Composer, rapper and drummer DOBBY selected for the NATSIMO Screen Composer Intensive, a partnership with the AGSC
The joint initiative aims to support the professional development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander screen composers
Mentors include APRA board member Amanda Brown and composer Antony Partos and working alongside composer, orchestrator and arranger Jessica Wells
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO), in partnership with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), is proud to announce that Sydney-based composer, rapper and drummer Rhyan Clapham, who performs as DOBBY, has been selected for the inaugural NATSIMO Screen Composer Intensive.
The initiative aims to create a pathway to employment opportunities as a screen composer for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander music creators and increase representation in the sector.
Rhyan's immersion into screen composing is just getting underway and will see him composing with screen music luminaries including APRA board member Amanda Brown (Underbelly: Vanishing Act) and Antony Partos from Sonar Music (Mystery Road), as well as working alongside the prolific composer, orchestrator and arranger Jessica Wells (Jigsaw Music).
He will also spend time at Church Street Studios under the auspices of long-established composer Guy Gross (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) and then he is set to record a screen music work at AFTRS under the supervision of Cameron Patrick, Head of Music and colleague Greg Wise.
"I am so gratefully thrilled to be the 2022 recipient of the NATSIMO Screen Composer Intensive program. The amazing team at NATSIMO and AGSC have done such magic work to pull these connections towards Indigenous composers such as myself, creating such pathways that are so painfully lacking in the screen composer/composing industry," said Clapham, who is Filipino and Aboriginal, and a member of the Murrawarri Republic in Brewarrina, NSW.
"I'm so thankful for the team at NATSIMO, AGSC, Church Street Studios and all the composers I have had the opportunity to meet through this life-changing intensive program!"
The AGSC said, "We hope that this first Screen Composer Intensive will facilitate a learning environment that is rich in skills and knowledge and that is the first of many steps towards creating more meaningful engagement between the screen industry and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers and musicians, as well as having culturally authentic voices for Indigenous/First Nations stories.
"The AGSC enthusiastically welcomes the placement of composer and performer Rhyan Clapham as the inaugural First Nations composer to undertake the Screen Composer Intensive."
"Congratulations to Rhyan on his selection. He is not only eager to learn more about the screen composing profession and what the work entails, but is someone who will share his newfound knowledge and networks with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music creators. It's a meaningful opportunity that I hope is the first of many to create pathways for our composers in the screen industry," said Leah Flanagan, Director, NATSIMO.