5–8 June 

Women’s Beat League is a Portland, Oregon collective dedicated to teaching and co-learning DJing and music production skills. Women’s Beat League hosts workshops, lectures and parties focused on representing female-identified and nonbinary views in electronic music. For this study week, Women's Beat League will share and discuss the skills, theory and politics of DJing through workshops, discussions and "open deck" sessions.  

Throughout the week four representatives of Women's Beat League (Alyssa Beers, Felisha Ledesma, Daniela Karina Serna and Kathleen Hong) will provide a supportive environment for participants to learn the basics of DJing on CDJs and will lead discussions, music-sharing sessions and workshops on resistance through sound, personal histories, DIY organising, and gender in electronic music.  

Participants selected for the retreat will also be invited to DJ with Women's Beat League at a special event at DIY Space for London, on Friday 9th June. 

The Study Week will take place between 5th and 8th June 2017 at Wysing Arts Centre. Participants who decide to take part in the event at DIY Space for London are responsible for their own travel and accommodation. 

Selected participants will be asked to bring a USB with songs for DJing (the more you can bring the better). These should be songs with a strong and identifiable beat, of varying tempos and styles which the participant is familiar with.

The deadline for applications has now closed. The successful applicants are: Phoebe Davies, Claire Hall, Madeline Hall, Johanna Hardt, Poppy Moroney, Annabel Other, and Sylvia Ugga.

BIOGRAPHIES  

Alyssa Beers DJs as Nishkosheh, the yiddish word for so-so. Her sets are inspired by up-all-nighters and brass monkeys, overflowing with rippin’ guitars, cheery acid chuggers, and unexpected turns. Her penchant for smooth is matched by her need for the bizarre, drawing influences from a wide array of leftfields from island funk to moody techno. In addition to her work as a founder of Women’s Beat League, she also toils as a community facilitator with her efforts in Pushboard – a weekly events newsletter, and S1 – a local art & music space in Portland, Oregon. 

Kathleen Hong is a DJ interested in the intersections of sound and resistance within a decolonial context. She is a part of the music programming team at S1, Portland. 

Daniela Karina is a DJ and community organiser focused on highlighting marginalized voices. She finds inspiration in emerging transcultural sounds and reinvented ancestral rhythms, bringing the fringes of diasporic club music to the upper left United States. She is cofounder of Women’s Beat League and staff at S1. 

Felisha Ledesma is an artist and organiser based in Portland, OR. Felisha is the Executive Director of S1, an artist-run center that strives to provide engaging, relevant, and critical visual art, performance and education programming. In 2015 Felisha co-founded Women's Beat League with the goal of representing femme and nonbinary electronic musicians. And in 2016 Felisha co-founded the S1 Synth Library which is dedicated to providing education and access around modular synthesis to local, national, and international artists by hosting regular workshops, open library hours, and an artist-in-residence program. Felisha's focus has been providing low or no cost access to art and education in a supportive, nontraditional learning environment.