KUALA LUMPUR, 30 OCTOBER – More than 50 participants comprising of independent musicians, promoters, recording label executives, artist managers and cultural workers from all over the country have gathered here today for one of CENDANA’s professional development programmes entitled “ACE Bootcamp Indie Music Edition”.

Held for two days from 29th – 30th October at The Bee, Publika, the bootcamp was aimed at upskilling the artists basic management skills, touring locally and internationally, communicating effectively to various stakeholders in the industry and more.

“This bootcamp is part of the strategic efforts undertaken in partnership with The Bee and MaGIC. This effort is vital in helping us to effect change. It means that we can continue to support projects in making music in all its diversity of genres and on instruments that reflect our artists spirits and ambitions. We will continue to work in partnerships to break down the barriers our artists face, to support their progression whichever decision they may take, and to advocate for musicians. This is what we do as part of CENDANA’s strategic pillar - Empowering the Communities”, said Izan Satrina Dato’ Mohd Sallehuddin, Founding CEO of CENDANA.

“The ACE Bootcamp Indie Music Edition is structured and curated to benefit the requirements of our local indie musicians to fulfil the needs of the music sector in the running of their creative enterprises and/ or projects”, she further said.

Divided into a few sessions, the participants were facilitated by subject matter experts with local and international background, including Dato’ Ahmad Izham Omar, CEO of Primeworks Studio; Jennifer Thompson, Managing Director of J Two Entertainment; Rahul Kukreja, lead guitarist for One Buck Short and Director of The Bee, Prashan Chitty, Managing Director of XENO Entertainment and other great minds. Participants also got up-close and personal with some of their peers who have made it big, having successfully expanded to new markets.

The bootcamp ended with an industry mixer providing an opportunity to network with some of Malaysia’s music heavyweights, festival directors, publishers and producers, whilst enjoying a high energy performance by An Honest Mistake, Sekumpulan Orang Gila and The Venopian Solitude. The effort is one of CENDANA’s building blocks, recommended from the KL as a Cultural and Creative City Report that encourages focus in building a creative education workforce.