Drake Music strongly supports the development of new accessible music technology. It is clear that the sector needs far more investment in research and development to develop a choice of musical instruments which are both accessible and expressive.
Currently the range of accessible instruments available is narrow. This can affect the musical output and limit the creative expression of disabled musicians.
We actively support individuals and organisations as they develop new projects within the arena of assistive music technology. We particularly seek to encourage innovation and exciting new ideas to expand the range and type of technology available to disabled musicians.
One of the main ways that we do this is through our regular hack events.
What is a hack event?
A hack day, or hackathon, is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers and project managers, meet to collaborate intensively on software and hardware projects.
People with technical backgrounds come together to investigate a problem or idea, and then – in a short space of time – collaboratively build a unique solution from scratch. In our case, the problem we present is the narrow range of accessible music technology and instruments.
Drake Music hack events
We run a monthly hack meet at DM headquarters in Shoreditch, East London, where we meet with a community of makers and coders. This is a closed group which is open by invitation only.
We also run larger, open-access hack days, both on our own and in collaboration with other partners. These take place once or twice a year and are an exciting forum for the development of new ideas and initiatives, as well as a chance for technologists to meet and collaborate with other people from their sector.
Our hack events are co-led by John Kelly and DM National Manager for Research & Development, Gawain Hewitt.
Events are run in partnership with Music Hackspace and Furtherfield.
Find out more
If you would like to run a hack day in collaboration with Drake Music, then please contact us on info@drakemusic.org or call 020 7739 5444.
If you are interested in attending one of our hack days then please follow @DrakeMusicRandD on Twitter and check our News and Opportunities pages for details of forthcoming events.