Call for artists project in Ghent: 'ex-homeless wrote and produced their own songs'

Graffiti, a socio-cultural organization in Ghent, has a workshop, called ‘De Zwerfkeet’, that brings people with different backgrounds together to develop their musical talents as a group and to record their own work under the guidance of experienced peers. Zwerfkeet, is a mobile shack that has been converted into a mobile music studio.

The project was supervised by the people of Graffiti and started with two introduction moments, where people got to know each other better, could write lyrics and then chant to rhythm or music. They could also play easy instruments.

After the introduction days, there was an intense week of writing, recording and singing in De Koer. De Koer is a meeting place in the neighbourhood ‘De Brugse Poort’ in Ghent. It is a concrete space in the city as a moving playing field for social and artistic projects and initiatives.

The participants had a wonderful time and learned to know each other better. It was also great to be able to express oneself through music. There was also space for interviews about the participants’ life and about the songs they wrote.

A few weeks after the recording, we reunited with the participants for a presentation of their work. It was a pleasant evening with snacks and drinks. The perfect ending to a great project.

You can see the movie of the project here.