Contributors to Buzzing Minds are residents in boarding houses and the project has enabled them to engage with others and express themselves, often in new ways.
Carlos Robles, a boarding house resident who took part, says connection is one of the project’s unique benefits. “Being in that [boarding house] environment can be really alienating, I guess. To be able to connect, to be creative, to give [residents] that sort of outlet – it’s been fantastic.”
Jay says people needed no skills or training to be involved and there were no rules about tunefulness or smoothed edges. Sounds range from rough and repetitive to mesmeric and amenable.
Funding and support from NNC enabled Jay and the group to purchase recording equipment, produce 500 copies of the CD, and commission inner west artist and fellow punk rocker Glenno Smith to create the cover art.
