Calling All Graduates Looking For Work, Jeeni Officially Partners With Gradfuel to Create 654 New Jobs!!

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Calling All Graduates Looking For Work, Jeeni Officially Partners With Gradfuel to Create 654 New Jobs!!

Kickstart is a governmental scheme, introduced by Rishi Sunak as a response to the pandemic and the difficulty it created in employment for young people. Since its introduction last September, the initiative has boosted the careers of over 100,000 young people in the UK. This scheme has provided hope for young people who are trying to find their passion, career and purpose at a time when they need it most.

Jeeni has been working with our specialist partners, Gradfuel who are consultants for the Department of Work and Pensions, which is where the Kickstart grant funding comes from. It’s a great opportunity for companies like Jeeni to bring keen young graduates on board for a minimum of six months, and scale up the business. Also, there’s no financial risk, with over £8,000 worth of grant money to support each young person taken on board. Gradfuel has worked with over 20,000 graduates and have been praised by companies such as ‘Fethr’ and ‘Thursday’.

Apply to Gradfuel here: https://careers.gradfuel.co/kickstart-application-j/

That's why Jeeni is so proud to be making good use of the Kickstart scheme with Gradfuel, to train, support and build the portfolios of people aged 16-24 and on universal credit.

The Kickstart scheme can be essential for both employers and employees, because young companies can build a workforce at no cost at all to them, and young people get paid positions in the industry of their passion. The Government provides the grants to cover 100% of wages and national insurance contributions for well-qualified, pre-screened young workers on universal credit. The positions span across 6 months for up to 25 hours work a week and you receive a £1,500 cash injection into your business for each new person you take on with Kickstart.

Although the governmental Kickstart scheme itself provides this crucial helping hand for companies and graduates, websites like Gradfuel are vital in guiding those graduates to the perfect Kickstart role for their careers.

Gradfuel is a mediator between the Kickstart scheme and those it was designed to help. They provide an interpersonal and proactive connection to young people looking for a career path and “matches you with the perfect graduate jobs”. As of right now, Gradfuel have carried out over 100,000 conversations with their clients about their future and career opportunities. The pool of possibilities after education can seem endless and overwhelming, so a company like Gradfuel that takes you by the hand and leads you to a company that needs you as much as you need them is an extraordinarily valuable service.

Our partners, Gradfuel are the experts in the market, and have raised £18.7m in Kickstart grant funding so far. Gradfuel have had a 99.5% success rate in their applications, against the market average of 22%, supporting over 1,400 companies to process their Kickstart applications.

Jeeni can personally attest to the effectiveness and value of using the Kickstart scheme through Gradfuel. Zak Ahmed, Jeeni’s HR specialist had this to say about the opportunity, “The Kickstart Scheme has helped me gain the vital experience I need as a recent Masters graduate. I’ve found a very meaningful role here at Jeeni, where I’m progressing quicker than I could’ve imagined!”

Ella Venvell used Gradfuel to find her Kickstart position as Jeeni’s Artist Liaison and Marketing Leader, “The kickstart scheme has given me an invaluable experience which has helped me learn about the professional world as well as given me the time to develop myself and my portfolio.” and with regards to Gradfuel, Ella said that it’s “helped me find a job doing what I love, and am hoping to do as my lifetime career.”

Past Marketing Executives, Rebecca Allen and Kate Stewart mention how invaluable their kickstart positions at Jeeni have been for them in her Inside Story interviews. Kate said, “In terms of kickstarting my career, if you will, my time at Jeeni has been so helpful, I’ve been provided with lots of training opportunities and learned lots of transferrable skills”. Rebecca also reflected on the skills that she was able to hone from her kickstart role at Jeeni, “I definitely think I’ve developed a knowledge of social media. I was also able to complete a lot of training courses, I did one on SEO and Google analytics.” Available here: Rebecca Allen, Kate Stewart.

Among the 655 new roles available across England include; 116 sales positions, with a focus in London, Manchester and remote situations, 143 roles in Marketing, also for people based in London, Manchester or remote, 118 hospitality roles particularly in London and Birmingham, 121 admin positions focused on remote and London. There are also 31 roles for those specialised in graphic design such as Photoshop and Adobe for remote and London-based applicants. IT and data have 81 roles for London-based and remote situations and finally, there are 25 roles in finance, also for London and remotely working applicants.

Don’t miss out on these opportunities and visit here for more information. https://grants.gradfuel.co/kickstarter-landing-c/

Apply to Gradfuel here: https://careers.gradfuel.co/kickstart-application-j/

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12
Mar

Visa-Free EU Travel Petition for Performers and Bands

Finally, a deal has been agreed with the EU and on 1 January 2021, the UK is going it alone. However, one vital element of the economy seems to have been left out of the agreed terms - Musicians. A petition for visa-free travel or 'Musicians Passport' for this huge part of the the population is gaining enthusiastic momentum via social media and at the point of writing, is well about 155,000 signatures, growing by approximately 1,000 every 1/4 of an hour. Several industries have been granted visa-free access to the 27 EU states in the final agreement. Despite the government being lobbied by a number of industry heavyweights and artists, their concerns the new rules could jeopardise the £5.8billion music industry, when live gigs and shows are back on the social spectrum, have not seen visa-free travel for musicians addressed. Touring Europe, bands and artists may need secure visas for each country they plan to perform in, making it far more costly and harder to afford for many artists and crew members. The Visa-Free petition’s creator Tim Brennan added: “As a freelancer, I and many like me, travel through the EU countless times a year on different tours and events, this will become impossible due to cost and time if we do not have visa free travel.” The petition reads: “We would like the UK Govt to negotiate a free cultural work permit that gives us visa-free travel throughout the 27 EU states for music touring professionals, bands, musicians, artists, TV and sports celebrities that tour the EU to perform shows and events & Carnet exception [allowing the temporary import or export of goods without having to pay duty or VAT] for touring equipment,” You can sign the petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/563294 At the time of the lobbying, a government spokesperson told NME: “We are working closely with the arts and culture sector to prepare for the end of the transition period and recognise the importance of touring for UK musicians. We are seeking a reciprocal agreement with the EU to allow UK citizens to undertake some business activities in the bloc without a work permit, on a short-term basis.” Last week (December 25), UK Music's chief exec. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin welcomed the government's EU deal, but said it still left “many questions” unanswered for the music industry. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin - Chief Executive of Music UK Njoku-Goodwin is one of the Government’s most senior advisers with unrivalled political connections across Downing Street, Whitehall and Westminster. He was a special adviser to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and also worked as a special adviser at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Once the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it may be considered for debate in Parliament. Industry eyes will be looking straight at Njoku-Goodwin to be the man to have the debate converted in to action. We will posts any updates as we get them.

05
Jun

Love everything creative and want to be a blogger or a podcast creator?

Are you a professional music journalist or a music student who wants to expand your arena? Are you a collaborator or curator or a podcast creator who would like us to help you distribute your work globally? For each blog and podcast posted we will donate £10 to you and also promote your blog and podcast to all our members for FREE and encourage anyone that reads your blog or listens to your podcast to donate as well, on average bloggers an pod casters can earn from $800 to $2,000 a month. The Independent Musicians and Performers Community (IMAP) has been set up by the founders of Jeeni. Our Community is for everyone and anyone creative: musicians, voice-artists, performers, poets, singer-songwriters ... the list is endless. We connect, collaborate, share and support each other, while we have some fun and make a real difference. We are a completely independent group and have no interest in political debate in this community. We encourage our members to share their original music and performances. We scan the media every day for what support is available for musicians and performers. We make it our mission to wade through lengthy documents and policies so our members don't have to, and we grab the main highlights and takeaways to make it easy for them to absorb the plethora of information swimming around. The industry is being very responsive and coming up with lots of ideas, like allowing artists to keep earning by adding donate buttons on streaming platforms. Some organisations are making grants available, some are discounting their streaming platforms, whereas others are allowing artists and fans to sign up for free. We expect to see many online services partnering with one another to combine their overall membership offerings, such as Soundcloud and Twitch. And we are very interested to see what the major global companies do and how they respond to these new and unknown market conditions. If you fancy joining Team Jeeni as a blogger, pod caster or a contributor and want to find out more just drop me a line and we can start chatting.

03
Sep

Interview with Opera Star Joy Tamayo, Inside Story at Jeeni

Kate Stewart’s Inside Story interview with the great opera soprano Joy Tamayo, star of Spring Street, global premiere on Jeeni.com Spring Street is an opera that was created by one of Jeeni’s biggest supporters Pete Wyer. How did he approach you to take part? With Pete we worked together back in 2019 for the Twilight Chorus, we performed this at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. But we weren’t actually introduced then. In 2020 January I wrote him an email, inviting him to an opera that I wrote which we turned into a film. He wrote me back and said “WOW! You guys are making something”, and so we started talking about projects and he sent me a song and he said, “a soprano is doing this, what do you think of it?” And that just started the ball rolling so to speak for this project. What did you think of the project once Pete described it to you? His music really excited me; the Twilight Chorus resonated with me well. And with this project when I first looked at the music, I thought it was beautiful that he found a way to commemorate his friends. This is something I love doing as well with my group, it’s storytelling and its wonderful music. So I immediately said yes, before he started giving me the music. And without even knowing the rest of the performers. You have been performing since around the age of three, what made you choose opera over other genres of music? I don’t think I chose opera, at three I was mostly singing with my dad, my parents really inculcated this love for music at such a young age. And I remember my dad would play the guitar and I would sing with him. So, this love for singing in particular I think brought me to the realisation that I love to do music. I got into the Philippines high school for the arts when I was 12 and it was just a normal progression from a love for music and focusing on opera. Because that was the type of music that the school was also teaching. In retrospect, I love other types of singing as well. And the pandemic has allowed me to explore other types of music. Also realising that you can just sing in your living room and have a setup, your microphone, your preamp and file-sharing as we did with Pete’s work, it was all online. So back to the question, I didn’t choose opera, I just thought music was wonderful. And I had an easy time expressing myself through music and opera. And now I’m exploring with singing and not really minding the boundaries and structures. I really love the discipline and rigour that comes with opera singing. So I still bring that with me even with other types of music that I’m exploring right now. You haven’t actually been able to meet many of the other cast members in person yet. So has it been strange working on a brand-new opera in a global pandemic? Yes, to say the least, New York being silent, for fourteen months or so, it’s been odd. I met Heday one of the performers this year, we did a video. But I was just going around with them, I didn’t have a big part in the video. But I was able to say Hi to Maren and Heday. It’s been strange but you make the best of the situation and it’s been really exciting and fun. So, Spring Street is based in Manhattan and you’re based in Brooklyn but as you said you are originally from the Philippines. So how did that relocation come about? I got a scholarship at Crane School of Music, in upstate New York and so followed the American dream and moved here. It’s been a wild ride! For us in the Philippines your always thinking of the next step and for me being offered a scholarship, exploring another country, and also making sure that I do my best at the particular genre that I was exploring at that time, which was opera, it felt like the best move for me at that point. So, I moved to upstate New York and then I ended up here in Brooklyn and it's where I’ve been since 2014. So, Joy as well as being an amazing singer your also an actress and I’ve seen clips of the opera and your facial expressions in Spring Street are well, full of Joy I guess. It looks like you had a lot of fun with it, did you enjoy taking part? Yes, that was super fun! I remember it was around probably the end of winter when we shot some of the videos, and as you can imagine we were stuck at home for the longest time. So to be able to go outside and shoot some videos, was really fun. And to leave the living room, you know most of the videos were shot in the living room. And I remember I would send some videos to Pete, and he would say “you know what we could use this for this part” just like a collaboration back and forth. Your performance in spring street is going to be streamed worldwide on Jeeni.com in a couple of months too, a far bigger audience that could fit in an opera house. How do you feel about that? It’s hard to wrap my head around that, I haven't really contemplated the meaning of that big of a project. Now everything is online, a cat video can have millions of views, more than for example the Mets latest opera. But it’s certainly exciting. With this pandemic it seems like all of us are doing things; making art, making music, building communities in the living room, so it’s about file sharing, “oh watch this” or “have you seen my latest video”. There’s so much stuff online so I’m very excited about doing a similar thing. To finish today, Joy you’re a soprano which means that you have the highest vocal range of all of the vocal types. So I don’t suppose you could give us a little tiny demonstration? Although it is early morning in New York, so she hasn’t had the chance to warm up Joy complies happily. “No pressure” she laughs and proceeds to demonstrate her amazing vocal skills. You can watch the Inside Story Interview with Joy Tamayo by clicking here: Joy Tamayo Inside Story Spring Street Opera Joy Tamayo will be performing in the exclusive world première of Spring Street and the full performance can be watched Saturday 24th July 2021 on https://jeeni.com/springstreet/ Inspired by life on Spring Street, Manhattan – setting the poetry of Steve Dalachinsky and Yuko Otomo to music by Pete Wyer – wildly eclectic like the street itself.

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