Delia Sessions
About the Delia Arts Foundation
The Delia Arts Foundation helps musicians from conflict zones and marginalized communities fulfill their dreams. We do this by creating opportunities for talented musicians to be heard by a broader audience, by providing training opportunities and building music industry infrastructure on the ground through our physical cultural centers. Our goal is to help create an economy where musicians, regardless of their socio-economic or geo-political background, can make music a full-time career.
While the music industry is well developed in certain areas of the world, our focus is in regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa, where even the most talented musicians struggle to commercialize their craft.
There is very little infrastructure to support professional musicians – few studios, low-quality recordings, minimal performance opportunities, a lack of educational infrastructure, and zero visibility outside of their region. While plenty of funding is often funneled into schools for children in the form of music education, there is no emphasis on creating sustainable professional opportunities for the most promising talents.
About the Delia Sessions
The Delia Sessions is a YouTube series of five-minute live music shows showcasing musicians in the conflict zones and marginalized communities where we work. This concept is based on a number of successful series of similar formats, such as those produced by National Public Radio in the United States (Tiny Desk Concerts). The goals of the Delia Sessions are as follows:
- To provide an international platform that showcases artists living in regions where there is little opportunity to reach a broader audience due to geopolitical, socioeconomic, and/or cultural situations.
- To show the beauty inherent in cultures that are often maligned in the news headlines due to stereotyping and other negative portrayals.
- To preserve and transmit the cultural heritage of the countries where we work.
- To conserve budget resources through a low-cost video production format that can be easily replicated, is appealing to a modern audience, and honors the traditions and cultures of the musicians. Ideally local crews will be trained to do the video production, creating further benefit to the community.
- To grow a dedicated audience who are interested and invested in the project’s success.
- To create increasing value over time through the “Delia Sessions” brand on the world music stage.
Our previously released Delia Sessions can be viewed on the Delia Arts Foundation YouTube channel.
Timeline and Funding
The pilot series of the Delia Sessions took place in February through April 2020. During this time, four videos have been released, three from Palestinian musicians living in the West Bank and one from Gaza. We have also gathered data and learned what will create success for this project into the future. Our goal for the remainder of 2020 is to tape enough live shows to create a true monthly series in 2021, releasing at least one video per month.
We will also explore different ways to bring variety to the series. Geographically, we are looking at the possibility of taping Sessions in other countries such as Sudan and in Central Asia.
As for the music, we would like to expand the project to include all genres in order to showcase the breadth of the current music scene in the communities we serve.
New sources of funding are necessary in order to expand the Delia Sessions project. At an average cost of USD1,000 per video, we will need to secure a minimum of USD12,000 in order to create the necessary content for a full 2021 season. Funding beyond that will give us the necessary means to expand the series geographically.
Project Impact
Musicians work as economic drivers in their community. Successful musicians help build out the cultural industry in their home, strengthening both the cultural fabric and economy of their cities and countries.
The 2013 Nashville Music Industry report found that the music industry helped create and sustain more than 56,000 local jobs and contributed USD5.5 billion to the local economy. In Melbourne, Australia, the 2012 census found that the live music sector alone generated over AUD1 billion in spending and supported the equivalent of 116,000 annual full-time jobs. Similarly, UK Music estimated that in 2013 music directly contributed GBP3.8 billion to the UK economy and directly employed 111,000 people.
Strong music careers, led by successful musicians, create strong music industries, which help drive the economy in areas suffering from high unemployment and poor economic growth, such as active conflict or post-conflict reconstruction zones.
Understanding the direct impact of projects on the target population is extremely important. While some of the impact can’t be measured, especially long-term goals such as changing stereotyping and negative portrayals of a region, there is plenty that can be, especially as it pertains to the economic benefits.
We determine the success of the Delia Sessions in the following ways:
- Raw data – YouTube and social media audience
- Views and Thru plays – Are we reaching a diverse and growing audience? What is our organic reach? Who are we reaching geographically?
- Engagement such as comments, shares, etc. – Is the content resonating with viewers in a way that spurs action, especially through sharing our content?
- YouTube channel subscribers – Most importantly, are we growing a dedicated viewership who want to regularly receive our content?
- Press reviews – Is there interest from the journalist community to help spread our message and highlight our artists?
Rola Azar –
February, 2020
Filming Location: Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine
28 Years old singer from Nazareth
Results: 36,000 views on YouTube, and 3000 engagements on Facebook.
Media coverage, including in “Songlines”, the most important magazine for the world music.
Milad Fatouleh –
February, 2020
Filming Location: Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine
28 Years old Palestinian-Italian singer from Bethlehem, who returned to Palestine after living in Italy during his youth.
Results: 33,000 views on YouTube, and 1,300 engagements on Facebook.
Lina Sleibi –
February, 2020
Filming Location: Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine
28 Years old Palestinian singer
Results: 39,000 views on YouTube, and 4000 engagements on Facebook.
Hanin Shahir Al Ejla –
April, 2020
Filming Location: Gaza, Palestine
23 Years old singer from Gaza
Results: 10,000 views on YouTube, and 1,300 engagements on Facebook.
- Direct impact on the artists and community – Ongoing longitudinal studies tracking Delia Sessions artists’ careers and the growth of music industry infrastructure such as recording studios, record labels and educational programs in the region. The economic impact on the community as a whole will also be observed.
While one music video can’t build an entire music industry, the Delia Sessions series can bring significant attention to a region. We see this project through the lens of building a brand, that through consistency, video by video, will draw the attention of a new audience and eventually demand the attention of the greater world music industry.
Musicians in conflict zones and marginalized communities cannot be ignored. In fact, it is the obligation of the music industry to give them a voice.
