Hope and Social are a band… but not just any band.
As well as all the normal things bands do (shows, festivals, tours, making records, videos & the like), they do the extraordinary, and put people at the heart of all they do.
Hope and Social make events to remember – they really do.
Who, what, where and how..?
Over the last 10 years H&S have done some amazing things with their fans. They have:
• released 8 albums, 4 EPs and dozens of videos. Played hundreds of shows including Glastonbury, Durham BRASS Festival, Square Chapel – Halifax, Brudenell Social Club, Greenbelt Festival, Fibbers – York, Musicport, The Borderline, The Trades Club, The Bedford, Hull Truck, Moonbeams, Underneath The Stars Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Pocktoberfest, The Deaf Institute, The Lexington, Freedom Festival…
• turned their studio into a bistro and had 70 people join them to record as a wine-bottle orchestra
• chartered an open-top bus for a day trip to the seaside culminating in a show on Runswick Bay beach
• staged a magical garden party, bringing together some of Yorkshires’ finest home-grown food, ales & independent artists
• Performed “The Big Wide”, at the opening ceremony of the Tour de France with a 10,000 strong live audience and 300 million TV audience across the globe
• worked with Arts Council England and the British Council in the UK, Georgia and Kazakhstan developing and performing “Bring The Happy” with interactive arts company Invisible Flock.
• taught 1200 people how to play with Hope and Social as “The Band Anyone Can Join”, playing 12 shows in 12 towns along the route of the Tour De France Grand Depart over 4 days
• commissioned ten independent artists to create a full album of videos to accompany their 2016 album FEEL
• collaborated with “The Real Junk Food Project” to feed 400 and make the world’s largest Christmas dinner ever made from food destined for waste. And put on a darn spiffing show to boot!
• working with Durham International Brass Festival, traversed the north of England teaching people how to play plastic pBone brass instruments and perform with H&S
• Made six location-specific, binaural music installations at Grassington Festival for This Must Be The Place
It’s all online (hopeandsocial.com/projects) and it was all only possible because fifty… five hundred… five thousand people came together to make good things happen.