Over the past seven months, Surge Forward has worked with saxophonist and composer Alicia Gardener-Trejo to develop and deliver a Birmingham iteration of her Home/Lands project, a musical exploration of home and what it means to belong. Alicia chose to collaborate with Birmingham-based singer, cellist and composer Laura Collins and former Birmingham Poet Laureate Jasmine Gardosi, to deliver workshops with The Notebenders Community Big Band, pupils from Nelson Primary School and participants from SoundLab Brum. Alicia and Laura then transformed participant’s contributions into music written exclusively for Birmingham, alongside new spoken word pieces created by Jasmine Gardosi.

 The new music was premiered in the Hexagon Theatre at Midlands Arts Centre on Thursday 27 March 2025, co-promoted by Fizzle and TDE Promotions. Joining Alicia, Laura and Jasmine on the stage were the Home/Lands Quartet; Andrew Woodhead on piano, Brodie Laird-Jarvie on double bass and Jonathan Silk on drum kit.

 Alongside this Birmingham iteration of Home/Lands, Alicia delivered the project in four other locations throughout 2024; Pendower in Newcastle, Beeston in Nottingham, Chapeltown & Chapel Allerton in Leeds and Hulme in Manchester (funded by Arts Council England). Being able to complete the project by developing and performing a performance in her hometown of Birmingham has been a fantastic way to round off the project. This is the first project on this scale that Alicia has undertaken and it has enabled her to grow in many areas as a result. 

 Alongside the different touring iterations of the project, Alicia also received further funding from Help Musicians UK to record an album with the Home Lands Quartet, so she is looking forward to releasing this music in due course and hoping to plan a tour of the UK to celebrate the album release, so there is a life beyond this performance and project for Alicia to continue to develop and grow this body of work.

 We are incredibly grateful to all at the John Feeney Charitable Trust for their support to make this project possible.