User:Rhondamerrick/sandbox

BIOGRAPHY[edit]
Rhonda Merrick is an American writer and musician, born at Charity Hospital, New Orleans Louisiana in 1966 and has resided in Southeast England since 2006.

CREATIVE WORKS

She created British children's television series 'The Brilliant Book' in 2014 for her Autistic child Benjamin. Although she wrote all the scripts, the music was created in partnership with composer and multi-instrumentalists Ritchie Swann. The series was broadcast on the Community Channel, Freeview 67 in England.

She has been featured on regional radio stations, including Phoenix FM for her performance at Brentwood Festival, Radio Ashford, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Kent. She is credited with successfully completing a song-a-day-for-a-year project in 2011 under the brand RhondasSongs.

In 2012 she partnered with Ritchie Swann to form an acoustic-funk duo and together they created a band called Rhonda and The Great Unknown in 2013. The band has enjoyed the consistent support of several radio stations globally, including Rockers Dive, Phoenix FM, Radio Ashford, Midwest Broadcasting and others. Wall to Well Media selected the band as one of the top 100 bands in the nation for the BBC 4 television show 'Best Part-time Band in Britain'. Although the band didn't make the top 25, the win to a place in the top 100 earned them an invitation from Dominic King of BBC Radio Kent to perform live on his Drivetime show. In 2016, the band entered the Mercury Prize competition after Merrick joined the Association of Independent Music, The MMF and BPI for training through her production company Blue Red Green Media LTD in 2015. She launched her own label, KATFM Records in June 2016 in order to enter the album as a commercial release and thereby qualify to enter the Mercury Prize Competition. The bands album 'Fifty' is the labels debut project.

NON PROFIT ORGANISATION

Merrick is Founder and Creative Director of Kent Arts Television Film Music (KATFM) CIC, a non-profit arts organisation in Ashford, Kent which provides arts-based education to the community as well as practical services and studio spaces to small and micro-sized businesses in the Creative and Performing Arts. KATFM runs Ashford Arts Centre (AAC) which exists to ensure community training and participation in the arts is accessible to anyone in Ashford. The AAC also hosts Ashford Fringe Festival, a 9 day annual event which takes place the last weekend of May through the first weekend of June each year.

EXTERNAL LINKS[edit]
Musician and Writer

The Brilliant Book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brilliant_Book

Brentwood Festival artists - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brentwood_Festival

Phoenix FM interview - http://www.phoenixfm.com/2013/08/10/the-27-club-and-heinz-57/

Rockers Dive - https://twitter.com/RockersDive/status/739308782065455104

BBC Radio Kent -http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033vw85

MTV photo (BBC Radio Cambridgeshire) - http://www.mtv.com/artists/rhonda-merrick/photos/topspin:267196/

Indie Bands Blog - http://www.indiebandsblog.com/european-bands/uk-bands/english-bands-uk-bands-european-bands/rhonda-merrick

Director of non-profit arts organisation Ashford Borough Council - http://www.ashford.gov.uk/news/ashford-arts-centre-celebrates-1st-anniversary-20th-apr-1340/

LoveAshford - https://www.loveashford.com/blog/katfm-hosts-an-afternoon-with-the-mayor-of-ashford

Ashford Voice - http://ashfordvoice.ashford.gov.uk/may/print

OFFICIAL WEBSITES

Non-profits

KATFM

Ashford Arts Centre

Ashford Fringe Festival

Blue Red Green Medial LTD

The Brilliant Book

Rhonda and The Great Unknown