At Point Blank, we’re committed to doing our bit to help those around us who need it. As such we have teamed up with several charities to provide support and equipment wherever we can. Read on and discover more about each of the organisations and how our donations have been put to use. Some of these charities, such as Feast, are always on the lookout for more volunteers, so if any of this piques your interest, please get in touch with the relevant charity and get involved.
Nyege Nyege
Nyege Nyege is a collective and festival based in Uganda which has been making serious waves in recent months. By supporting each other and supplying equipment they aim to reduce the reliance on music from overseas and encourage a generation of producers and musicians in Uganda to do their own thing for themselves. Check out this recent feature on Resident Advisor for an in-depth rundown of what they are about, and see their website here.
We’ve been sending computers and equipment to the initiative and were delighted to hear that within weeks of our first iMac’s arrival it had been used to produce an entire EP by Slikback. For more by Nyege Nyege check out this incredible mix by one of the collective’s stars Kampire.
Beating Heart Project
The Beating Heart Project was set up in 2016 in Malawi, and our involvement came via Olly Wood, the founder of Black Butter Records. The project at large gathers some of the most exciting producers and beatmakers from all over the planet to build tracks from field recordings taken from a country in sub-Saharan Africa, the subject of which changes with each compilation album released. So far Beating Heart Malawi and Beating Heart South Africa are available on Bandcamp, with Beating Heart Tanzania in the pipeline. The proceeds from these projects are then funnelled into the communities from which the original recordings were made via organisations and activists working locally. In Malawi Garden to Mouth have been building food gardens at school, and in South Africa, the proceeds have been put to great use by The Women’s Legal Centre.
Point Blank periodically donates computers and hardware to the charity so they can be handed out to students via the Access Music Project in South Africa and used to encourage more young people to get into making music. Check out the Beating Heart website and AMP for more details and check out the latest compilation below.
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life is a charity that looks to use the global dance music community to support projects the world over. One such initiative is a DJ and production school and studio set up in a small village in Tanzania. We are thrilled to be able to support the school by sending controllers, computers, decks and mixers. Watch the video below to see the studio head Modest talking about what they’ve used the equipment for.
CAYE UK
CAYE (Central African Youth in Enfield) is an initiative in the north of London which aims to help the African French-speaking youth in the area. part of this involves a music class for children and young people and we are proud to be able to help by providing equipment to the centre. Find more information at their website.
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All of the above relationships are ongoing and we donate old or unused equipment every year. The next donation will be in October of this year with a further donation next year. We are able to do this thanks to continued delivery of top-class courses and tuition, and if you are interested in joining us please take a look at some of our courses in London, Los Angeles, Ibiza, Mumbai and Online. We are holding an Open Day on Wednesday 1 August for which there are still a small number of spaces. If you miss out on that, you can always get in touch to organise a tour, or simply ask us any questions you may have.
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