#mara mayer

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Whole With You by GABI from the album Empty Me - Directed by Kenna Hynes

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Sleep by Gabi from the Double Double Whammy 2018 Fall Sampler

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Brooklyn Arts Council’s Grantee & Fiscal Sponsee Interview Series: Friends with Money Home Audio

Name: Mara Mayer Neighborhood: Prospect Lefferts Gardens Favorite thing about your neighborhood: Prospect Park!

BAC: What project did you receive funding for? Tell us about it. MM: My project is called Home Audio. It’s an interdisciplinary salon-style performance series that happens about once a month in someone’s home in Brooklyn. A typical show might consist of two sets of music performance, a dance piece, and a visual art installation in the space. We encourage collaboration across disciplines; for example, a recent performance featured musical performances set in a space filled with sculptures designed by architect Aviva Novick, with live 3D mapping projection onto the sculptures by VJ Mamiko Kushida. Overall, the series features artists creating experimental work. Home Audio originally revolved around experimental acoustic music, but we like to keep people guessing, exposing them to new and unexpected types of artistic expression. We create a very cozy environment, setting up a performance space in people’s living rooms and offering snacks. People suddenly become very open-minded to experimental art when you are also feeding them delicious snacks. We announce each show with an email listing the address - it’s at a different location each time - so please sign up! BAC: How does BAC funding help sustain your work? Is there anything you’re creating or doing now that you wouldn’t be able to do without the support? MM: BAC is absolutely an integral part of Home Audio’s continuation. Artists have been volunteering their time and energy for this series since 2011. As a BAC grantee, I can finally offer a stipend to musicians and artists for their work. In past years, some performers who’d expressed interest in participating had to turn down the opportunity to perform because we weren’t able to cover the necessary expenses. BAC funding allows us to pay artists’ stipends while also keeping our events open to the public on a sliding-scale basis. Admission to shows is a suggested donation of $5-20. We draw a diversified audience at a small intimate event with performers at a very high level of artistry. BAC: Tell us about some of the most exciting artists, collaborations, shows and/or performances you have coming up. MM: The next Home Audio show will be on May 7th and will feature Erica Eso, composer and synth player Weston Minissali’s newest project: a quartet with synth, bass, drums, and vocals. They’ll be performing songs from their debut album, 2019, which came out a few months ago on Ramp Local Records, as well as some arrangements I’m told are special - just for Home Audio. It’s described beautifully on their Bandcamp page as exhibiting “abstract sound palettes willfully submitting to the globalized pop song structure.” The show will also feature performances by Ziemba, René Kladzyk’s solo project, also in the vein of experimental pop synth, a performance piece by Butoh dance artist Azumi Oe, and visual art. BAC: What or who inspires you most right now? MM: My pole-dancing community. I started taking pole dance classes for fitness at a yoga and dance studio almost two years ago, and have met some of the strongest, most confident, intelligent, and wonderful people through this dance form. It’s the most supportive and diverse community I’ve ever been a part of. BAC: Tell us a bit about your creative process. How does the work get done? MM: I’m the curator for Home Audio. Sometimes I choose a specific theme like “Badass female songwriters who incorporate electronics” or “Minimalist acoustic improvised music.” Sometimes I select performers in a more intuitive way whose aesthetics seem to align. I like to make every show different from the last. While some shows adhere to a theme, others are more of a hodge-podge of different things; it’s really fun to see a friend or fan of one performer come out to a show and discover something totally new to them and watch them fall in love with it. Anyone can submit a proposal on our website for a performance. I also love instigating new collaborations across artistic disciplines. This is something my brain does automatically; I’m basically wired to be a matchmaker for artistic collaboration. I’m proud to say I’ve been responsible for spawning many new collaborations since the beginning of Home Audio. For example, I suggested that Aviva Novick and VJ Mamiko Kushida work with each other. BAC: When you’re not making art, you are: MM: Snuggling my cat, Phantom, who is also my muse, or teaching yoga, my day job, which I also love, or going to pole dance class. In addition to being a curator, I’m also a musician myself. I play clarinet and bass clarinet. BAC: What’s next for your work and/or for your series? How are you planning the next steps forward? MM: I want to help grow the appreciation for experimental music and new art while still keeping Home Audio performances small and intimate. Part of our mission is to give people a childlike sense of wonder and excitement about seeing a live performance up close and personal. So while I’d love to get more funding to pay artists better, I also want to keep the audience and the setting small to preserve the atmosphere of the events. As an instrumentalist apart from Home Audio, I’ll be performing with the Nouveau Classical Project, a group that integrates contemporary classical music with fashion, this summer at National Sawdust, WhiteBox, and attending a residency at Avaloch Farms with composer Gabrielle Herbst. BAC: Any words of advice for artists hoping to apply for BAC funding or other grants or support? MM: Read the instructions on the application materials! But seriously… BAC makes it clear that they care about how your work impacts the community around you in Brooklyn. If your project is all about you it’s probably not relevant. Mara Mayer is a clarinetist/bass clarinetist based in Brooklyn, NY. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, MoMA, BAM, Roulette, Issue Project Room, Le Poisson Rouge, Spectrum, The Stone, Barbes, and more and with groups across many genres including the Nouveau Classical Project, Curiosity Cabinet, Banda de los Muertos, Gamelan Dharma Swara, thingNY, Little Band of Sailors, Parias, and Feral Children. Mayer is the founder/curator of the interdisciplinary experimental performance series Home Audio, which has presented monthly salon style events since 2011. Mayer graduated from the Eastman School of Music and also holds a degree in Brain and Cognitive Science. The next installation of Home Audio is May 7, 2016. RSVP on Facebook.