Video Jam is an award winning independent event series dedicated to curating, commissioning and presenting films with live musical accompaniment. We create events in response to a site or theme featuring existing or commissioned work by artists at all stages in their career, which are staged in collaboration with cultural partners across the UK and beyond. We also host an array of other educational projects including workshops, masterclasses and talks, which aim to bring creative people working in the fields of music and film together.
Since 2012, Video Jam has presented over 50 public events in unusual and distinctive spaces, including a hotel rooftop, a glass atrium, underground vaults, and one of the UK's oldest synagogues. We have received commissioned to create events and projects for many major institutions, including the Barbican Arts Centre, FACT, the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry and Abandon Normal Devices, and hosted events internationally in New York City, Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). In 2018 Video Jam won the People’s Award at the first Manchester Culture Awards, and was featured by The Guardian in their list of "unmissable culture" for the year.
We consistently programme emerging and mid career artists alongside one another, working across all areas of film and music. Artists and filmmakers we have worked with include Hetain Patel, Ephraim Asili, Soda_Jerk, Webb-Ellis, Phil Solomon, Jade Montserrat, Victoria Keddie, Simon Faithfull, Maryam Tafakory, Vimukthi Jayasundara and Mitra Saboury. Musicians and sound artists we have programmed and commissioned include Ibibio Sound Machine, Dieter Moebius, Oliver Coates, Sacred Sounds Women's Choir, Chaines, Seaming To, Young Fathers and Micah Gaugh.