Start your February off the right way by joining Reform for the second Online Work Club of 2022. This session will take place on Thursday 24th February from 3:30PM – 5:30Pm and is packed full of opportunities.
Work Club runs on the last Thursday of every month with a full session based on opportunities for the future. It includes a number of speakers who discuss various opportunities available, as well as 1-1s and pastoral sessions.
We are currently recruiting for a number of different roles. As these roles are part of the government’s Kickstart Scheme, you are eligible to apply for these positions if you are on Universal Credit and aged 16-24 years old.
We have positions open from across all our departments, so act fast, as these will fill up quickly.
Scroll down to see what roles we have open.
Come and join our Engagement or Employment support team, where you can excel your communication and admin skills, whilst working with participants or partners of our organisation.
Or, become a Workshop Facilitator and design your own workshops, putting your artistry to use in the Greater Manchester community.
If you are organised and have great telecommunication skills, why not apply for our Administrations Assistant role? Or, help us make sure Reform runs smoothly by joining our Operations team – a great experience that will provide you with fundamental knowledge of how a business runs.
Love animals and keeping busy? Apply now for the role of Personal Assistant to Reform’s Directors (one of who also happens to have a dog).
If you are looking to get experience working in a studio, join our audio team now and become an Audio Assistant. You will be working with studio equipment, DJs and guests, assisting live broadcasts and much more!
Interested in becoming a presenter and breakfast is your first meal of the day? We’ve got you covered. Apply now to become Reform’s next Breakfast Show Presenter & Producer where you will develop a weekly breakfast show.
If you have a great eye for social media come and join our Content and Marketing team where you will create engaging content for Reform’s website and social accounts.
For full descriptions of these roles, how to apply & closing dates head to the Kickstart page on our new opportunities website. You can also contact kickstart@reformradio.co.uk for any enquiries.
Welcome to Raise The Bar, a video series that showcases artists delivering freestyles or live performances on our resident’s shows.
Hosting this weeks Raise The Bar is resident Daisy Adams, bringing you the freshest MCs and freestylers on the scene every fortnight.
This week on the Daisy Adam’s Show, Manchester based ALIENVERT joins her for two hours of unrelenting beats, bars and ballads.
The emerging alternative-rap star discusses their new track CREW, as well as their album ‘Soft’, future ventures and inspirations, with an exclusive preview of an unreleased track during the show.
Catch the full show down below.
ALIEN’s music is unapologetically individual, constantly re-inventing itself through their ability to think in different mindsets during the process of producing. By creating concept characters, ALIENVERT is able to project many different characteristics within their music, resulting in airwaves of eccentricity and an undoubtedly unique listening experience.
ALIEN began writing music at the age of 15 and has single-handedly created their very own sound, infused with the zest of many popular genres we know today. Keep your eyes peeled for what ALIENVERT has in store this year – we expect big things!
Every month we promote events hosted by our very own residents. Scroll down to find out what events are taking place this February.
Profound Mystery Presents: drowzee – Patience Album Launch Party
drowzee will be celebrating the release of his most recent album Patience at Derby Brewery Arms on Saturday 5th February.
DJ and Producer drowzee is a resident of Chow Down, a Manchester based collective that has brought club nights across the city since 2011. You can catch drowzee on his monthly show Naptime, where he regularly brings his fluid mixing style which effortlessly blends opposing genres and moods.
Contributing to this celebratory night is Me Gusta resident Obeka, and Craig AD.
Building:Bridges
Building:Bridges are returning to The Klondyke for their daytime dance to raise money for the Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN). Yacare fromSurface Domingo is one of the members driving this new club night that strives for positive change.
Over a grand was raised at the first party in November, and with dry(er) Januaries out the way, they are looking forward to adding to that total on February 5th.
Building:Bridges will also be collecting food donations to help MRSN’s Destitution Project, so please bring along tins, pasta, rice, toiletries etc! The minimum donation will be £5, purchase your tickets here.
MEI at Colours Hoxton
Headlining on Friday 11th February at Colours Hoxton, is South London R&B vocalist, songwriter, producer and bassist MEI.
MEI has been gaining massive attraction over the years, continually gathering support from multiple well renowned magazines including The Independent, Rolling Stone India and Clash Magazine. Her most recent EP The Hard Way Around the Sun was selected for Jamz Supernova’s Top 5 EP on BBC 1XTRA.
This event is part of Platform, a series that showcases new and rising homegrown stars of the future, amplifying the best up and coming artists London has to offer. The gig will be kicking off at 7:30PM at Colours Hoxton. Grab your tickets here.
Not Bad For A Girl: SPEED DATING
While MEI is holding down the south on the 11th February, taking over Manchester’s ends is Not Bad For A Girl with their special Valentines Day event at XLR, SPEED DATING.
Not Bad For A Girl is a Manchester based women and non-binary collective born from a shared love of music/events and hatred of gender inequality. They’re all about “equal opportunity, equal pay and equal parts spirit and mixer”. The collective have had their first release as a record label, a VA that is raising money for the music focused charity Brighter Sound. Check out DaiSu’s track below which features on the VA.
Catch the crew taking over Withington’s XLR on Friday 11th February, with high pace high energy dance music all night long. Buy your tickets here.
Supernature On Sunday
Supernature will once again be providing the grooves for your Sunday, getting you refreshed and ready for the week ahead.
Accompanying the Supernature family is Will TRAMP!, founder of the infamous night Tramp! which gained a reputation as one of the most forward thinking club nights of the time.
The event will be taking place at Joshua Brooks, from 3pm-8pm on Sunday 13th February.
SZAJINA – STEPPING HILL VINYL EP LAUNCH
We got another launch celebration taking place on Friday 18thFebruary at the legendary venue and record label, Eastern Bloc. The night will be celebrating the release of SZAJNA‘s vinyl EP ‘Stepping Hill’ launching in March this year.
Our resident SZAJNA will be playing alongside Murder He Wrote and EVM128 at this free entry event. Doors open at 8PM.
Brume @ The Carlton Club
If you love the wonders of improvised performances, we have the perfect event for you. The amazing alt-disco / funk band The Trees are Calling will be performing at TheCarlton Club on Tuesday 22nd February.
The Trees are Calling’s band member Helena Summerfield hosts the monthly show Mid-Week Jazz, where the Manchester based saxophonist shares their love of all things jazz.
The band is playing as part of the night Brume, a live music event focussing on new and improvised music.
Returning this year on Thursday 3rd March is Reform’s very wholesome project, First 1000 Days – Storytelling Sessions.
This project is a series of workshops that explore storytelling, creative writing, the importance of characters and narrative and result in the group creating their own bespoke story for their babies. This is then recorded and turned into an audio book, which can be used to support literacy at home, language development and wellbeing.
Through accessing this project, all families are signed up to Manchester Imagination Library, receiving a free book each month until their child is 2 years old. There is also wrap around support provided and access to Speech and Language, Outreach Teams and Employability support through all partners involved.
This project is in partnership with Manchester Imagination Library and Sure Start, and is supported by Manchester City Counciland Manchester Health and Care Commissioning.
See the flyer below for more information on how to get involved.
Today is Blue Monday. A day that on average many find very mentally challenging. From the weather remaining dark and gloomy, to financial strain from the holiday period, many factors can flood in during this month, making this time of the year even more challenging than usual for some.
If you are struggling mentally and would like to talk to someone, please visit our Emergency Contacts page. There are multiple amazing organisations that offer their services 24/7.
To help uplift you during this difficult time, participants from our well-being focused project Positive Frequencies, have created a show exploring what it means to be true to ourselves (the good, the bad …and the beautiful!). The participants will take you on a journey through song, poetry and spoken word showcasing their talents.
The show will air today (Monday 17th January) at 1PM on reformradio.co.uk.
Supported byManchester Adult Education Service, Positive Frequencies is a week of personal development, creative writing and self-expression. The workshop will wrap up with a roundtable discussion. We provide a space for Participants to develop positive self-expression and a toolbox of wellbeing skills to help take and sustain their positive next steps.
The lead facilitator of this week-long well-being course, Dan Owens-Cooper, has also created a video on staying connected. Dan is Reform’s Mental Health and Well-being manager who has had countless 1-1s with our residents and present and past participants. Check out the video below.
A 6 week programme for those who are interested in learning all things DJ related, and want the chance to play out.
Led by DJ, producer and record label managerJoe Roche, the programme will focus on DJ workshops, how to self promote and learn about DJ opportunities.
The remaining 5 weeks will involve shadowing live shows and promo activities at Reform’s studios every Wednesday evening. The programme will wrap up with a gig opportunity where participants can showcase their DJ skills.
See flyer below for more info and to get involved.
Boombox FM is a radio play created through lockdow by young people in Greater Manchester.
The project was funded by ESF and the storyline is inspired by real life experiences throughout lockdown with elements dramatised wonderfully by the young people for the enjoyment of our listeners. This show also includes music created by the participants as well as spoken word and stories written whilst meeting weekly online
Last month we took the reins of the Art Council England’s Instagram for a full day takeover, exploring the incredible HERchesterproject that they so kindly funded.
HERchester was born in 2019 with a goal of bringing together female MC talent. This year we piloted the programme for women, those that identify as women and non-binary people on a larger scale across four cities – Manchester, Sheffield, Morecambe and Blackpool, connecting and collaborating with organisations such as Ritetrax, House of Wingz and More Music to accommodate the participants in their respective cities.
For the IG Story takeover, we invited the project’s leader, Manchester’s finest MC, OneDa, to share her experience as a rapper and she spoke about the importance of creating a safe space for MCs to grow.
Community was one of the many themes at the heart of the HERchester Documentary. Participants reflected on their time over the eight weeks, sharing how skills were developed, friendships were made and how they inspired and motivated one another to grow.
Participant Zari also made an appearance on the Arts Council’s IG Story. The aspiring artist highlighted how there isn’t an awful lot of spaces for a 27 year old female rapper like herself to explore her artistry. So when she came across the HERchester project on Instgaram, she jumped straight in.
We would like to once again thank Arts Council England for supporting this project. Their funding has allowed Reform to create opportunities for the HERchester MCs, whether they were aspiring, established or simply curious.
Watch the full cypher below, the finale performance that perfectly showcases the hard work put in by all the amazing MCs.
Kickstart 2022 with Reform’s very own online Work Club. The first work club of the year will be running from 3:30PM – 5:30 PM on Thursday 27th January.
Work Club takes place on a Thursday each month, and is based on opportunities for the future. It includes a number of speakers who discuss various opportunities available, as well as 1-1s and pastoral sessions.