First of all, this coming week the Women’s Ministry of Neighborhood Church invites all women, regardless of faith or church affiliation, to a free celebration of Chocolate, Coffee, and the Arts. The event, part of their Summer Nights Out with Women (SNOW) series, takes place at 7pm Thursday July 23rd in D-3, a large upstairs meeting room at the Neighborhood Church of Castro Valley (up the hill at 20600 John Drive, people will happily direct you to D3 or you may call 510-537-4690.) Local artists, writers, designers will host participatory workshops teaching others the fundamentals of their craft in a fun, low-stress setting…and there will be a chocolate fountain, gourmet coffees and snacks. I know most of our readers live thousands of miles from Castro Valley – but this type of event could be replicated elsewhere to celebrate local artists…and we at Synchronized Chaos acknowledge this effort at bringing artists of different disciplines together for mutual education and networking and outreach.
Synchronized Chaos takes the opportunity to pass on information and an invitation to enter the International Songwriting Competition – Festival 4 Stars!
From the organizer, Julia Brunton, and publicist Deana Burke:
Now in its 5th year, Festival 4 Stars is a contest where everybody wins. Every entrant receives written feedback by a panel of music industry heavyweights. Meaning your song will get in front of the right people, even if you aren’t chosen as a finalist.You may learn more about the contest at the official website, Festival4Stars.com
Finalists compete for cash prizes and a trip to London to co-write with professional songwriters and producers.
This year Festival4Stars is delighted to welcome the great songwriter, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees’ and John McLaughlin, famous songwriter, manager & BBC’s Fame Academy judge.
Festival 4 Stars accepts song entries in the following categories, pop/rock, singer/songwriter, country/folk, and r&b/soul/rap. It is open to anyone in the world with the stipulation being that the lyrics are in English. There is a small processing fee ($30) that gets fed back into the program to handle admin fees.
Northern California’s Public Art Academy hosts a professional training series for artists seeking their first public art commissions! Sessions discuss how to apply for a public art commission, concept development and schematic design, documents, contracts, and other legalities. For artists living or working in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties…six classroom sessions on Saturday mornings, three afternoon bus tours, held in different Bay Area cities close to public transit, led by leading public artists and administrators. $150 per student, limited to 50. Online applications due 11 am August 3rd, visit www.callforentry.org and view a prospectus at www.sanjoseculture.org
The Hawaii Writers’ Conference, one of the leading industry events, announces the Writing Channel, full of podcasts, streaming videos, audios, conference transcripts, a chance to learn from published authors including Wendy Wasserstein, Barbara Kingsolver, Stephen Coonts, Nicholas Sparks, etc. Available for less than $20 – HawaiiWritersConference.com
I don’t know about the networking opportunities available through the website…Synchronized Chaos is an attempt at free online networking to replicate that aspect of professional art and writing conferences. However, it seems to be at the very least a valuable educational resource…we’re putting the link out there for everyone. Also we’re working on providing more in the way of advice and professional instruction for writers ourselves…we’d love to speak with you if you’re interested in mentoring other writers or being interviewed for a regular column where published authors share advice on craft and business.