Community + Festival

People helping people through the arts

Community + Festival

People helping people through the arts

Why?

Socio-economics & mental health

The creative & performing arts are experiencing an emergency due to the CoronaVirus. With campaigns such as #SaveOurVenues, we need to encourage, enable & inspire collaboration, communication & community, provide relevant education and empower artists, creatives & performers in all fields as well as those in associated roles to continue to be active and to make money doing what they love.

With your help, CheekyFest will re-embolden the arts around the world! As most of the world struggles with the social, economic and mental health impact of the CoronaVirus through 2020, artists need to be able to pay rents / mortgages, buy enough food to feed themselves & their families and maintain their wellbeing. Creatives are not a priority for most governments; for the arts and the people to survive the pandemic, we must keep our them alive.

'Being in bands made me feel valued. Being in choirs made me feel valued. Music ensembles are welcoming places. People need to feel valued and part of something authentic, meaningful, and purposeful. Music ensembles provide this, and more. Being in an ensemble teaches you to think about, & value, those around you. The magic of collaborative creativity is manifested through friendship. Just as music strengthens our neural pathways, it also strengthens our connection pathways. When you make, rehearse, and perform music with others, you bond beyond the norm. You bond for life. Music bonds us. The Arts is where we finds our voice, where we realise that our unconventional thinking makes sense, where we discover that we're not alone, where we come out of our shell; where we find ourselves.' [Adapted from Tweets @VFleischfresser]

"Always remember that the reason that you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself you felt that if you could manifest it in someway, you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist with the rest of society." (Bowie)

Cheeky Fest supports creative / performing artists; the Cheeky Foundation will provide funding to keep artists, creatives & performers alive & venues open through the pandemic and post-Covid. A number of groups and platforms / businesses are already enabling, curating and promoting online / livestream events. Artists have long struggled to access to affordable arts education / funding / performance opportunities; through social entrepreneurship, we can change that.

We've experienced the correlation between creativity & mental health. In late May 2019 tragedy struck in my own life, and I lost a dear friend & musician with whom I used to play. He had taken his life after struggling with bipolar disorder. I (Rupert) have struggled with depression at various points in my life. A number of famous musicians have committed suicide as a result of mental health issues e.g. Chester Bennington. We raise awareness of & provide resources to manage mental health.

Cheeky

Promo

I set up Cheeky Promo in 2013 as a community where musicians could connect with, empower, encourage & inspire each other.

Cheeky Promo

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium,

Flickr, Pinterest, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Tumblr,

Twitter; @CheekyPromo, @CheekyStartups, @CheekyArtsFest, @PianoTalent, @WAKTM, @RupertCheek, & YouTube

Fest

Promo

In 2020, Cheeky becomes Cheeky Fest and welcomes people involved in any or all of the creative & performing arts; art, dance, fashion, film, installation, music, opera, performance, photography, poetry, theatre. Conventional definitions & rules within the creative & performing arts are tested & challenged through multiple approaches to arts practices.

Company branding in our Mighty Network, brochures, at events & on Cheeky websites;

cheekyfest.com & cheekyfest.london & cheekyfest.live

WHO?

People helping people

We connect & collaborate with other humans. We inspire each other by sharing our own experiences, lessons, stories. We empower & encourage people by sharing theirs.

Are you earning enough money to support yourself?
Are you working in your ideal sector / role?

Are you un/underemployed & claiming benefits?

Are you struggling to find "how you coexist with the rest of society"?

Do you have mental and/or physical health challenges?

Have you had the opportunity to become who you are?

We listen and share

We are HUMAN; we focus on the PEOPLE - YOU.

We VALUE people who HELP OTHERS

We educate, empower, encourage, inspire people through the arts.

We fund & facilitate your creativity, experience, knowledge & skills.

We empower you to support yourself through creating / doing work that you love.

Mutual Concern; we all help as many people as we can

Openness we're honest, vulnerable, and share everything

Respect we're all equally valuable and deserve to be treated like it

Curiosity; we're fuelled by others experiences, stories, and challenges

Innovation; we try new things & help others to learn from our experience

We love teamwork and collaboration;

Bands = songwriters, singers, drummers, bassists, guitarists

Opera = writers, composers, actors, singers, designer

Music videos = music + video / film.

Theatre = writing + acting + design + ...

Artists, Creatives & Performers - Are you / do you want to be an actor, artist, choreographer, dancer, designer, director, filmmaker, lighting designer, musician, painter, photographer, poet, singer, songwriter, sound designer or writer?

Experience - Do you have or want to gain experience in the arts, business, education, events, social media or startups?

Venues - We need a venue in London. We'd love to hear from people at venues in other UK cities.

Partners - If your brand, business, company, service, product, software or startup is Cheeky and you want to increase awareness of it, please get in touch.

Join our community

Cheeky Fest is a global community & festival which helps people through the arts.

Join our Mighty Network

Cheeky Interviews; want to share YOUR story?

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

From his home in Milan, Italy, Robert is teaching English online to around 15 high school & adult students which takes up about 32 hours of his afternoons, eves & weekends.

He’s hoping to be able to afford to spend more extended, uninterrupted time on composing, arranging and writing.

Meet Robert here

Jane Stavrinoudis - piano teacher

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Tempo Zone, music, education, piano, pianist, lesson, lessons, startup, videos

What’s your first musical memory?

Hearing the local Youth Orchestra and wanting to ‘do that’. I was 11 years old, and though I had been having piano lessons for a few years, it was the sound of the violin and string section that caught my imagination. They played Eine Kleine Nachtmusic. I added violin to piano and ended up doing a diploma in both.

Find out more about Jane here

Howard Fredrics - composer

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Howard Fredrics - composer

Howard was one of my lecturers when I was studying for an MA in TV/Film composition at Kingston Uni in London during 2002–3. He taught a module which involved learning about sound synthesis and using various software to mutate, morph & combine sounds.

Interview on Medium

HOW?

Impact

Community

Cheeky Fest will enable & encourage you to communicate with people & facilitate networking through our community.

Cheeky Fest will empower you to support yourself by doing work you love

Community

Cheeky Fest provides opportunities to connect with, learn from, collaborate with other humans via our Facebook group & Mighty Network. Network with artists, businesses, creatives, curators, entrepreneurs, performers, promoters.

Festivals

Community

Cheeky Foundation

Cheeky Fest is beautiful, bold, collaborative, colourful, creative, daring, dramatic, dynamic, educational, empowering, encouraging, engaging, enthralling, ear/eye opening, exciting, expressive, inspiring, international, invigorating, joyous, participatory, public, progressive, reflective, social, thought-provoking.

Cheeky Foundation

Cheeky Foundation will fund boundary pushing work from artists, creatives & performers - Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter

Get better

Cheeky Foundation

Get better

Cheeky Fest helps you to get better at what you do, whether you're an actor, artist, blogger, choreographer, composer, dancer, designer, director, engineer, entrepreneur, filmmaker, musician, photographer, producer, poet, teacher, writer, ...

Learning

Cheeky Foundation

Get better

Cheeky Fest offers education + training through practical workshops & discussions in areas such as artist management, business / entrepreneurship, event management & production, fundraising, marketing & social media,

Fairly paid work

Cheeky Fest offers fairly paid work.

Relying on Benefits or doing a job you hate? Paid placements for students.

Revenue

Fairly paid work

Cheeky Fest Mighty Network

Merch - t-shirts, phone cases

Tickets to parts/all of the event.

Sponsor an artist / day / stage

Promotion for 1, 3, 6 months

Consulting packages

Costs

Fairly paid work

Cheeky Ventures

Employ a committed, experienced team

Pay artists, creatives & performers

Pay A-list artists to attract a bigger audience Employ people in each Cheeky Fest city.

Pay for staff education & training

Hire venues & rent office space

Cheeky Ventures

Cheeky Fest gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to share their arts startups and connect with clients, customers & partners

Investment in arts startups via Cheeky Ventures (Facebook & LinkedIn) aka @CheekyStartups

WAKTM - a opera

Cheeky Ventures

WAKTM - a opera

A performance project that unites us, that anyone can get involved in. An opera

based on a story by Chris Eales

with music by Rupert Cheek.

(Facebook / @WAKTM)

Services

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Cheeky Fest, helping people through the arts

Join our Mighty Network Community. Increasing for NEW members on the 1st of August so join NOW! Pay for a year & get 2 months free.

Cheeky Promo - Get in touch

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

We can share your content on all* of our social media pages, groups & profiles. Get in touch to discuss. * Dependant on content

Written interview - £250

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Written interview - £250

Written interview published as a Story on Medium, an Article on LinkedIn and in our Mighty Network

Join our team

Rupert Cheek - SW London

Constance Quigley - Phoenix

Cheeky founder;

community manager,

social media consultant.

Asker of questions & sharer-of-things.

Helping you be social on social media.

Pianist,

Drummer

Composer

BMus

Constance Quigley - Phoenix

Constance Quigley, MBA, business leader & consultant

What a strange happening in the path of life, that I would find my best friend an ocean away in physical form - but never far in ideation, genius, or authenticity. I am Constance Quigley, a storyteller & friend to CheekyFest, and cofounder Rupert Cheek.

For a while Rupert & I explored a video chat series we called Constantly Cheeky and discussed various music / social media ideas. Life kinda got in the way; I’d love to get Bach to doing something like this soon.

We're launching a global live-music-event-come-arts-festival; a kind of USA-UK annual tour - the purpose & driving force of our career.

I am a marketing strategy & development exec; you will come to know me as the narrator, designer, and encouragement toward Cheeky Fest's success today and for all my days.

Having completed a degree in Business management, then an MBA, I am nearing the end of a doctorate in organisational leadership.

LinkedIn - Facebook - JC Quigley

Mark Hopkins - NE London

Constance Quigley - Phoenix

Mark Hopkins - NE London

I'm a semi-pro multi instrumentalist (guitar & keys, drums, bass, vocals), songwriter, performer, producer & engineer.

I'm able to use analogue or digital recording tools including Cubase, Pro Tools & Logic.

I used to demonstrate music equipment for up & coming manufacturers and set up audio systems in studios, pubs, clubs & venues.

I've always been involved with organising events, charity concerts & gigs & Corporate & function events. I now work with other artists and my own projects.

Rupert Cheeky

Audio-biography

Growing Tones; communicating through music;

Performance, improvisation and composition have been means of expression and communication for me. I like music that takes me somewhere, that makes me feel confident, happy, optimistic, proud and/or that makes me shiver, or that reflects the mood I am in. Music has also been, and continues to be, a way of making friends, to communicate and connect with others, to express / be myself, to be part of the world.

Music is quite literally my first language. When I was young (3 or 4), I was still not talking so I had speech therapy. That didn’t have much impact so I moved to music therapy. My parents thought (the affect) music therapy (had on me) was amazing. I asked my mum about her memories of my speech & music therapy. She thinks that I was;

Free to ‘shout’ because I’d found my voice
Enjoyed the ‘music’ making very much,
Very happy to be communicating with ‘musical’ speech,
Emotionally charged because it was something I loved,
Able to ‘talk’ in a language instigated by me
Excited by the music.

I started having piano lessons around the age of 5 or 6 and carried on learning on and off with 4 teachers. As a pianist, I love playing music by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Glass, Handel, Tchaikovsky and Mozart amongst too many others to mention.

A family affair

My mum used to play guitar & sing folk music (songs performed by musicians like Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez, Paul Simon). My dad encouraged me to sing with him in various choirs for many years during my teens and 20s; music by Bach, Beethoven, Haydn et al.

The oldest of my 3 brothers gave me a tape of Queen’s album The Works when I was 8 (1988); I’ve loved them ever since. My next oldest brother introduced me to Cat Stevens, Suzanne Vega, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, 10cc, Supertramp as well as Mike Oldfield and Jools Holland through letting me sit in his room when he was listening to them. My 3rd brother and I started to have drum lessons when I was in my teens.

Collaborating, Composing, Learning, Listening, Performing

I studied music at school (1985-91-96) and then at Richmond Upon Thames College (1996-98). Whilst at college, one of my music teachers took us to a Gamelan workshop at London's Festival Hall. The same teacher also teased us with snippets of Minimalism (Reich, Glass and Riley). I was hooked! I went with my parents (and a German exchange student we were hosting) to see Lerner/Loewe’s musical Guys n Dolls at London’s National Theatre in 1997.

I (didn't) study at Colchester INstitute during the academic year 1998-99 - I was depressed, barely completed the first year of a BMus, and ended up coming Home again.

I studied music at Roehampton Uni during 1999-2002 and graduated with a BMus. During my time there, I was briefly a drummer in a band although we never performed, was a member of the Uni choir, studied theory, history, piano, composition, learnt more about & played more Gamelan and wrote a thesis on Philip Glass' opera trilogy; Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha and Akhnaten.

I also accompanied musicians including "Shades of Harmony" (an intimate female choir), solo singers and a string trio. I also helped a solo singer pass a grade exam singer. I loved taking part in a performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at St Alban’s Cathedral as a member of the choir. I heard Jools Holland perform with his band at one of the end of year balls at Roehampton.

A secondary school / college friend gave me a CD by Jimmy Scott and also took me to one of his gigs at the Jazz Cafe in London. He also took me to see Elton John at Wembley stadium (the original one) around the time EJ was promoting his Big Picture album.

I went to Kingston Uni for a year to study TV/Film composition during Sept 2002 - Sept 2003. I wrote about Queen's music for the films Highlander & Flash Gordon and was fortunate to receive an email via the Queen fan club from Brian May about Highlander. Although I didn’t do very well academically at Kingston it did provide the opportunity to get involved as a performer in a touring arts event / exhibition called “transit station’ which took me from Kingston (Nov 2003) to Edinburgh (Feb 2005).

I heard Brian May play at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 2004 as a 'Friend' of the Italian singer Zucchero. Around the same time, an old friend took me to see Simon & Garfunkel in Hyde Park; The Everly Brothers were the ‘support’ act. I went to hear Jools at the RAH with my middle brother one year in the 00’s.

PostEd; the creation

As a composer I produced the soundtrack for a VERY short film produced by Right Charlie Productions (Death (G)row) and a score for a (not so) short film (The Spotter, dir. Li, prod. Main), at the London Film Academy in 2005. I worked as an accompanist at Sheen Mount School from Feb-July 2005. I saw the Queen / Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You in London twice. I went to see The Blue Man Group with family c2006/7.

I've seen/heard American composer Philip Glass perform a number of times during the 00’s; as a solo pianist, with his ensemble (including Music In Twelve Parts) and with other musicians (inc Orion, scores for short films). Glass' collaborations with Ravi Shankar (i.e. Passages, 1990) opened my ears to Indian classical music in the same way that Glass' collaboration with Richard D James (aka Aphex Twin) opened my ears to more electronic music.

I joined another band around 2004/5 (Mark on vocals + guitar, Jon on bass was replaced by Jan).

The next transit station took me to Berlin in Feb 2006 and gave me the chance to collaborate / perform with dancers / musicians / performance artists & film makers and opened my eyes and ears as to what art and music could be.

At some point after Jon left, Mark and I performed as a 2-piece, White Stripes style. I can’t remember the chronology of the next few bassists; at one point Jan was playing with us, then another bassist joined, who was replaced some time later and then we had a 3rd bassist.

I joined another band with someone I was working with (Lester on bass & Paul* on guitar & vocal) during 2006/7 and left as I moved to Nottingham (Oct 2007 - mid 2008).

I saw John Adams' 2005 opera Dr Atomic & Philip Glass’ 1980 opera Satyagraha in May 2007 - both at the ENO in London. I saw / heard Philip Glass perform with cellist Wendy Sutter and percussionist Mick Rossi in London on 26 May 2009.

At some Mark & I stopped playing together, then started again in mid 2008 when I got back from Nottingham (Oct 07-mid 08) the first time, first as a 2 piece a la White Stripes. We were then joined by Sam on bass and carried on rehearsing and performing in London (Angel/Islington, Camden, Canning Town, Kings Cross…).

Since c2007/9 I’ve been composing a music theatre / musical / opera based on a book ('WAKTM') by the same friend who introduced me to Jimmy Scott and looking for artists of ALL sorts to get involved.

I accompanied a singer-songwriter called Nix Nugent during 2010-13 - we performed around London - our first Gig was at The Purple Turtle, we also performed around Camden and ventured to The Brunswick in Hove / Brighton once.

I was involved in a road accident in Sept 2011 (which resulted in a broken top jaw, damaged / lost teeth, a bone graft operation from my right hip to my lower jaw and some dental implants), and was treated by the amazing doctors & staff of London's Air Ambulance at the scene.

I saw Verdi’s opera Aida at the ROH in March 2011. I went to the Royal Albert Hall to see / hear Brian May and Kerry Ellis (former WWRY star) perform their Anthems album when they released it in May 2012.

I played drums in Kingston based band Euphoric Recall (Paul*, Tim & Laura) for between Jan-Sept of 2014. We performed in Kingston (Fighting Cocks, Cricketers) and Camden (Fidler’s Elbow).

Entrepreneur; helping others to communicate

Cheeky Promo started as a Facebook group to help people to connect through music in Jan 2013.

My post - accident dental treatment at the Dental Department of the Kings College Hospital finished in March 2015 when my implant(s) were completed and the gap at the front of my bottom jaw was filled with ‘teeth’.

Cheeky has grown into an arts community and we’re planning a virtual festival which will grow into a real festival - Cheeky Fest. I'm looking for people who share our vision and want to join the team. If you'd like to get involved in the festival - as a performer, volunteer, investor, partner or sponsor, and/or with Cheeky in the long term, please email me at rupert@cheekyfest.com

Rupert Chee, self portrait, haircut, February 2020

Self portrait, after a haircut in Feb 2020

Support Us

£100K

10 employees @ your company

Lifetime entry to all Cheeky events

Meet the Team at all future Cheeky events

Meet artists, creatives & performers at Events

Cheeky Fest sponsor t-shirts, mugs, ..

Entry into VIP areas / backstage passes

Member only livestream & recorded videos

Lifetime Mighty Network membership

1 x Video & Written Interview each per year

1 x 3 day Cheeky training session each year

1 video call / year with the Cheeky team

ONE year of Cheeky Promo

£250K

£100K

30 employees @ your company

Lifetime entry to all Cheeky events

Meet the Team at all future Cheeky events

Meet artists, creatives & performers at Events

Cheeky Fest sponsor t-shirts, mugs, ..

Entry into VIP areas / backstage passes

Member only livestream & recorded videos

Lifetime Mighty Network membership

1 x Video & Written Interview each per year

3 x 3 day Cheeky training sessions each year

3 video calls / year with the Cheeky team

3 years of Cheeky Promo*

£500K

£100K

£500K

70 employees @ your company

Lifetime entry to all Cheeky events

Meet the Team at all future Cheeky events

Meet artists, creatives & performers at Events

Cheeky Fest sponsor t-shirts, mugs, ...

Entry into VIP areas / backstage passes

7 video calls / year with the Cheeky team

Member only livestreams & recorded videos

Lifetime Mighty Network membership

1 x Video & Written Interview each per year

7 x 3 day Cheeky training sessions each year

7 years of Cheeky Promo*

Community + Festival

Community + Festival

The Origin Story

Why?

Socio-economics & mental health

Cheeky

Promo

Promo

Promo

Fest

Promo

Promo

WHO?

People helping people

Join our community

Cheeky Interviews; want to share YOUR story?

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Jane Stavrinoudis - piano teacher

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Howard Fredrics - composer

Robert Lennon - composer, arranger, writer

Howard Fredrics - composer

HOW?

Impact

Community

Community

Community

Community

Community

Festivals

Community

Cheeky Foundation

Cheeky Foundation

Cheeky Foundation

Cheeky Foundation

Get better

Cheeky Foundation

Get better

Learning

Cheeky Foundation

Get better

Fairly paid work

Fairly paid work

Fairly paid work

Revenue

Fairly paid work

Fairly paid work

Costs

Fairly paid work

Cheeky Ventures

Cheeky Ventures

Cheeky Ventures

Cheeky Ventures

WAKTM - a opera

Cheeky Ventures

WAKTM - a opera

Are YOU Cheeky?

Tell us about you

We love connecting with other humans

Mobile / Email

Be part of our events

Cheeky Fest London 2021 @ Facebook

Cheeky Fest London 2021 @ Facebook

Cheeky Fest London 2021 @ Facebook

Cheeky Fest London 2021 @ LinkedIn

Cheeky Fest London 2021 @ Facebook

Cheeky Fest London 2021 @ Facebook

Social

Services

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Cheeky Promo - Get in touch

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Written interview - £250

Membership - $4.99/month or $49.99/year