Read to find out what the Iorsa Collective means to each of its creators, as well as a little bit about them!

First up, Lucy Walsh!

@lucywalshflute

Hi, I’m Lucy and I’m one of the founding members of the Iorsa Collective.

Q. Where are you from?

A. I’m a flautist from the (very sunny!) Isle of Arran in Scotland, which is probably where I get most of my inspiration from these days. There’s something about viewing it with fresh eyes after living in the middle of London for the last four years, where I often find myself missing the peace and quiet of living in the middle of nowhere.

Q. Why is collaboration important to you?

A. I’ve been immersing myself in the world of improvisation and new music since living down south, which feels like a pretty impossible thing to do without being surrounded by people to bounce ideas around with! As classical musicians, we seem to spend so much time on our own in the practice room. The longer I’ve spent with my instrument, the more I’ve realised that what really lights me up is when I am surrounded by people who inspire me (which London seems to have an endless supply of!), who I can work alongside to create new works and bend traditions.

Q. What is the Iorsa Collective to you?

A. I met Lara and Jess when we were living in halls during our first year of uni in London and have lived with them both ever since! For me, Iorsa Collective is something which has been born out of nurturing female friendships – friendships which have given me room to come into myself and really find my own voice. I really hope the collective can feed some of this energy into the arts scene, and maybe build a wider community of people in the arts who feel discouraged by its current climate and want to see change.

Q. What change would you like to see in the industry?

A. I think as a performer, the typical setting of classical music concerts has always made me a tad uneasy – I’m not a fan of the performer/audience divide and always having to be dead serious on stage. And from the POV of a newcomer I’d definitely be put off if I was shushed for clapping between movements – not too sure I’d be back in a hurry! I like the idea of ‘dressing down’ classical music and losing some of its outdated classist ideals. I grew up on an island and my parents were amateur musicians. We didn’t massively have access to loads of classical concerts, and if I’m being honest, I probably wouldn’t be going to them at this stage in my life if I hadn’t been drawn towards it as a career path. I would have found it inaccessible (and probably quite uncool). This is why I really believe that by rethinking elitist concert settings and etiquette, we can bring in bigger audiences and create more flexibility within the classical music world for multi-arts collaboration.

Q. What do you do in your free time?

A. Undergrad studies have been super busy and slightly chaotic, so I make sure to do things in my free time which I find grounding. I practice yoga most days, and I also love spending time outdoors, whether this takes form in running in London or heading to the hills when I’m home. I have a silly amount of houseplants, I paint sometimes, and I also make jewellery for my friends with bit and bobs I find on the beach at home. I feel like I’m slightly notorious for having too many hobbies and not being able to commit to one or two.

Q. What’s next?

A. I’m actually studying an MA at the University of Arts in Bern, Switzerland, as of September this year. Amongst many musical plans, I will be running the online/media side of the Iorsa Collective (in between hopefully summiting a few alps here and there!)

Now introducing Lara Cucic!

Hi, I’m Lara – I’m a pianist and another founder of the Iorsa Collective!

Q. What is the Iorsa Collective to you?

A. For me, Iorsa Collective is a space dedicated to sharing. Sharing is at the heart of what we do as artists, no matter what discipline we specialise in. My aim for the Iorsa Collective is to find new ways to encourage people from all backgrounds to share new ideas and stories, and to inspire us all to be open to any type of art. Often when I go to concerts, exhibitions, shows or spoken word nights I think “oh this could go so well with this music!” or “this makes me think of this painting!” and I suddenly start to create a combination of different arts in my head that build a unit together. So I guess, to sum it up, that’s what the Iorsa Collective is: an inclusive and diverse space where all thoughts, emotions, and ideas are welcome and are encouraged to be shared in order to create unity between people.

Q. How do you want performances to look like?

A. First of all, Iorsa Collective events will happen in an open space where people are able to have a chat, a drink and eat cake! It seems to me that a lot of people especially get put off from classical music events purely because of how it is presented. Focussing on how we create the atmosphere for a performance is one of our key goals to make things different as a Collective. Second of all, we want to create a way of communicating directly with our audience. We aim to build projects that will encourage active participation from the audience, even if that is in small and quiet ways, in order to enhance the sense of a welcoming community.

Q. What is your favourite thing about what you do?

A. Personally, I think both creating and, again, this concept of sharing are my favourite things about doing music as a career. I often think about how nowadays, everything is so fast paced that there is very little time for moments to reflect, or simply moments where we can just exist and forget about all the daily life stresses. This brings me back to music. With music, or just art in general, there is suddenly a space for things to come out, whether they are emotions, ideas or just reflections. It is time set aside from everything else where every person can find a very intimate space within themselves, no matter what this may look or feel like. Being the person who can allow and create this space through music always feels like a privilege, which is why - if I don’t find myself frustrated in my practice room! - I love what I do.

Q. Aside from music, what do you love doing?

A. I am a huge book-nerd, always have been! I don’t go anywhere without a book or headphones in my bag. I find it fascinating how, through words, people’s stories can challenge my knowledge, emotions, and ideas. Just put me in a sunny park with a good book and I will be the happiest person on Earth.

Q. What are the three things that remind you of “home”?

A. Home is a feeling that can be triggered through all our senses, so I guess for me it would have to be:

The piece by F. Chopin “Ballade no. 1 in G minor, op.23” – so much emotional attachment linked to this music

Hagel Slag on good (French) bread, because they are both types of food that I grew up with in my bicultural family!
The smell of nature after it rains in the summer:)

And finally, Jess McNulty!

@jess.mcnulty_

photographed by Melisande Lochak @melisande_lochak

Hi, I’m Jess and I am the third founding member of the Iorsa Collective!

Q. What is the Iorsa Collective to you?

A. Iorsa Collective, for me, is a space for people from a range of arts disciplines to explore different themes, ideas, and stories. It’s a place where collaboration is fundamental – we are so much more able to create performances of greater nuance and relevance together! My hope is that Iorsa is an accessible and safe place – that it will be a place where people can come and enjoy a variety of artforms – that it will encourage, challenge, celebrate, and uplift.

Q. Why did you want Iorsa to be a cross-arts space?

A. Collaboration is so important within the Iorsa Collective. By using it as a cross-arts platform, our hope is to be able to explore any theme with a range of voices, each unique in its way of approaching it. Another aim is to encourage people who might only be there for one artform to explore new creative expressions, whether that be classical music, spoken word or a visual art. I guess also slightly selfishly, as both a classical flautist and a writer, I wanted a space where I could be both! Having done a music degree, I think it’s so easy to end up pigeon-holed into one artform and feel like you have to funnel your whole self into it. However, as with everything in life, we are not just one thing and I think it’s important to be able to have the space to explore whatever artform you feel connected with.

Q. What is your favourite thing about what you do?

A. I have always loved stories, whether they are written in words, music or in a painting. I think our lives are made up of stories, and I love finding new emotional and storytelling connections in both words and music. I find that I am able to create from myself as a writer, and then channel myself through someone else’s writing as a musician – the balance of which enables me both just to be and to create.

Jess (with Lucy’s dog Rosa) on the Isle of Arran!

Q. What’s your favourite read?

A. As someone who is very indecisive, I have lots of favourite books for different reasons. One of the most beautiful and heart-breaking stories I have ever read is definitely ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini – every time I read it it honestly just blows me over. If I’m thinking of a ‘classic’, Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ made my fully laugh out loud; the characters are so ridiculous in the absolute best way. My favourite book as a kid was ‘Journey to the River Sea’ by Eva Ibbotson, which I actually read again a couple of months ago and was as nostalgic as ever.

Q. What would be your Desert Island Discs (4 out of the 8)?

A. This is the impossible question and, as a disclaimer, these choices took me way too long and are only relevant in the moment of writing this!

I would take:

‘The Anchor’ by Bastille because it makes me think of home.
Elgar Cello Concerto because of my Nan and Gramps.
‘We’re Never Getting Back Together’ because it will forever remind me of a slightly unhinged interrailing trip!
‘Pancakes for Dinner’ by Lizzy McAlpine because of it makes me think of our London flat and it’s just the sweetest song.

We are so excited to see how this space grows! <3

Iorsa Collective: Q+A with its creators – Lucy Walsh, Lara Cucic and Jess McNulty!

Introducing…THE IORSA COLLECTIVE