sense, created such that the residency was more about the art, but now that we’ve gone through this first year, it really has become about the people.” The resident-centric focus of Nomadic Soundsters has been a big theme for Joanna in setting up this unique experience: “One of the biggest motivators for me was for everyone’s voices to be heard - that’s where the name Nomadic Soundsters came from, people from all over the world coming together to make some noise; to be heard, to be seen, and acknowledged.”

Even as the world grapples with the extent to which in-person activities can safely resume, Joanna is optimistic about the continued future of virtual collaboration. “The traditional residency is more about portfolio building,” she explains, “of course, during those times you may or may not get to know people that you want to collaborate with in the future, but a lot of the time you’re going somewhere specific, and it can be hard for people to stay in touch [after returning home]. Whereas, because we’re virtual, Nomadic Soundsters has people from all over the world that have come together on this virtual platform. [We’ve reversed the tradition], by bringing the residency to [artists], and making these collaborative opportunities more accessible.” The Nomadic Soundsters format may be turning residencies on their heads, but it comes with the challenges of gardening this new landscape into a palatable experience. Joanna admits, “[This kind of residency] is not for everybody, and we learned the hard way. Some people dropped out, either because the residency wasn’t what they thought it would be or because people were just too busy. This is a year-long residency, so it’s more of a marathon, really, and through this first year we’ve gotten to know that there are ebbs and flows. There will be times where things will be quiet, things will turn back, and throughout this year we’ve allowed things to flow organically because we want to see what people will do, what people are comfortable doing, what type of people will flourish in this type of environment.”

So, what types of people does Hui think will be best suited for this residency? Passion is a primary factor that she thinks will determine if an artist should consider joining the Soundsters: “We want people who are passionate about collaboration, who are not afraid to go after things, who genuinely want to meet people that are just as passionate as they are. [People whose values are] in tandem with our missions and values. [I hope] to find people who like to challenge the norm, challenge traditional institutions, people who are passionate about making a difference in the industry. There’s so much work to be done in the arts and entertainment industries to make things more equitable, more accessible, and not so exclusive.”