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The Creatives Grant recipient for August 2023 is… 🥁… Laviea Thomas! A music and culture journalist from the Midlands, we really enjoyed reading her opinion pieces, as well as her interviews with bands. Writing is difficult enough, but writing about music is something I’ve never been able to pull off. Thomas’ language is so evocative, and so well-handled, that I know what she’s talking about before I’ve pressed play on the music in question. The writer recently went freelance and we hope that the grant, supported by Creative Debuts, will help bolster her work because we wanna read plenty more of it.
BIO: ‘I’m Laviea, a working-class Black British writer from the Midlands currently based in north London. I’m an experienced music and culture journalist with 5 years of experience writing for print and digital platforms with statement pieces spread across lauded platforms such as NME, Skiddle, The Quietus, Rock Sound and more.
I showcase a wide range of my work via my personal portfolio [www.wordsbylav.co.uk], which features pieces such as interviews, live reviews, features and more that best reflect my variety. I take a huge interest in writing about popular culture and discussing Black and POC creatives who are taking the rock and heavy metal scenes by storm.
Since my first ever piece was published in 2018, I have written for a variety of publications, covered a range of music festivals, connected with amazing, like-minded talent and honed down on my tone of voice as a music critic. I have a deep love for writing, whether it be advocating for Black creatives in a thought-provoking opinion piece, discussing the most candid popular culture moment from the early 2000s, or dissecting the current state of our incompetent government – my writing is an honest glimpse into my animated mind and charismatic personality.’
