OPEN > Project - Canterbury's new open mic night for producers, rappers and DJs
New open-mic event by the Big Cheese Co. aims to flip the city’s script
A brand-new event designed at bringing together east Kent’s independent music producers and artists to establish an in-person grassroots scene, is under way in Canterbury.
Open > Project, produced by DIY music promoters The Big Cheese Co., is an open-mic, rap cypher and open-deck opportunity for bedroom producers, solo artists, rappers, collectives and DJs to show off their skills, get some feedback on their art or just meet like-minded collaborators.
Predominantly looking at the genres of R&B, electronic, dance, rap, ‘internet music’ and bedroom pop, Open > Project is the brainchild of Jack Coleman and will begin its first series of events from March until June 2025.
To those in Medway, The Big Cheese Co. is renowned for putting on punk and alternative music gigs with its Kicking Against Nothing programming, which is led mainly by live band line-ups at locations like The Nags Head in Rochester Intra and Poco Loco in Chatham. But in 2024 and after a tour of Kent with gigs at Justine’s in Margate, The Art Club in Dover and The Star Inn in Ashford, Jack decided to branch out.
“I love different genres of music, but I noticed the biggest gap that Kent had was in hip-hop and RnB,” he says. “There are people doing forms of electronic, but it’s all quite ambient and it’s sort of an older crowd. I’m thinking more dance electronics, so sort of bedroom producers. There was a major gap, particularly on the grassroots circuit - there wasn’t any space for it, which seemed bizarre to me, considering that is the primary mode by which music is now produced.”
Awarded funding from Youth Music’s Next Gen Fund, Open > Project will take place on the first Wednesday of every month at the Fruitworks in Jewry Lane. Here, artists, fans and anyone else can hang out, network and enjoy the latest from the local scene - music producers with their latest material, finished or unfinished.
Jack, who studied at the University of Kent between 2018 and 2021, says: “It’s all about creating a nurturing social and cultural space within Canterbury, giving local artists a platform to grow and build a community around what they do.
“I produced Open > Project to create a space that particularly young creatives can feel is theirs and that connects them to the town and to other creatives in a deep, meaningful way. For artists producing in these genres in particular I really feel like this is needed.”
To take part, artists can either apply for a 15-minute performance slot or they show up and play the wildcard slot that is open for all in attendance.
While the events will have a curated line-up to entice people in the first place, the open sessions are there to experiment.
“Each session will have periods where people can basically get on stage and do whatever they want,” says Jack. “Show something they’re working on and invite others to jam with them on stage, produce a track live, do a short DJ mix, or run a beat and host an impromptu rap cypher. That sort of collaboration is encouraged.
“But also they can just do some A&Ring, essentially, where they can show off an unfinished track and be like ‘What do people think?’.
Canterbury has produced some exciting talent in recent years, from the hugely successful PinkPantheress to the rap collective (escape plan), and Jack believes that providing a platform will bring others to the fore.
“Bedroom production is a great way to interact and do things cheaply and quickly without having to pay for a rehearsal studio like bands have to do to make noise,” he says. “But the idea is to bring them out of their bedroom, into the scene and on to the stage.”
The Big Cheese Co. was founded back in 2020 by a group of Medway creatives and musicians who were tired of having their grassroots music exploited by promoters who would demand that the bands themselves would take on the expense of performing and the pressure of selling tickets to limit their own losses.
Since solely taking on the company, Jack has continued the philosophy.
“In our model, we don’t expect anyone to sell anything,” he says. “It feels inherently wrong to me to make that person pay for the privilege of getting up on stage. Musicians should be allowed up on stage - that’s where they belong. There should be no paywall or being punished for not being as big.
“The job of the promoter, as I’ve learned it over time, is to read the wave. Grassroots promoting, there’s a certain level of it being an act of service.”
Open > Project is also aimed at the transient student market in the city, which Jack believes could benefit from a creative outlet.
“I think because students and young people are viewed as just passing through for their studies, there isn’t much space being created for them to engage with the town, or to put into its cultural pot, or to be considered as needing that third place,” he says.
“But Canterbury was a destination for pilgrims, right? A city for people coming from far and wide to convene over a shared spiritual calling. That’s what I want Open > Project to channel and reflect, embracing that history as part of what we’re doing now.”
