Which dreams have you been keeping in a box?

Hi, my name is Chloe Chung. Together with 13 of my fellow musician and artist friends, I am launching a new community-building concert series, “What I Know About Love”. We are a Sydney-based artist community passionate about understanding how we can live on this changing planet together, and transforming our creative goals into reality - hence the name, Dreambox Collective. We write and perform works that respond and raise awareness of climate emergency and social justice issues. All profits from our ticket sales next year will go towards these causes. We hope you'll join us!

Our Story

I am a freelance flute player based in Sydney: classically trained and also specializing in dizi, the Chinese traditional bamboo flute. I have over seven years of experience in organising and performing in various solo and chamber musical recitals as well as larger scale improvisations, jams, and charity concerts. A big part of my life is also dedicated to music and health education.

The inspiration behind designing this "What I Know About Love" concert series comes from a recurring daydream of mine: what would it would be like to connect climate education, music and arts into one special experience for audiences? What if we can craft the musical journey of our concert sensitively so that while we can create spaces for collective grieving, we can communicate stories of change and transformation that deliver hope, and leave audiences feeling more encouraged, more connected to each other and the world?

The co-artists involved in this collective are dear friends who I have been lucky to play with and learn from in past years. Between the 14 of us, we traverse musical histories and styles drawing from a range of classical and global traditions. 

The Dreambox Collective consists of:

• Alice Chance (composition, voice)
• Amos Ling (pipa)
• Brad Gill (composition, percussion)
• Carlo Antonioli (composition, conductor)
• Chloe Chung (flute, dizi)
• Deepka Ratra (voice)
• Edward Essing (visual artist)
• Georgia Shine (cello, voice)
• Ivan Zavada (composition, multi-media design)
• Jolin Jiang (composition)
• Katarina Grobler (piano, trumpet)
• Pavle Cajic (composition, piano)
• Sandra Rose Brand (visual artist)
• Shaun Premnath (tabla)
  
  

In addition to the artistic team, I am grateful for the remote mentorship and assistance of Natalie Saar (UX design) and Jess Xu (concept design), and Yoyo-Ma's Silkroad Ensemble (Global Music Workshop) as their work continues to inform the creative choices in my concert series design.

The Project

This will be a cross-cultural, multi-stylistic concert series celebrating our collective humanity’s love of nature and humankind. In total there will be four concerts (roughly held every three months) with a new theme explored every season. Each concert will feature a variety of pieces. some will be new works specifically written for the concert series; some are variations on a traditional tune; some pieces include an element of improvisation, and invite audience and other artistic interactions.

For example, the first concert of our 2020 series is called “The Birds and the Bees”, planned for March. Featuring performers/composers/improvisers Alice Chance, Deepka Ratra, Katarina Grobler and myself, we will take our audience on a journey of discovery as we create and learn pieces celebrating our love of the environment. Our music-making will be informed by local research and field trips where we learn about the threats of extinction faced by many Australian bird and bee species. The concert will feature Alice’s interactive piece “Glass Insects”, as well as music and live art installations by our resident artists in the Dreambox Collective. 

I hope by making this concert series we can ignite hope, connection and courage for us to better understand how we can live on this changing planet together – and join our community as we grow to find creative ways to collectively respond to current global events, and explore "What I Know About Love"!

What your pledge will cover:

• artist fees: $300 each (honorarium) x 5 (3 musicians, 1 visual artist, 1 composition commission) x 4 concerts = $6,000
• venue hire (based on Kirribilli Neighbourhood House rate): $60/hour x 4 hours x 4 concerts = $960
• public liability insurance: $38 x 4 concerts (North Sydney Council PLI casual rate) = $152
• Pozible 5% fee: $374.32
• Total: $7,487
  

If our campaign raises above target, we will add stretch goals so that extra funds will go towards:

• pop up performances in different venues throughout Sydney, and potentially interstate!
• recordings

We want every dollar you give to go towards our concerts, so we'll be covering these expenses ourselves:

• marketing
• transport
• all reward materials

Rewards

In return for your support, we're inviting you to join us now so you can be just as excited as we are about creating this community together. There are so many ways to get involved! The various rewards we are offering currently include:

• Sending you lovely DMs straight in your inbox
• Tin of Deepka Chai - handmade by Deepka Ratra, the soprano in our collective (10 available)
• Beautiful handmade paintings, drawings, poems, love letters written by resident artists and writers in our collective which we will post or scan/email to you! (30 available)
• Flute/dizi/Alexander Technique lessons with Chloe Chung (3 available of each)
• Beginner French lessons with Alice Chance (3 available)
• Pipa lessons with Amos Ling (3 available)
• Tabla lessons with Shaun Premnath (3 available)
• Mandarin lessons with Jolin Jiang (3 available)
• Conducting lessons with Carlo Antonioli (3 available)
• Jazz piano lessons with Katarina Grobler (3 available)
• Life drawing lessons with Edward Essing (3 available)
• Percussion lessons with Brad Gill (3 available) 
• Live portrait sessions with resident artists Edward Essing and Sandra Rose Brand
• Personalised Dreambox concerts at your house
  
  

See the “Rewards” section for more information and pricings.