AVA London, the longest-standing music event of it’s kind, returned to the capital in an all-new format. The annual multi-day festival and conference featured Brian Eno, Charlie XCX, Laurent Garnier, Elijah, United Visual Artists, Grace Ladoja, Donna Grantis, Resident Advisor, It’s Nice That, Amy Lamé & many more participants and artists across some of London’s most dynamic venues including: KOKO, HERE at Outernet, The Standard and The British Library.
AVA London is an annual multi-day event series and conference which brings together electronic music and digital arts communities in a showcase event of cutting-edge performances, new technologies and culture across a three-day and night programme of talks and live shows.
AVA London provides a platform for industry professionals, artists and culture enthusiasts to gather, discuss and ignite the industry. Our goal is to push the boundaries & help shape the future of culture in the biggest city for culture in the world.
Conference Schedule
Opening Keynote
Brian Eno & Donna Grantis – Does Music Help? (Presented by EarthPercent)
Musician, producer, visual artist and activist, Brian Eno will open the conference on Thursday with a keynote conversation with acclaimed Canadian guitarist and activist Donna Grantis in association with EarthPercent. Eno's role in the advancement of society for the better is a crucial one and EarthPercent, the charity he co-founded, works with an expert panel of scientists, researchers and activists to identify and support some of the most impactful organisations addressing the climate and biodiversity emergency. For more information on EarthPercent visit www.earthpercent.org
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Keynote Q&A with Chal Ravens
Charli XCX (Resident Advisor Exchange Live)
Resident Advisor brings its weekly interview podcast The Exchange to the British Library for a live conversation with a true icon of modern pop music: Charli XCX. Ahead of her eighth full-length release – rumoured to be a love letter to the club inspired by her '00s rave experiences – the Ivor Novello-winning songwriter will shine a light on her creative process and her collaborations with agenda-setting contemporaries like A. G. Cook and SOPHIE.
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Keynote Q&A with Séamas O'Reilly
Laurent Garnier
Laurent Garnier requires little introduction. At 58, the legendary French artist, musician and DJ has gracefully transitioned from dance music's l'enfant terrible to its elder statesman, without ever losing sight at what he does best; commanding a dancefloor. For this special keynote Q&A, author and journalist Séamas O'Reilly talks candidly with Garnier about his life, his music and the secrets to his success in keeping that passion alive.
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Friday Keynote
Elijah Presents “If you love music, you should learn how to DJ”
Elijah: If you love music, you should learn how to dj: A lecture exploring our relationship with music, exploring what a DJ has been, is today and can be in the future. Inspired by 15 years of writing and DJing online, and an extension of a thread posted as part of Elijah's Yellow Square series on Instagram.
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Grace Ladoja
Grace Ladoja will also joins the talks programme. The Founder of Homecoming Festival and Platform. a cultural exchange between Africa and the world and co-founder of the prestigious Metallic Inc, a global cultural studio and Manager to global artist Sarz (credits include, Beyonce, WizKid, Skepta, Tems plus many more). Grace’s previous work as Skepta’s Manager behind his Mercury Prize-winning Konnichiwa campaign alongside launching Homecoming Festival in Nigeria, has seen her taking the Nigerian charts to global audiences. A creator who has garnered respect globally for her work in recent years, Grace was recognised with an MBE in 2018 for her outstanding services to music.
16:00 - 16:45 - Friday @ KOKO Theatre
Keynote Q&A with Kira Ashwin (TikTok)
TikTok in conversation with: Kenya Grace
TikTok will join the event to present a keynote conversation with special guest speaker, Kenya Grace, an artist who has taken the industry by storm, had a UK No.1 single with ‘Strangers’ and utilised the TikTok platform to carve out a new lane for themselves.
Speakers:
Kenya Grace
Kira Ashwin (TikTok)
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Keynote Lecture
United Visual Artists
Matt Clark, founder of United Visual Artists (UVA), guides us through a compelling 20-year journey of UVA's art practice. Drawing inspiration from Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopias, Clark delves into the significance of these 'other spaces' – realms that redefine our perceptions and introduce new experiences of the world. The presentation will reflect on UVA's pioneering projects spanning live performance environments to art institutions and public spaces, highlighting the interdisciplinary approach that has reshaped audience interactions with performative art.
12.00 - Thursday @ The British Library
Digital arts focussed Q&A
Creating New Realities: It’s Nice That & Pitch Studios
Pitch Studios is a digital arts studio and creative consultancy based between London and Amsterdam and made up of Christie Morgan and Chris Golden. The pair work with emerging technologies to translate ideas into visual narratives and digital experiences, and have produced projects for clients including the Barbican Centre, Google, SPACE10, Nike, Tate and the V&A. At AVA London, Christie and Chris will be sitting down with It’s Nice That’s editor-in-chief Matt Alagiah to discuss their careers to date, the role that creative technology plays in Pitch’s work, and the studio’s “empathetic” approach to art and design.
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Easol Presents: Creators In Session LIVE
The Art Of Event Curation
Programming line-ups, championing the arts and nailing creative direction, representing marginalised grassroots communities, from homegrown talent to unsung heroes. This panel brings together four promoters from different corners of the music industry to discuss what makes an event transcend the sum of its parts to become an unmissable experience. Pau Cristòful (Primavera Sound) Sarah McBriar (AVA) Derek Debru (Nyege Nyege) Nathaneal Williams (Colour Factory) Ben Turner (IMS) Host: Lisa Simpson (Easol)
13.00-13.45 - Thursday @ The British Library
Keynote Panel with AFEM
The Future of International Nightlife
The International night time economy is constantly evolving – this panel brings in perspectives from those in policy-making and lobbying for change to global media platforms, festival and club promoters. Featuring: Amy Lamé (London Night Czar), Lutz Leichsenring (Berlin Club Comission), Judy Griffith (fabric), Amy Van-Baaren (RA) - Hosted by Georgia Taglietti (AFEM)
14:00 - 14:45 - KOKO Theatre
Trippin Presents
Beyond hype: how micro scenes are influencing global trends
'Beyond hype: how micro scenes are influencing global trends' with speakers DJ Lomalinda (TraTraTrax), Romana - Co-Founder (Masterplano), Derek Debru - Co-Founder (Nyege Nyege), Paul Geddis - Head of International Press (Sónar), Kesang Ball (Trippin)
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Re-Queering Dancefloors
Re-Queering Dancefloors
Over the decades, dance music and nightclubbing has become an easily accessible commodity, peddled to the global masses. It's often forgotten that the roots of dance music and nightclubbing come from queer underground spaces. Since the 2010s there has been a resurgence of innovation and reclamation of these spaces from the underground up. Led by passionate individuals; focussed on the music, the artists and the audience. For this panel, we gather a diverse panel of event organisers from different corners of the LGBTIQ+ scene to discuss the ins-&-outs of organising parties–for queer people, by queer people.
Speakers: Alex Nikolov - (Lexa Services/Vampire Studio/Primavera Sound), Romana - (MasterPLANO), Cass O'Grady - (Playbody / Boiler Room)
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*Featured
Closing Keynote
The Game Changers
AVA invites 4x key industry professionals, who throughout their career have played a role in facilitating a significant shift in the way of thinking about the landscape of electronic music, through artist management, bookings, partnerships, festival creation and promotion. Speakers: ✷Jamz Supernova - Artist & DJ, BBC 6 Host ✷ Josh Mateer - Head of A&R, TikTok / SoundOn ✷ Diluk Dias, CEO & Founder, AEI ✷ Amy Frenchum - Artist Manager (Ezra Collective, Yazmin Lacey) ✷ Kate Hutchinson - Host
17:00 - 18:00 - Friday @ KOKO Theatre
VENUES
MEDIA PARTNERS
RESIDENT ADVISOR – IT’S NICE THAT – AFEM –
EARTH PERCENT – FOUNDATION FM – BRITISH COUNCIL – ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND – TYX STUDIOS
Want to partner with us? get in touch here.
PAST CONTRIBUTORS
SPEAKERS
HOT CHIP – DAVID RUDNICK – IRVINE WELSH – WEIRDCORE
SHERELLE – COURTESY – JAGUAR – TONY ANDREWS
KINK – CARL COX – ELIJAH -KODE9 – MALA
ARTISTS
MAX COOPER [LIVE] – MALL GRAB – DJ SEINFELD
LOGIC1000 – BRAME + HAMO – GEORGE FITZGERALD
PROSPA – SURUSINGHE – HELÈNA STAR – EMA – KINK