Sinead, along with Deirdre Young, runs H&G Creations who seek to conceive of and embellish events with their team of conceptual artists, event producers & venue stylists.
Can you tell us about Glitter Tits and its evolution?
Glitter Tits was the brainchild of ours and our in house collective here at H&G. We were inspired by a couple of close friends who produce their own music but felt a little uncomfortable in straight male-dominated spaces where education was being provided. Glitter Tits is all inclusive – we aim to provide a safe, comfortable space for learning for both women and LGBTQ+, though all are welcome.
We only launched this late last year, and the feedback has been immense, some of our students have gone on to play clubs across the city. And we all feel very proud to have been part of the catalyst of their learning and confidence. Next month we have a Glitter Tits crash course provided by one of our tutors on the last course. The wonderfully talented Aimie Mallon from Le Boom who is also an unreal techno DJ. We feel our six crash course students are in for a treat.
Do you feel noticeable changes are taking place regarding addressing the gender imbalance in DJ circles?
Yes, we feel there’s has been a lot of conversation about the imbalance in this industry over the years, notably when big brands like Smirnoff stepped into the conversation. With the likes of their projects “Smirnoff Equaliser” and their sponsorship of festivals like Life Festival with the stipulation that 50% of acts booked need to be female. Although we feel the conversation has been elevated for female acts, we would like to see more space and conversations given to more acts in the LGBTQ+ community.
You created The Love Nest event for Valentines Day – what was it? how did it go? what would you do differently if you were to restage it?
Ah, The Love Nest! What a gorgeous experience, it was our answer to a hallmark day of love such as Valentine’s day, we wanted to encourage people to look inward for love, self-love. We come from varied backgrounds in art and we are always looking for new ways to expose the public to experiencing art and emotion. The Love Nest was an immerse art exhibition with talks and music.
Taking inspiration from our experiences at Burning Man the idea of guests coming with gifts to gift each other, hosting talks about social topics that matter to us like love and intimacy, guest participation instead of consumption, with art and activities on offer. It was really great, we always emit vibrations of love and positivity in all that we do, and as a result we attract those qualities in the guests we attract.
We are very lucky to have the audience that we do and we are so very grateful for their support. We even had a guest come us to us and say “you create safe spaces where I feel I can fully express myself without any judgement” if that doesn’t give you butterflies in the tummy I don’t know what will.
If we had to readjust something we would probably offer more elements around sex positivity/body positivity/consent, there are is a lot of stigma around sexuality, sexual liberation in this country and the world. We would like to spread a message of practicing safe sex/sex education within our community…we need to start the conversations somewhere and what better place then in a club itself.
Hunt & Gather (HG) works in the field of experience whether for weddings or brand events – how significant is getting the right team together for each project? Can you give us an idea of the scope of people you engage with on a project?
We have always kept our business model quite diverse, offering experiences for the public with our events, corporate sector, weddings, brands etc. We host open days regularly and have an online FB group called “H&G Hustlers” to ensure we are engaged with our community, we try and use people within our community for all of our projects. Depending on the size of scope of the project work we might have 25+ people, collectives, suppliers working on any given project with us. It is essential to find the right people to work with and over the years we have built a database of amazing, talented, people who we call on often to help bring ideas to fruition.
What has been your most challenging and gratifying project to date?
Hmm, that’s a good question. I would say, our trip to the House of Yes in NYC last summer. We collaborated with them on one of their in house events “House of Love” in their massive club in Brooklyn. It was pretty challenging with seven months of long thread emails between several people in house on their side and ours. Skype calls with time differences and making sure that nothing got lost in translation.
We wanted to make sure what we were offering / building was exactly in line with their vision for their space, after all we were stepping into their home, a band of gypsy strangers they had never met in real life before (haha). But it was very satisfying when it came together, taking a moment to see friends playing curated music, and our art installation on display in an NYC institution of art and subculture. It really was a thing of beauty and something I know we’re all very proud of.
What are the elementary mistakes people make when they ask for an ‘experiential’ creation?
We think some people are still not quite sure as to what “experiential” creation is… and that’s ok. The way we would describe it is, it is a 360-degree immersive experience, the curation of every element of an event from the moment you walk in the door, to light and set design, art installations, music, live performance, characters/ hosts and all the tiny details in between. We really want to transport any guest or client to a different time, place, world. We usually meet with our clients beforehand to really get a good feel of what they’re trying to achieve so we can then give them the most suitable information on how to bring their vision to life.
Any interesting changes in terms of client requests and demands?
I think the most interesting request we ever had was for a gothic wedding we did in the Chocolate Factory a few years ago, for a real moss runway for the bride. Trying to find that much real flat lay moss was interesting but it certainly was eye-catching and blew all of her guests away.
To celebrate International’s Women’s Day on Friday, March 8 in the Bernard Shaw, H&G Creations are hosting a free pop-up ‘Glitter Tits’ crash course with Aimee from Le Boom (6pm to 8pm). No experience necessary. There are six places available. To enter mail hello@ghhome.ie
hghome.ie
